In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
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Book Reviews of In Cold Blood
Book Review: Capote at His Peak
Summary: 5 Stars
Entering the pantheon of American classics, this work is a bone-chilling account of four murders. Almost random in their occurrence, the murders are perpetrated by an odd pair of ex-cons out to rob what they thought was a rich man living on a vast ranch in the midst of the rolling, lonely wheat fields of Kansas.
What distinguishes this account from all other such works is its writing and its plethora of factual information. The author and his assistant, Harper Lee, worked very hard to record minute details of life in the prarie, the strivings and disappointments of the victims, and the winding, twisted lives of the killers. More than that is the fine writing encountered on every page. Soaring descriptions of wheat plains, sunsets, the lonely wind blowing at night, and the sad events of November 14, 1959 sear the reader with unforgettable impressions.
This work also opened up an entire new genre, the nonfiction "novel," imitated by the likes of Norman Mailer in "The Executioner's Song" and Erik Larson in "The Devil in the White City," among many others, but not equaled. Capote was a trailblazer and one of America's greatest writers. No one can take his tremendous achievements away from him, no matter what they say about his famous personal failings. His wonderful "The Grass Harp" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" are indisputable classics as well. It's simply sad that Capote was devoured by his own fame.
Book Review: the book that turned me on to reading
Summary: 5 Stars
i feel like the people who gave it one star totally misunderstood what the book was supposed to do. its kind of hard to explain what capote's intention was with the book- as it is with a lot of his writings and that is what makes his storytelling so addictive to me- the details that go unnoticed by everyone else matter or make a difference to him. i picked this book up one day while i was sitting bored at my mom's kitchen table looking through the sunday ads at around noon when i looked over at her book case and there this book was. i ended up staying at the table reading the book until the sun went down! page after page!! i don't know where other 1 star reviewers got that he "humanized" the murderers- whatever that means..criminals- even barbaric ones are still human- and one person actually said the characters weren't interesting enough. i feel like they missed it completely- nancy embodied simplicity. there was no complexity to her. complexity of characters does not always equal a good book. she was a small town girl- with an honest hard working family- this book made me feel like i knew the clutter family personally-i felt like i had heard mr clutter talk before- and at the end of the book- i had several tears in my eyes- and im not an emotional bookreader- i actually said a prayer for the family-what they went through was brutal and capote painted the scenes for me with words in a way, i feel, no other author could... read the book.Book Review: Where the Endless Debate Began
Summary: 5 Stars
The true story of the truly horrific and pointless murder of the Clutter family by Perry Smith and Dick Hickock at Holcomb Kansas in 1959. Capote explores every aspect and perspective of the crime; the victims, their community, the perpetrators,the investigation,trial and justice as stated under the law.
This really is the fabled unput-downable page turner! It is so much more than the telling of a crime;it explores the affect such an act has on a tight knit community;the rumours and fantastic speculations (you begin to see how conspiracy theories develop!)and Capote raises controversial questions; how far is responsibility diminished by mental illness? The damage done by a poor childhood. Is the death penalty actually a deterent or state sponsored murder in the interest of revenge?Capote questions the whole shambles in the legal world that turns the death penalty into a kind of lottery where any sense or justice is sidelined.
This outraged many sections of society who just saw the brutality of the murders, but they forget Capote also says a society without laws to civilize it denies what man is. Without laws to pose maximum penalties on the likes of Hickock and Smith.what cruelty cannot be justified?
The debate still rages! This is a book that will never stop being in print,read and discussed. A true-in every sense of the over used term-classic.
Book Review: A True Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of two drifters who murdered a prominent Kansas farmer and his family in 1959.
But this story is about much more. It's famous (many others have written about it), and it started the so-called non-fiction true crime drama.
So what more can I add?
This is one of the books that I have in my permanent collection and that I take out every six months, not for the subject matter necessarily, but to remind me how beautiful the English language can be in the hands of a master.
There are sentences you and I couldn't repeat. For instance: "The cider-tart odor of spoiling apples. Apple trees and pear trees, peach and cherry: Mr. Clutter's orchard, the treasured assembly of fruit trees he had planted." He was later killed by the "boys."
Would you find that in a Grisham book?
About the murderers regretting their crime:
"Mountains. Hawks wheeling in a white sky.
When Perry asked Dick, "Know what I think?....I think there must be something wrong with us."
There isn't a single missed note in this book. And an umabigious take on the death penalty. Do yourself a favor. Read the book.
The book is all of 343 pages. You'll be richer for reading the book. And we're all poorer for losing such a talented author at age 59.
Book Review: Anarachy in the heartland : an American story
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent piece of investigative journalism. Although called the first "non-fiction novel" I don't consider it a novel. To do so would suppose that journalism is objective, it is not, and anyway by most accounts Capote mostly got it right. It's gripping journalism, extremely well researched, and very American. The juxtaposition of Capote, a liberal New Yorker, among the conservative mid-westerners should not go unnoticed. It strikes a chord with the American paradoxical character of "the new" versus "stability"; change versus safety; the search for frontier versus authenticity; the fear of anarchy versus the fear of authority; liberal versus conservative. On the one side the ultimate in safety, security and authority is represented by the Clutter family - and on the opposite side the killers, younger and free, represent change, "the new" and anarchy. Capote instinctively tapped into this dialectic and became part of it himself as an upstart homosexual New Yorker in the middle of stable, secure and patriarchal Kansas. This sort of "meta" author mirroring the story is the real aesthetic and creative achievement that has kept it a classic while later "new journalism" works, characterized by their use of literary techniques applied to non-fiction, have rarely if ever exceeded Capote's initial genesis.