Goodreads | In Cold Blood

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tiddily dee	3	28	07/15/2008 07:51AM

Amy rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

04/10/08

Read in April, 2008

After I read it, I looked up pictures of the Clutter family, and just stared for about five minutes. They endured what is probably everyone’s worst fear.

Having never heard anything of the Clutter murders prior to reading this book, the experience of reading it was intense, gripping, and suspenseful from beginning to end. Capote, with his impartial writing style, relayed facts and details in such a way as to give a complete character illustration of everyone involved: from each of the Clu...more After I read it, I looked up pictures of the Clutter family, and just stared for about five minutes. They endured what is probably everyone’s worst fear.

Having never heard anything of the Clutter murders prior to reading this book, the experience of reading it was intense, gripping, and suspenseful from beginning to end. Capote, with his impartial writing style, relayed facts and details in such a way as to give a complete character illustration of everyone involved: from each of the Clutters, to the investigators, lawyers, and even the murderers themselves. He did not reveal his personal sentiments or biases, or even presume to know right from wrong. In what he coined a “non-fiction novel,” Capote brilliantly combined the elements of a fictional murder novel with factual journalism and psychological analysis to show the moral dilemmas surrounding the act of murder.

In the section about the Clutter family life during their final days before the murders, Capote’s description of their daily routines and habits made what was to come even more troubling. Nancy and Kenyon were going through the typical hardships of adolescence; Nancy had a boyfriend of whom her father did not approve and was the most popular girl in school, while Kenyon was self-conscious, nerdy, and socially awkward. Herbert and Bonnie’s marriage was a bit shaky; Bonnie had a mysterious and fleeting mental illness, and Herbert was very busy with his farming business and did not have much time to tend to her. However, despite their problems, they maintained a strong family bond, were well-liked by the entire community, and we get a sense that things were looking up for them.

After the murder takes place, as if to intensify the suspense, Capote does not immediately reveal to us exactly how or why Perry and Dick committed the crime, but instead takes us on their journey as they attempt escape through the deep South while the investigators begin to try to solve the crime. We learn much about these two characters through their interactions with each other, letters, diary excerpts, and interviews with family members. We are brought deep into their psyche, learning everything from their personal hygiene habits to their mannerisms and quirks. In an uncomfortable yet brilliant way, Capote allows us to sympathize with the murderers, if only for a moment. What exactly went wrong with them? Did Perry Smith’s childhood of abuse, neglect, and displacement lead him to have moments of extreme callousness and violence? Dick, who had a seemingly normal childhood and a loving family, was in a car accident which left him with a permanent head injury. Was his head injury the cause of his downfall, or was it some other unknown character defect? Even though they were capable of evil and cold-heartedness, they also had goals and insecurities as well as the capacity for creativity, love, and fear. The murders were a tragic “psychological accident” (according to Alvin Dewey), the collision of two personalities gone terribly wrong with an innocent family who was in the wrong situation at the wrong time.

The final section of the book, from their first of many trials to their execution, presents us with the moral dilemmas surrounding the punishment of crime. Capote does not make any definitive conclusions, but poses many questions: Is execution right or wrong? Why the long delay (approx. 6 years) between the guilty verdict and the execution? Was a fair trial possible or necessary, given the horrific nature of the crimes committed? It is impossible to summarize the impact of this book in a few paragraphs, but it will definitely stay with me for years to come.
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Martine rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

01/19/08

bookshelves: crime, film, journalism-in-book-form, modern-fiction, non-fiction, north-american

Read in January, 2008

recommends it for: people who like a good crime story with some lyricism in it

I don't know why I waited so long after seeing and liking Capote to read the book on which the film was partly based, but I'm glad I finally got around to it, as In Cold Blood is a magnificent read. The first ever true-crime novel (or 'non-fiction novel' as Capote himself called it), In Cold Blood tells the story of the quadruple murder that shook the Kansas community of Holcomb in 1959 and which Capote then spent six years investigating, talking to the bereaved villagers, t...more I don't know why I waited so long after seeing and liking Capote to read the book on which the film was partly based, but I'm glad I finally got around to it, as In Cold Blood is a magnificent read. The first ever true-crime novel (or 'non-fiction novel' as Capote himself called it), In Cold Blood tells the story of the quadruple murder that shook the Kansas community of Holcomb in 1959 and which Capote then spent six years investigating, talking to the bereaved villagers, the detectives who worked on the case and the murderers themselves, with one of whom he may well have fallen in love; his sympathy for him shines through loud and clear. The amazing thing about the book is that all these different characters have their own voices, and they are all different and convincing -- a feat all the more impressive when you know that Capote conducted his interviews without a notepad or a tape recorder. The result of all these interviews is a kaleidoscope of impressions, a piece of journalism which somehow manages to read like high literature -- a page-turner which succeeds in conveying both the horror and the poetry of the crimes and lives described, and does so in Capote's trademark Beautiful English. No small feat, that.

