With the release of his first novel, Powers reminds readers of the power of novels of a bygone age, novels that dive beneath the surface into the undiscovered depths of the heart and mind that constructs humanity. 

From the childhood friendship of a little girl (a tom-boy seeking some mud to splash in) and a summer visitor in the form of a boy (cleanly dressed), Power constructs a haunting tale that follows a friendship into the depths of feeling and fear throughout a lifetime of artistic exploration and the consequences of such. 

In this regard, he turns to the literary legends Harper Lee and Truman Capote, and builds a haunting account of human emotion based on the collection of ghosts that haunt these writers.  Finding solace in the possibility of another’s ear, finding dreams that take hold of us in our waking moments, and finding horror in our own past endeavors, both characters awaken the possibility of feeling something other than the norms that permeate within the flashy images that surround today’s existence in the world. 

Driven from others into the passion of written words, these authors each find demons waiting beyond success (Capote’s killers, and Lee’s fame respectively), which serve as a cancer upon the creative heart leaving wounded intellects roaming in search of piece. Driven within this grasp beyond the usual, readers find an anti-climax materialize in the plot of the ghosts, but in so doing, we begin to ask difficult questions about the characters, the nature of haunted emotion, and maybe even about ourselves. 

With an elegance and depth too often missing from many fictional works these days, Powers crafts a masterful tale of ghosts literally crawling out of literary beauty, and in so doing, probes the deeper possibilities of human emotion within a world of passion intermingled with pain.

“Powers summons the unquiet spirit of the past come to claim its due. Powers plunges below the service of the pathetic caricature Capote has become to explore…the question of how much is enough when it comes to telling other people’s lives…Powers guides us, Virgil-like, into the underworld of haunted houses, haunted books, and haunted psyches…This book is both hair-raising and clever…Powers examines his own obsession with the lives of these two writers as only another writer can…He’s done a fine job. This is one right creepy little novel…He’s done readers a favor by reminding us of the tremendous power of Capote and Lee, who produced some of the finest writing in American literature…If you’re involved in a serious book club (or a literature seminar), Powers’ novel would be the only place to begin a an incredible examination of the works and lives of Truman Capote and Harper Lee.”

http://www.hipsterbookclub.com/reviews/copy/0108/capote_in_kansas_kim_powers.html

by Jim Provenzano

Capote in Kansas: a Ghost Story by Kim Powers; Carroll & Graf, $25.

A number of prerequisite readings will make Kim Powers’ novel Capote in Kansas even more enjoyable than it is, and it is…. touching and often hilarious…. Powers, whose own life became the subject of his first book, a memoir (The History of Swimming), weaves a deft and clever rewriting of what is known and fabricated about these two mysterious authors, both of whom became national celebrities in the 1950s, but both of whom failed to continue their success. In a way, Powers enacts a sort of revenge on Capote, who was known to change details of In Cold Blood to satisfy his own writing. Perhaps the Clutters are satisfied. Living readers will be satisfied as well.