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Books : In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences (Vintage International)
Rating: 
- Truman creates a genre
This book is very deserving of its status as a classic. In this true crime story Capote almost single handedly created a distinct genre - true crime. It's easily as gripping as a novel, yet one is always aware of the fact that everything described here actually happened, adding to the book's tragic and often upsetting content. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement is that Capote doesn't dehumanise the killers - they are real people, not just ogres. When reading the book my feelings lurched from revulsion and alienation to a sense of sympathy and forgiveness for the killers. It seems to me that the real villain of the piece are not necessarily the killers - although their actions are quite horrific - but the society which excluded and forgot them with terrible consequences. Fifty years on, while things may have improved, change in America is still too slow.
Rating:
- A masterpiece in crime writing
Like another reviewer I also became interested in this following the fantastic film Capote and this is the 3rd TC book I have read - all great by the way.
I read this book over several weeks yet every time I picked it up I was able to get straight back into the story. I think this is slightly due to the style of writing giving out accurate information in a chronological order similar to a long running news story.
Capote's writing is always brilliant whatever he writes about. There is no word wasted here, no over the top descriptions just a very gripping true story told from every angle. He doesnt judge anyone involved but gives enough detail to make you sympathise 'almost' with the killers.
Before reading this book the only story I knew of Kansas was the Wizard of OZ which also evokes the huge plains where farming is the main source of income, windy and lonesome with god fearing, hard working farming folk making a living. Then one night this terrible crime takes place. Capote relives each and every minute of the crime, the getaway, eventual capture and the court hearing and outcome. A great book in every way.
Rating: - A classic, a literary masterpiece
It started with a few sentences in the back of The New York Times about a seemingly senseless murder in Kansas. Truman Capote read this brief article and decided to invent a completely new genre of writing, the non-fiction novel. This book is the result of Capote's research with Harper Lee and moved the murders of the Clutter family from the back of The NY Times to the front of the bestseller lists.
The book starts by introducing us to Herb Clutter and his family. Capote builds a description of a decent, kind, generous, respected, and hardworking family. Although Capote built a reputation as a flamboyant character, he shows enormous respect for the Clutters. Inter-weaved with his description of the Clutters is his description of the two men, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, who are about to destroy this family. The suspense builds as the killers get closer and closer. Capote then skips ahead to the discovery of the bodies and we are left knowing what happened but not how or why.
The next section of the book inter-weaves the movements of the killers with the story of the investigators trying to discover their identity. Slowly we learn more and more about the nature and background of these two sociopaths. Meanwhile, the investigation struggles forward until a lucky break leads to the capture. At this point, we finally learn what happened the night of the killings in the words of the killers themselves. The final section details the trial and ultimate punishment of Hickock and Smith.
The book is brilliantly written. Although there have been questions about the complete accuracy of the story (Capote never took notes during interviews and the book has no footnotes) it is still a compelling and frightening book. The combination of creative writing with journalism created a new genre of writing and makes every other "true crime" book read like a high school project. Capote pulls his readers into the story creating empathy for the victims (the dead as well as the living) while letting us see into the minds of the killers as well as Hickock and Smith were ever able to see into themselves. This is a book that is a classic, a literary masterpiece even if it isn't an example of perfect accuracy. It is a must read.
Rating: - Magnificent.
'In Cold Blood' is one of the best books of all time. It should be required reading in all beginning college lit courses, if not in high school. I first read 'In Cold Blood' in high school (in the 80s), and I read it in one sitting- straight through the night- just because I couldn't put it down. I have recently purchased this newer edition, because this book is worth reading again.