The opening chapters of the book are brilliant. Capote introduces the reader to the reasonably prosperous town of Holcomb, its cheerful inhabitants and the mostly happy lives the Cutter family were leading before Perry Smith and Dick Hickock showed up and killed them. He then describes the murder scene and the early investigations, and shows how the community succumbs to paranoia and mistrust, as the locals are convinced the murderer is someone from their midst. Finally, he focuses on the murderers themselves, two seemingly likeable lads who for the longest time seem to get away with their crime. Clearly, neither of them has a conscience, but what they do have is dreams, hopes, plans and grudges, all of which are described in great detail and from several different points of view. The only thing that is not described in great detail in the first two thirds of the book is the gruesome murder itself. Capote wisely refrains from letting Smith and Hickock explain the hows and whys of the massacre until they are finally arrested, which makes the story gripping; you really want to go on reading to find out why exactly the Cutters had to die and which of the two men pulled the trigger and therefore is the greater villain. When you finally do find out these things, the answer is both surprising and right; such is the ingenuity of Capote's writing that you can't guess but don't feel cheated afterwards, either.

Sadly, the story somewhat goes off the rails once the murder case has been solved. Rather than quickly wrapping the story up after Smith's and Hickock's arrests, as he probably should have done, Capote takes his time to focus on their trial, their life on death row and their equally notorious fellow inmates, whose stories may have meant something to contemporary readers but which rather detract from the main story now. He also uses this part of the book to debate the issue of capital punishment, which is interesting but again detracts from the main story. Therefore, I found the final eighty pages of the book a bit of a let-down. Thankfully, though, the first 250 pages are excellent -- the best mix of fact and fiction I have ever read, I think.
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Denise rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

01/02/08

bookshelves: bookgroup, classics, made-into-movie

Read in November, 2002

Before I forget, did anyone else notice that the book was dedicated to Harper Lee?

So did the crime fit the punishment? Which character is worse? Perry who had an awful, disgusting childhood, was beaten, usually homeless, abused and treated like a "slave" but, according to him, killed 4 innocent people. Or Dick who had a standard childhood came from a good and strict family, played sports in high school, met the women of his dreams and married her. He didn't kill the family but he d...more Before I forget, did anyone else notice that the book was dedicated to Harper Lee?

So did the crime fit the punishment? Which character is worse? Perry who had an awful, disgusting childhood, was beaten, usually homeless, abused and treated like a "slave" but, according to him, killed 4 innocent people. Or Dick who had a standard childhood came from a good and strict family, played sports in high school, met the women of his dreams and married her. He didn't kill the family but he did instigate the crime and encouraged Perry to play it out until the end. Did they both deserve to die? Is Perry the worst of the two because he committed the actual murders or was Dick because there isn't any excuse to explain his life of crime? Is Perry better because he prevented Dick from committing rape before he shot Nancy's head off? (Don't mean to be crude but you get the idea) I'm curious to know what everyone thinks.

I liked how Capote started the book before the murders occurred. You were able to see how everyone was living and you could see the difference in people's attitude from the day before, to the day after the crime. One moment they looked after their neighbors, the next moment they were looking at them sideways trying to see if they were guilty. And I like how he wrote from the cop's point of view in the beginning (Nancy's purse in the hallway, her watch in the shoe, why the son looked like he did before he was shot) and then how Perry filled in the holes at the end. The only thing that made me question things was that is was so exact. Three months went by (or was it more) and he remembered everything right down to the emotions he felt when he was scurrying for the silver dollar that fell out of the purse. I have a good memory but lets face it, do you know any man who can remember the details that Perry did? How Dick was able to recite from memory the stores that he passed bad checks?

I was also surprised that the daughters weren't mentioned after the hurried wedding ceremony. And I don't understand why she felt the need to get married the week of her family's death, right after the funeral. I would have waited. But of course now-a-days people would just live together while they wait for a better time to get married. I guess they couldn't do that back then :) No one but the mother's brother showed up for the trial. And he asked for people to forgive the killers and let them have life in prison instead of death. I wonder how the other family members felt.

While I was exploring the site http://204.171.50.133/vhs/capo... they had a "Six Degrees of Capote" area. This had emails from those that either knew the victims, the criminal or the city where they were from. There wasn't a lot but it was really interesting to read some of those. I think with a bit more exploring we could find other sites like that, that include witnesses' recaps of the incident. It did bother me to learn how writing about this affected Capote the way it did. How he felt bad for the killers who had hoped that he could save them. Did Truman ever say if he was for or against capital punishment? You can't tell from the book which shows what a great author he is, no biased opinions at all even though he talked with the killers and the victims for over 6 years.

