Coming-of-Age; Family Drama; Southern Gothic
Other Voices, Other Rooms tells the story of Joel's transition from boyhood to manhood; at age thirteen, he's right in between, and at the end of the novel, when he looks back at "the boy he had left behind," he has made the leap between childhood and adulthood. The novel also centers on the familial conflict of the loss of his mother… combined with the revelation that his father is paralyzed.
Capote is a master of the Southern Gothic genre and this novel is no exception. The strange scenes of Little Sunshine living at the Cloud Hotel on Drownin Pond, the old, buried, slave bell, and the decadence of Skully's Landing are all excellent examples of the creeptastic, eerie events that Southern Gothic authors use to discuss the complex culture of the South and its ties to spooky antebellum history.