To begin with, Truman Capote, for all his notoriety, was an incredible writer, and this book is one of his finest. The gritty and depressing existence of Dick and Perry that leads up to one terrible night in Kansas is so vividly represented, you feel all the more frightened as you are reading it, because it seems you have become witness to the absolute terror and brutality perpetrated on an innocent family by these two men. Truman Capote not only presents in graphic detail the terror of this night, but he also reveals the personalities of Dick and Perry in such a way that, even though they are despicable human beings, you may feel a twinge of sorrow for them. The birth of each man's anger, and the inability of either one of them to integrate into society, was formed in childhoods of abuse. It truly is amazing how Capote got inside the heads of these pathetic men, capturing the pervasive sadness and despair, bizarrely coupled with hope for a "normal" future. The relationship of Dick and Perry is almost a symbiotic one. Separately, they may not have done what they did, but together, they are lethal. The gullibility of a person, who never felt like he belonged, combined with another person who thinks he needs to exact revenge on society- it's a sick combination of pack mentality and ignorance. Eventually, all of this culminates into a night of crime in Kansas wrought by these two men. The portrayal is so graphic in nature; no one could read it without being rendered silently stunned. The sadness felt for this totally unsuspecting and wholly innocent family is overwhelming. Certainly there have been similar crimes, but the representation of it by Capote, and the intrinsic knowledge of these two men, makes you feel you had a front row view of the whole thing.
`In Cold Blood' is less about the particulars of that awful crime one night in Kansas; it is more about the insidiousness of what childhood abuse and feeling disenfranchised can do to a person. It would be easy to focus on the terror and sadness of this crime, but the brilliance of Capote is that the focus is placed on the criminals and trying to engender compassion from the reader for them. With Capote's vision in writing, he almost gets us there. After the capture and imprisonment of these two men, you can physically feel the fear in their hearts for their own condemnation. Perry's fear of execution is especially compelling.
This book is a must read for anyone who likes to read and makes no difference that it was written 40 years ago. It transcends all genres, because even though the story is despicable, the writing is phenomenal, and you will NEVER forget it.
Rating: - Beautiful and horrifying
This book is horrifying in its subject matter and as such I felt almost guilty to be reading it. Should I be reading for recreation something so real and horrific, about real suffering. On the other hand the prose is utterly fabulous, the writing completely compelling, and the characterisations utterly believeable. In some ways it felt like Lolita and American Psycho, admittedly those were works of fiction, but I had the same feeling of guilt to be reading something so well written about something so awful.
This is just such an American book, in the sheer power and momentum of the writing. It is also a direct descendent of Steinbeck, and is unfortunately an ancestor of some of the more grisly (although vastly lesser) contemporary US crime fiction.
Recommended, but not for the faint of heart.
- Truman creates a genreThis book is very deserving of its status as a classic. In this true crime story Capote almost single handedly created a distinct genre - true crime. It's easily as gripping as a novel, yet one is always aware of the fact that everything described here actually happened, adding to the book's tragic and often upsetting content. Perhaps the most remarkable achievement is that Capote doesn't dehumanise the killers - they are real people, not just ogres. When reading the book my feelings lurched from revulsion and alienation to a sense of sympathy and forgiveness for the killers. It seems to me that the real villain of the piece are not necessarily the killers - although their actions are quite horrific - but the society which excluded and forgot them with terrible consequences. Fifty years on, while things may have improved, change in America is still too slow.
Rating:
- A masterpiece in crime writingLike another reviewer I also became interested in this following the fantastic film Capote and this is the 3rd TC book I have read - all great by the way.
I read this book over several weeks yet every time I picked it up I was able to get straight back into the story. I think this is slightly due to the style of writing giving out accurate information in a chronological order similar to a long running news story.
Capote's writing is always brilliant whatever he writes about. There is no word wasted here, no over the top descriptions just a very gripping true story told from every angle. He doesnt judge anyone involved but gives enough detail to make you sympathise 'almost' with the killers.
Before reading this book the only story I knew of Kansas was the Wizard of OZ which also evokes the huge plains where farming is the main source of income, windy and lonesome with god fearing, hard working farming folk making a living. Then one night this terrible crime takes place. Capote relives each and every minute of the crime, the getaway, eventual capture and the court hearing and outcome. A great book in every way.
Rating:
- A classic, a literary masterpieceIt started with a few sentences in the back of The New York Times about a seemingly senseless murder in Kansas. Truman Capote read this brief article and decided to invent a completely new genre of writing, the non-fiction novel. This book is the result of Capote's research with Harper Lee and moved the murders of the Clutter family from the back of The NY Times to the front of the bestseller lists.