And no I won't be renting this movie I don't need to be reminded that sometimes you are just at the wrong place at the right time or the right place at the wrong time.
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Philip rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

08/20/08

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was published in 1966, and is based on events that happened almost fifty years ago. The events were real. This is not a work of fiction. The Clutters, an appropriately surnamed Kansas family, have their own complications within their rambling homestead. What family doesn’t? Clutter the father is a farmer. Who isn’t in these parts? Life is not so productive of late. Whose is? The two younger children, a daughter and a son, stil...more In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote was published in 1966, and is based on events that happened almost fifty years ago. The events were real. This is not a work of fiction. The Clutters, an appropriately surnamed Kansas family, have their own complications within their rambling homestead. What family doesn’t? Clutter the father is a farmer. Who isn’t in these parts? Life is not so productive of late. Whose is? The two younger children, a daughter and a son, still live in. The others have left, happily.

And then, in November 1959, the four Clutters are found gagged, apart from the mother, all with their throats cut and their brains blown out by shotgun fire. The community is in turmoil. No-one can explain why anyone might have wanted to kill a whole family in Holcomb, a small, poor, rural community in the mid-West Bible belt.

Hickock (Hicock) and Smith are two lads on the move. Their families might be dysfunctional. On the other hand they might not. Their socialisation might have been lacking. On the other hand it might not. For whatever reason, individually and collectively they prey on others, prey in a way that renders them culpable, detectable and ultimately punishable. They know thieving is wrong. So, one of them says, we’ve stolen lives, so it must be serious. It was the two of them that pulled the trigger, that blew brains out, that slit throats, that did not quite commit rape. There are limits. And all for forty dollars and a transistor radio.

I give nothing of this book away when I reveal that the two lads did commit the murders – exactly how no-one ever admitted – and that, after years of litigious wrangling, both were hanged. The strength of In Cold Blood is not what happens, but how it happens.

Truman Capote offers us a vast book in just four sustained chapters, each of which is sub-divided as the narrative shifts between aspects of the different protagonists’ lives. Throughout, the style is much more complex than mere journalism, but the clarity with which it communicates is at times breathtaking. We hear from those directly involved, both victims and perpetrators, their families, the police, the judiciary, the neighbours, the lawyers, the passers-by, the acquaintances, the cellmates. The detail is forensic.

It is essential that the reader is constantly reminded that this is not fiction. Truman Capote offers dialogue where a journalist would report, offers interpretation where an historian would defer, offer opinion where an observer might decline. And so In Cold Blood becomes and absorbing, multi-faceted, mid-twentieth century reworking of Crime And Punishment. The crucial difference that the intervening years have generated is that where the latter concentrated on the individual circumstances and motives of the perpetrator, In Cold Blood explores the social and the contextual alongside the psychological.

And this is where the book becomes deeply disturbing, because it seems to suggest that the individuality that contemporary society seems to demand of us might itself promote a degree of self-centredness, of selfishness, perhaps, that might give rise to nothing less than contempt for others. In the forty years since the publication of In Cold Blood, it could be argued that such pressures might have increased. Frightening, indeed.
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Mona rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

06/15/08

bookshelves: history, mystery-suspense, nonfiction

Read in May, 2008

Holcomb, Kansas made national headlines on November 15, 1959, when the four members of the Clutter family were found bound and murdered in their farmhouse on the outskirts of the small town. Six years later, two ex-convicts, Richard ("Dick") Eugene Hickok and Perry Edward Smith were hanged for the murders. Capote's In Cold Blood is, mainly, the story of these two criminals.

Capote, who began researching the book soon after reading an article about the murders in 1959, traces...more Holcomb, Kansas made national headlines on November 15, 1959, when the four members of the Clutter family were found bound and murdered in their farmhouse on the outskirts of the small town. Six years later, two ex-convicts, Richard ("Dick") Eugene Hickok and Perry Edward Smith were hanged for the murders. Capote's In Cold Blood is, mainly, the story of these two criminals.

Capote, who began researching the book soon after reading an article about the murders in 1959, traces the whereabouts of Dick and Perry before and after they commit murder. He explores the mindset of each, their respective backstories, their feelings about the crime, and their final thoughts before execution. Capote also details the Holcomb townspeople's reaction, as well as law enforcement's search for the killers. I thought the characterization of Perry was especially interesting - born of two rodeo performers, he had a difficult childhood, served in the military, and became permanently disabled during a motorcycle race. At the same time, he was an avid reader, and liked to draw. About Mr. Clutter, Perry said, "I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat."

