Reviews tagging 'Violence'

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

104 reviews

lugl's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

consolidated my ideas of how inherently morbid true crime is... I feel bad saying I liked it...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

bludgeoned_by_hail's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Simultaneously good literature and good investigative journalism, casting a long shadow over its genre. 

It conjures a story, characters and themes from a list of facts and testimonies, while still managing to refrain from sensationalism and approaching the events with a surprising degree of empathy and tact. Its style of oral history/mosaic/reconstruction amalgam feels surprisingly current (no doubt because of its impact) and clearly recognizable in the thousands of hours of true crime mini-series and documentaries on any given streaming service nowadays. 

Unfortunately, just like many of its inferior successors, it also feels a bit repetitive, stretched thin or unable to prioritize some content over other at points. I understand that if you conducted this much independent investigation, cutting things must feel like pulling teeth, but that doesn't make segments like the in-depth description of the crimes of each inmate who happened to be on death row alongside Dick and Perry or the endless circumstantial opinions of the locals any less excrutiating to read. On the other hand, this "boring" meticulousness is also one of the biggest strengths of the book, especially when bringing the killers' portraits to life without leaning into voyeurism or romanticization.

Not the quickest or most fun read, but still timeless and fascinating nontheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Minor: Religious bigotry

katie0528's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

3.75

A classic true crime novel about the mass murder of the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959. Capote details the family's last night alive up until the execution of their murderers. This reads much more like a journalistic piece, with interviews from everyone to the police to the townspeople to the killers themselves. The text can be a little dry at times but it's classic for any true crime fan

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

namitree's review against another edition

reflective tense slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Rape

animaniac17's review against another edition

dark emotional tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Rape and Violence

cyberhavok's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Racism, and Grief

Minor: Pedophilia

awalsh1212001's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Suicide, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and War

abicaro17's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

2.75

This took forever to finish because it was boring. Perry and Dick are two ex convicts who after going on parole, decide to attempt to rob a family in Kansas. The beginning of this book tells you that not only did that not happen but all four members of the Clutter family were brutally murdered. Capote goes on to describe the Clutters home life, Dick and Perrys childhoods/home lives, and their lives in and after prison. The reasons this didn't work for me are that the audience knew who killed the Clutters from the beginning, I didn't care about anyone in this book, and this book is so incredibly long for only being about one night of murder. This could have been a good short book but the length of this was so unnecessary. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nicoleisalwaysreading's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

alexisvana's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

Fantastic, complicated, gruesome. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Sexual violence