The book starts by introducing us to Herb Clutter and his family. Capote builds a description of a decent, kind, generous, respected, and hardworking family. Although Capote built a reputation as a flamboyant character, he shows enormous respect for the Clutters. Inter-weaved with his description of the Clutters is his description of the two men, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, who are about to destroy this family. The suspense builds as the killers get closer and closer. Capote then skips ahead to the discovery of the bodies and we are left knowing what happened but not how or why.
The next section of the book inter-weaves the movements of the killers with the story of the investigators trying to discover their identity. Slowly we learn more and more about the nature and background of these two sociopaths. Meanwhile, the investigation struggles forward until a lucky break leads to the capture. At this point, we finally learn what happened the night of the killings in the words of the killers themselves. The final section details the trial and ultimate punishment of Hickock and Smith.
The book is brilliantly written. Although there have been questions about the complete accuracy of the story (Capote never took notes during interviews and the book has no footnotes) it is still a compelling and frightening book. The combination of creative writing with journalism created a new genre of writing and makes every other "true crime" book read like a high school project. Capote pulls his readers into the story creating empathy for the victims (the dead as well as the living) while letting us see into the minds of the killers as well as Hickock and Smith were ever able to see into themselves. This is a book that is a classic, a literary masterpiece even if it isn't an example of perfect accuracy. It is a must read.
Rating:
- Magnificent.'In Cold Blood' is one of the best books of all time. It should be required reading in all beginning college lit courses, if not in high school. I first read 'In Cold Blood' in high school (in the 80s), and I read it in one sitting- straight through the night- just because I couldn't put it down. I have recently purchased this newer edition, because this book is worth reading again.
To begin with, Truman Capote, for all his notoriety, was an incredible writer, and this book is one of his finest. The gritty and depressing existence of Dick and Perry that leads up to one terrible night in Kansas is so vividly represented, you feel all the more frightened as you are reading it, because it seems you have become witness to the absolute terror and brutality perpetrated on an innocent family by these two men. Truman Capote not only presents in graphic detail the terror of this night, but he also reveals the personalities of Dick and Perry in such a way that, even though they are despicable human beings, you may feel a twinge of sorrow for them. The birth of each man's anger, and the inability of either one of them to integrate into society, was formed in childhoods of abuse. It truly is amazing how Capote got inside the heads of these pathetic men, capturing the pervasive sadness and despair, bizarrely coupled with hope for a "normal" future. The relationship of Dick and Perry is almost a symbiotic one. Separately, they may not have done what they did, but together, they are lethal. The gullibility of a person, who never felt like he belonged, combined with another person who thinks he needs to exact revenge on society- it's a sick combination of pack mentality and ignorance. Eventually, all of this culminates into a night of crime in Kansas wrought by these two men. The portrayal is so graphic in nature; no one could read it without being rendered silently stunned. The sadness felt for this totally unsuspecting and wholly innocent family is overwhelming. Certainly there have been similar crimes, but the representation of it by Capote, and the intrinsic knowledge of these two men, makes you feel you had a front row view of the whole thing.
`In Cold Blood' is less about the particulars of that awful crime one night in Kansas; it is more about the insidiousness of what childhood abuse and feeling disenfranchised can do to a person. It would be easy to focus on the terror and sadness of this crime, but the brilliance of Capote is that the focus is placed on the criminals and trying to engender compassion from the reader for them. With Capote's vision in writing, he almost gets us there. After the capture and imprisonment of these two men, you can physically feel the fear in their hearts for their own condemnation. Perry's fear of execution is especially compelling.
This book is a must read for anyone who likes to read and makes no difference that it was written 40 years ago. It transcends all genres, because even though the story is despicable, the writing is phenomenal, and you will NEVER forget it.
Rating:
- Beautiful and horrifyingThis book is horrifying in its subject matter and as such I felt almost guilty to be reading it. Should I be reading for recreation something so real and horrific, about real suffering. On the other hand the prose is utterly fabulous, the writing completely compelling, and the characterisations utterly believeable. In some ways it felt like Lolita and American Psycho, admittedly those were works of fiction, but I had the same feeling of guilt to be reading something so well written about something so awful.
This is just such an American book, in the sheer power and momentum of the writing. It is also a direct descendent of Steinbeck, and is unfortunately an ancestor of some of the more grisly (although vastly lesser) contemporary US crime fiction.
Recommended, but not for the faint of heart.