The achievement of In Cold Blood is not the comprehensiveness with which the subject is approached, although that is certainly present. Rather, Capote manages to humanize every single character here, from Dick and Perry, right down to the Holcomb woman who runs the post office. Although nonfiction, In Cold Blood is written as a story, and it is easy to get sucked into thinking of it as simply a story. Indeed, that is why I found it so absorbing when I started it back in January, and why I found it too disturbing, haunting, and real when I finished it in May, shortly after a family friend's brush with a couple of criminals who had broken into his house.

My criticisms of the book are few. I've since learned that Harper Lee (the author of To Kill a Mockingbird) was a childhood friend of Capote's and helped him research the book, but at least in the library copy I had, there was no reference to her contributions (this may have been a fluke of the edition I was using, as some other reviewers have said the book was dedicated to her, but I checked mine and there was no reference to her). I suppose that I am used to the nonfiction books of today, which make it a point to footnote each source used, so it was difficult to get used to a nonfiction story without footnotes (this, of course, contributed to the story-like atmosphere of the book). Other than those quibbles, I cannot find much to criticize. ...less

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Rebecca rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

06/23/08

Read in June, 2008

In Cold Blood is a book I wouldn't normally have chosen because a) I'm afraid of everything and this for sure sounded like a scary topic and b) it's a true crime story, which makes it even more frightening in my mind. However, I'm glad I read it. I learned a lot about Truman Capote (sorry, wasn't one of the billions who went to see the movie about him a few years back), including that he was the first true crime author. As a journalist, I also really liked seeing how he was able to put all of hi...more In Cold Blood is a book I wouldn't normally have chosen because a) I'm afraid of everything and this for sure sounded like a scary topic and b) it's a true crime story, which makes it even more frightening in my mind. However, I'm glad I read it. I learned a lot about Truman Capote (sorry, wasn't one of the billions who went to see the movie about him a few years back), including that he was the first true crime author. As a journalist, I also really liked seeing how he was able to put all of his interviews together into a flowing story (and a super long one at that!).

In Cold Blood is about two criminals who think they've found a good gig when one of their inmates tells them about a farm job he used to have. The inmate tells them that the farmer spends $10,000 a week to run his business and the two assume the farmer, Mr. Clutter, keeps all that cash in a safe on his property. Once the two are released from jail, they drive 300 miles to the Clutter farm with the intentions of robbing the place and leaving no witnesses. When they get there they learn what anyone from the Clutter's town knows about the family: Mr. Clutter never has any cash on him. The locals joke that he'd write you a check for $1.50 because he never carries that much cash on him. Unfortunately, the lack of cash doesn't save the family and all 4 family members are shot in the head. It was a crime that rocked the nation in 1959 because it happened in such a small town, where people were presumably more safe than in big cities.

Capote interviews everyone in the town and the two killers after they've been caught and he paints a vivid picture of the town and these criminals. You almost begin to feel sorry for the two criminals who had such hard lives up to this point. But once they describe the murder to detectives (more than halfway through the book), you can't help but be horrified by them. Up until this point you only had a vague idea of what happened based on what police thought. Hearing it straight from the murderers was difficult because they didn't seem to understand that they'd done anything wrong. One of them, Perry Smith, even says, "I thought he was a very nice, gentle man. I thought so right up until I slit his throat."

I read this book at home alone at night and ended up not being able to sleep because it gave me the creepies. It was really well written and I recommend it, but if you're a scaredy cat like me, make sure someone is home with you so you can discuss it and get out all those worries....less

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jo rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

04/25/08

Read in April, 2008

recommends it for: those who would like to understand american violence and their own internalization of it

historically, this is a great book. personally, i found it boring and irritating. the way the author is heavily there, an obvious and heavy-handed shaper of the story, while being entirely obscured by his own fiction (he is not a character in the book) made me feel like someone was breathing hard in my ear the whole time i had the book in front of my eyes. and the romanticization of small-town american life felt nothing short of odious to me, because it inevitably sounds like romanticization of ...more historically, this is a great book. personally, i found it boring and irritating. the way the author is heavily there, an obvious and heavy-handed shaper of the story, while being entirely obscured by his own fiction (he is not a character in the book) made me feel like someone was breathing hard in my ear the whole time i had the book in front of my eyes. and the romanticization of small-town american life felt nothing short of odious to me, because it inevitably sounds like romanticization of small-mindedness, fear, isolation, and cultural narrowness. i see celebration of cultural narrowness wherever someone praises the life-that-could-be, small towns ruled by kindness and simplicity and acceptance that is based on a naturally good heart rather than knowledge (the presence of the japanese american characters whose foreignness is never mentioned is meant to be encouraging but is deeply discouraging instead). these small towns in which everyone knows everyone and the doors never get locked do not feel part of a socio-political continuum. their dream is the preservation of a purity-and-innocence bubble. a lot of this purity is based on ignorance. knowledge is the great satan.

