From the Bookshelf of The Pedro Pascal Book Club…

In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

Start date: October 1, 2021

Finish date: October 31, 2021

Discussion: Oct 2021: In Cold Blood

Why we're reading this: Pedro has said this has "perfect prose and journalism".…more
[close] Pedro has said this has "perfect prose and journalism".

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 1 of 1 topics — 1 comment total

Oct 2021: In Cold Blood

General Thoughts
By Nata · 1 post · 5 views

last updated Sep 05, 2021 02:56PM

What Members Thought

Jul 05, 2019 Naty rated it liked it

Shelves: bought-or-received, audiobook

This was definitely an interesting read and I'm glad to have finally crossed it off my TBR after years! It's not a book that works on audio format due to its slowness and the general writing style, so I am sure some of my enjoyment of the book was diminished for that reason.

This is a profound story which tries very hard to humanize the Clutter family killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. At times you hate them, at times you pity them, at times you could almost love them. I have no issue with th This was definitely an interesting read and I'm glad to have finally crossed it off my TBR after years! It's not a book that works on audio format due to its slowness and the general writing style, so I am sure some of my enjoyment of the book was diminished for that reason.

This is a profound story which tries very hard to humanize the Clutter family killers, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. At times you hate them, at times you pity them, at times you could almost love them. I have no issue with the humanization of these two complex characters, but it did bother me that the Clutter family didn't get nearly as much humanization - they were a Well-Beloved Family and that is basically it. Nancy is almost superhuman in her kindness, intelligence, and unfailingly feminine traits. The characterization of them was mostly describing their daily activities, whereas with the murderers we get hammered on the head with their sad background stories over and over.

The last part of the book, where the two killers are in jail, was the most compelling to me. I am personally against the death penalty and, despite understanding where the anger and resentment for the two of them comes from, I couldn't help but wish they'd gotten proper psychological care, instead of 5 years of incarceration.

I also wish we'd seen Truman Capote himself in the story, since he spent so much time with the both of them. I guess what I would like for this book is something close to what Bad Blood did with Elizabeth Holmes' story.

My main issue with this book is that going through articles about the murders and the people involved in the whole drama was most of the time more interesting than the book itself. I have no doubt of Truman Capote's talent, but the book felt like it cheapened some of the people's characters (like the detective being a Good Man With No Flaws Except Maybe That He Cares Too Much, and Nancy, as mentioned), while also going through great pains to make us sympathetic or hateful towards the two actual main characters. It was a strange experience to read something that almost felt like romanticizing both men.

See more reviews at http://natysbookshelf.wordpress.com ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 25, 2014 Tracy Kumarapeli marked it as to-read

Aug 16, 2015 Anna Sanders added it

Apr 03, 2019 Sarah A-F added it

Group Home Bookshelf Discussions

Photos Videos

Send invite Members Polls