the irruption of senseless, outside violence in this town may be seen as bubble-bursting and revelatory. but dick and perry are not the world, the outside, the other. they are the small town gone bad. it doesn't matter that they come from other small (or big) towns. they are small america, simple america, poor america. there is no sense of nationhood -- only of individuals and families trying and failing to keep it together.

the always-already contamination of the dream -- the exposure of the immense vulnerability of the dream, of the fact that it contains in itself the seeds of its own demise -- is a commendable element of the book. at the same time, there is something incurably nostalgic about it. this nostalgia bugs me.

this was a great hit with my students. in the little time we had, i tried to problematize it a bit, but i was met by a wall. at first the class liked dick and perry and felt squeamish about it. by the end, they couldn't wait to see them hanging and gone. the way in which the students resolved their own moral squeamishness felt deeply disturbing to me, especially now that we are "hanging" (i.e. killing) lots and lots of people all over the world for being exactly what dick and perry are -- very evil people. i dunno man, my students and i officially like very different books....less

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Núria rated it:

10/01/07

bookshelves: 2006, owned

Read in March, 2006

'A sangre fría' no es un libro fácil de leer. Pide mucha paciencia y aún así puede que no te acabe de convencer. Todos conocemos la historia y no hay ninguna sorpresa. Sí, Truman Capote escribe muy bien, pero leer por leer sólo palabras bonitas, sin que la historia te cuente algo que sientas como cercano, no es una operación muy placentera y puede llegar a acabarte la paciencia. Yo me encontré en dos atascos considerables, pero no desistí y al final la recompensa ha sido incalculable. A...more 'A sangre fría' no es un libro fácil de leer. Pide mucha paciencia y aún así puede que no te acabe de convencer. Todos conocemos la historia y no hay ninguna sorpresa. Sí, Truman Capote escribe muy bien, pero leer por leer sólo palabras bonitas, sin que la historia te cuente algo que sientas como cercano, no es una operación muy placentera y puede llegar a acabarte la paciencia. Yo me encontré en dos atascos considerables, pero no desistí y al final la recompensa ha sido incalculable. Al principio el libro parece sólo una crónica costumbrista de una población tranquila y aburrida, y el costumismo por bueno que sea siempre es costumismo. Aquí fue donde me atasqué por primera vez, pero continué. Luego el libro parecía la crónica de un suceso truculento, y para esto ya me puedo leer 'El Caso'. Aquí fue donde me atasqué por segunda vez, pero continué. Y, gracias a mi empeño, descubrí que en el fondo, al final, el libro iba de la "Verdad" y me fascinó.

La historia no es ningún secreto: dos delincuentes de poca monta planean ir a robar en una granja aislada en medio de ninguna parte porque creen que allí les espera un gran botín, pero todo acaba con una masacre, con cuatro personas de una misma familia asesinadas. Lo que importa es lo que viene después, el retrato de los dos asesinos, Dick Hickock y Perry Smith. Capote se las ingenia para presentarnoslos desde diferentes puntos de vista (incluyendo como se ven ellos mismos), y son tan distintos estos puntos de vista que parece que estén hablando de personas diferentes. Incluso nos encontramos con diversas descripciones físicas de los dos asesinos hechas por personas diferentes, y ni estas coinciden; ¡también con las descripciones físicas parece que estén hablando de personas diferentes! Y al final siempre nos queda la duda de cómo eran realmente Dick y Perry; nunca sabremos la verdad, porque no existe una única Verdad con mayúscula, sólo existen múltiples verdades (otro tema sería si a partir de estas distintas verdades se puede deducir por síntesis una única verdad válida). Se trata, pues, de una obra inteligente y ambigua, ya que, por ejemplo, se complace en no dejar del todo claro quién fue el auténtico autor material de cada uno de los cuatro asesinatos, y no precisamente porque Truman no lo supiera. ...less

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Mel rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

08/08/08

bookshelves: classics, nonfiction

In Cold Blood was an experiment in form—and the expansion of a genre. The author, Truman Capote did five years of painstaking research before committing what he learned to the page. The story of how the text came to be is almost as fascinating as the tale of the Clutter murders itself.
Capote insisted that there should be no authorial presence in the text, and yet his voice drips from each page. The protagonist is Perry Smith, the murderer who Capote is quoted comparing himself to. In the bo...more In Cold Blood was an experiment in form—and the expansion of a genre. The author, Truman Capote did five years of painstaking research before committing what he learned to the page. The story of how the text came to be is almost as fascinating as the tale of the Clutter murders itself.
Capote insisted that there should be no authorial presence in the text, and yet his voice drips from each page. The protagonist is Perry Smith, the murderer who Capote is quoted comparing himself to. In the book our sympathies lie with the murderer—with Capote—with the outsider. And the text is successful in this, the reader, this reader, walks away wondering if there but for the grace of God go any one of us.
And yet, Capote is not present. It would be impossible for Capote to have put himself into his book without taking away from the story. He was colorful, egocentric, and well, generally speaking, the center of attention. The impression gotten from the articles written about Capote and his work was that he was not well received in Holcomb. There were reports of Truman at hotels in pink lingerie… In 1959, in Kansas, one can assume that wasn’t very acceptable. Had he made himself someone within the text – how would that have changed the mom-and-apple-pie presentation he gives us? It’s not his story – he isn’t a character in it and I think wisely chose to allow the character be who and what they were – it gives the story a sort of insular integrity – these people, in this community…that Truman was not in any way connected to. The power of the story lies, at least in my opinion, in his physical absence.
The structure of the text is compelling there is a starting point and an ending point. What happens in between is relative and although factual, it is contextual. The book is not linear at all and yet not once does the reader feel lost in time or space. What amazed me about Capote was his transitions from the murdered’s point of view to the murderers, to the detectives—seamlessly. I’m not sure how aware I was of this until I watched the movie, which isn’t seamless. It is clear why this text is one of the hallmarks in the genre of creative nonfiction.
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Rolls rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

03/12/07

Read in October, 2006

recommends it for: Tru crime fans - get it?

Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is a highly disconcerting read. After painting an idyllic scene we'd expect from the Midwestern setting evil makes it's presence felt. The blood is chilled and the heart gripped as a result.

As everyone must know by now this is considered the first nonfiction novel. Meaning that all of the bare facts of this story actually took place. A family of four was indeed murdered in their home by two unknown assailants on 14 November 1959. What made this book ...more Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is a highly disconcerting read. After painting an idyllic scene we'd expect from the Midwestern setting evil makes it's presence felt. The blood is chilled and the heart gripped as a result.

As everyone must know by now this is considered the first nonfiction novel. Meaning that all of the bare facts of this story actually took place. A family of four was indeed murdered in their home by two unknown assailants on 14 November 1959. What made this book innovative was the fact that Capote handled these facts not as a journalist but as a novelist. Rather than restrict himself to just the "who, what, where, when and why" of the fourth estate he let the fiction writer in him fill in the gaps left by the facts at hand. Scenes like Bonnie Clutter's last sad night on earth could and would only be attempted by a novelist.

While Capote never makes it possible for us to forgive the murderers (not that he or anyone could) he goes a long way towards making them sympathetic. It is the film's ("Capote") claim that he fell in love with Perry Smith while writing this book. Perhaps. Smith does indeed come off as a fully rounded person while Hickock seems less interesting to him (and consequently to us). What counts though is that he makes them human. After reading about the nature of this crime that in itself is a huge achievement.

Finally I just want to point out a person who played a huge part in this story but always fails to attract the attention accorded to the murdered, murderers or Capote himself namely Alvin Dewey. Dewey is the relentless Javert of this tale and it is through his eyes we see the facts unfold. Capote's drawing of him as a man "morally" wounded by the evil inherent in the murders of this poor family touches the heart. His refusal to let the murderers get away with their heinous crime galvanizes the spirit in turn.
This is where the true greatness of this book lies.

I started this book one night at two in the morning and read til I finished it at nine a.m. It is the very definition of a page turner. Once you are told what happened it is impossible to put this book down until you find out why....less

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Schnaucl rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

11/13/07

bookshelves: book_club, borrowed, mystery_crime, non-fiction, read_2007

Read in November, 2007

It was certainly interesting to read what is widely regarded as the first novel in a genre, in this case, the first work of creative non-fiction.

It almost read like two novels. The first book was one novel with one style, the second half a separate novel with a style that differed from the first. The events in the first half were portrayed as objective fact, which made it somewhat difficult to reconcile with the second half of the book where the motivations and perpetrators of the acts we...more It was certainly interesting to read what is widely regarded as the first novel in a genre, in this case, the first work of creative non-fiction.

It almost read like two novels. The first book was one novel with one style, the second half a separate novel with a style that differed from the first. The events in the first half were portrayed as objective fact, which made it somewhat difficult to reconcile with the second half of the book where the motivations and perpetrators of the acts were called into question.

I found many of the quotations to be distracting, though I suppose Truman Capote wanted to be sure that the reader knew he was quoting someone even though it was something a character thought. It's also possible that the use of quotation marks has changed with time. Now when only a single word or description is in quotes it's generally implied that the author disagrees with the characterization. But when Capote says something like "Perry thought Dick was `depraved' and 'dirty'" I'm pretty sure he was using the quotations to show he was quoting, not that he disagreed with the assessment. (That's not an actual line in the book, by the way).

I felt like I didn't really connect with any of the characters, but I'm not sure you're intended to. In some ways the second half was more interesting than the first half, particularly the sections with Dewy.

I was a little surprised that the guilt or innocence part of the trial was apparently conducted at the same time as the sentencing phase. I believe in my state those are two separate phases and it's the judge who determines sentencing, not a jury. I think the mental health information would have been permitted as mitigating evidence for sentencing even if it was not allowed during the guilt or innocence phase of the trial. Most states still use the M'Naughten test.

For all the talk of Perry's high IQ I must admit the fact that he was clearly uneducated and that displayed little common sense made me doubt his intelligence.

I may read a modern true crime novel just to see how the genre has changed. I thought In Cold Blood was a worthwhile read but I don't think I need to read it again....less

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Jenn rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

08/23/08

Read in August, 2008

Let me start off by saying that I listened to the audio version narrated by Scott Brick. I found him to be an amazing narrator. He gave each of the main characters their own voice without being overly dramatic or cheesy. There was a subtle uniqueness to each voice that only added to my enjoyment of the book. He is the first narrator that I can picture myself listening to based on his presence and not necessarily based on the book.

Should we invest in literature based on true stories that ...more Let me start off by saying that I listened to the audio version narrated by Scott Brick. I found him to be an amazing narrator. He gave each of the main characters their own voice without being overly dramatic or cheesy. There was a subtle uniqueness to each voice that only added to my enjoyment of the book. He is the first narrator that I can picture myself listening to based on his presence and not necessarily based on the book.

Should we invest in literature based on true stories that focus mainly on the perpetrators? Is it wrong that Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are as memorable to me than the Clutters--probably even more so? That may be true for a lesser book than In Cold Blood, but reading this book is completely worth while. It's a book that I've always been curious about but never read. I am, overall, a fan of the "murder mystery" genre, but I tend towards fiction rather than stories based in truth partly because I hate the fact that the victims might be exploited and the criminals glorified. But the sheer genius of the writing style in this book place it in a unique genre of its own.

I don't think that I have fully digested this book. It may take me a while. As a result of reading it I had a wide range of feelings. Some include: sorrow for the family and friends of the Clutters; a desire to understand why it happened; anguish for Dick's parents and, to a lesser degree, Perry's family; amazement at the evil there is in the world; and a deeper realization that there is very little in the world that is black and white.

And after reading this on the heels of Camus' The Stranger, I feel an essay coming on. How interesting to read two very different accounts of two similar characters. And by similar I am speaking of Perry Smith and Meursault, who both commit senseless murders without remorse. The similarities, to me, are astounding!

This was a fascinating read. I don't know that it is ever possible to document an event and the people involved in it in a completely unbiased way. But realizing that, this book is a very well-written and worthy attempt....less

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Mateo rated it:

(review of isbn 0679443754)

10/14/07

Read in October, 2007

So much has been written about this book that I'll just add to the general consensus: It's a tour de force, beautifully written, perfectly structured, gripping and surefooted. Adding to its pull is Capote himself, who, although invisible as a character or actor in the book, nonetheless conveys through language and coloring both a deep identification with, and superciliousness about, his subjects. As an aesthete, a New Yorker, and an intellectual (as well, of course, as a homosexual), Capote m...more So much has been written about this book that I'll just add to the general consensus: It's a tour de force, beautifully written, perfectly structured, gripping and surefooted. Adding to its pull is Capote himself, who, although invisible as a character or actor in the book, nonetheless conveys through language and coloring both a deep identification with, and superciliousness about, his subjects. As an aesthete, a New Yorker, and an intellectual (as well, of course, as a homosexual), Capote must surely have felt some superiority to the locals, especially the killers who fancied themselves clever autodidacts, and in Capote's elegant, nearly rococo writing, one can almost make out a certain condescension; at other moments, however, he seems captivated by, and respectful of, the plain folks and harsh landscape he depicts. It's a nice tightrope act.

One thing I could not help but think about: The book, begun in 1959 but not completed until 1965, feels entirely situated in the Fifties, with its Elks Club society and Methodist lifestyle, its Eisenhower blandness and postwar comfort. (Even those Other figures, Negroes and homosexuals, crop up around the edges mostly as reminders of how fully anything different could be marginalized.) And yet to think of Nancy, the 16-year-old girl murder victim, is to contemplate a future unachieved, and to see how fast the modern world was closing in on that era, even on Holcomb, Kansas, murders or no murders. In, say, 1966, Nancy Clutter--4H princess, straight-A student, horse lover, apple-pie baker--might have been in college in Lawrence, listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, participating in campus civil rights protests or the nascent antiwar movement, possibly even discovering the counterculture in the form of Kerouac or marijuana. But Nancy Clutter died in her bed, a shotgun blast to the head, barely a month before the Fifties ended, and so never escaped that constricted decade.

Nancy Clutter would be 64 years old today.

...less

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Jennifer rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

07/16/08

bookshelves: biography---modern

Read in July, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I decided to read this book because it's a book I've heard a lot about, and having never read anything by Truman Capote, thought it was time to read it. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I know that this was really one of the first "true crime" books written in America, and I wasn't sure if it would focus more on the technical aspect of the crime or on the events leading up it.

Truman Capote did an excellent job painting a picture of the Clutter family and their killers. Unlik...more I decided to read this book because it's a book I've heard a lot about, and having never read anything by Truman Capote, thought it was time to read it. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I know that this was really one of the first "true crime" books written in America, and I wasn't sure if it would focus more on the technical aspect of the crime or on the events leading up it.

Truman Capote did an excellent job painting a picture of the Clutter family and their killers. Unlike "true crime" books written today, there were no pictures at all in this book. At first that frustrated me, as I wanted to know what the Clutter family and their murders looked like. As I kept reading, I was thankful that there were no pictures, because it allowed me to let Capote's writing create a vivid picture of the characters. Once I finished the book I looked up pictures on the internet, and my view was fairly close to reality.

Capote managed to portray the killers in such a way that I ALMOST felt pity for them; for Perry in particular. Aside from the fact that he was involved in the brutal slaughter of 4 people, he seemed like an almost "likable" guy. I felt a lot of conflict about that, because I wanted to intensely dislike the people who committed this crime. Capote made the killers human.

Perhaps I was reading to much into it, but it seemed to me like there was a homosexual relationship between Dick and Perry. I thought it was odd that Dick referred to Perry as "Honey" and "Baby" throughout the dialouge. I've never heard of straight men addressing each other that way. But Perry made a point of saying how much he dislike "perverts" and homosexual behavior, so I wasn't sure if there really was any kind of sexual relationship between the two. I wondered if maybe because the book was written in the mid-60's if that kind of subject couldn't really be directly addressed in a book. Having not been born until the late 70's, I wasn't sure if it was "acceptable" to discuss homosexuality....less

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Nadia rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

11/28/07

bookshelves: recently-enjoyed

Read in November, 2007

I really enjoyed this book! The account of small town-life in Kansas, coupled with a shocking and weird murder, getting into the minds of Perry Smith disturbed me but gave me insight into the binary morality that exists in most societies. It challeneged my ideas about forgiveness, mercy, and justice. It's full of intricate and interesting people, but mostly, I observed and reflected upon the gap between real life and representation of reality: for example, the story a newspaper article and capti...more I really enjoyed this book! The account of small town-life in Kansas, coupled with a shocking and weird murder, getting into the minds of Perry Smith disturbed me but gave me insight into the binary morality that exists in most societies. It challeneged my ideas about forgiveness, mercy, and justice. It's full of intricate and interesting people, but mostly, I observed and reflected upon the gap between real life and representation of reality: for example, the story a newspaper article and caption tells has history and real people behind it, something that in our age of information and visual culture is lost. Truman Capote spent seven years investigating and interviewing people in the city where the murder took place. All from the one caption 'Holcomb, Kan., Nov. 15 [1959] (UPI) -- A wealthy wheat farmer, his wife and their two young children were found shot to death today in their home. They had been killed by shotgun blasts at close range after being bound and gagged ... There were no signs of a struggle, and nothing had been stolen. The telephone lines had been cut.-The New York Times'. In Cold Blood is the culmination of Capote's work in Holcomb over the years following the murders: the chase for the murders, the effect on Holcomb and its residents ('...those sombre explosions that stimulated fires of mistrust in the glare of which many old neighbors viewed each other strangely, and as strangers' (pg 3), the capture of the murders, their imprisonment and years in waiting for execution. Surprisingly, the novel is not so much about the murder itself, but rather the hopes, intentions, and plans of the individuals involved in the 'story', and how each one is betrayed or cut short before its completion. Capote has brought together a sensitive and insightful collection of experiences surrounding a horrible and seemingly senseless murder, offering numerous points of view told in the Kansan vernacular. Voices that express horror, saddness, vegence, pity, sorrow, regret, and indifference. ...less

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sandra rated it:

(review of isbn 0679745580)

04/07/07

bookshelves: my-library

Read in April, 2006

Whoa. Unbelievable book. I had never read any Capote and was blown away by his style. His vocabulary is astounding. One example was the use of the word “hegira” in a sentence when he told of the murderers flight across country after committing their crime. It doesn’t just mean journey, rather it’s defined as Etymology: the Hegira, flight of Muhammad from Mecca in A.D. 622, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic hijrah, literally, flight
: a journey especially when undertaken to escape fro...more

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James rated it:

In Cold Blood

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