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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.
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.
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
iarlais's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
One of the most unique books I've ever read. Disregarding the binary of fiction and fact, Capote aims to walk inbetween as he weaves a fictionalised tale of true events. The ethics of it are, well, a little questionable I think. Now, it's not like there aren't other sources to find about the Clutter murders, but In Cold Blood would have been one of the most widely-read at the time, and it's a book upon which the murderers had a heavy influence, whether Capote intended that to be the case or not. Despite this, it doesn't portray them very sympathetically, at least in my own opinion. I saw critics attack this book by saying that Capote was trying to vilify the Clutters and create sympathy for Dick and Perry, but I don't really agree with that. The Clutters were just humans, Kenyon comes off as quite cruel and Herbert a religious bigot, but I didn't feel like the book attempted to justify their murders. As for Bonnie and Nancy, they seem to me to be completely pure beings who were the outright innocent victims of Dick and Perry. As for the death-dealing duo themselves, I didn't feel like either of them were portrayed that sympathetically. According to Perry and by extension Capote, Dick was a pedophile, so any sympathy automatically flees the window, there. Perry, while he isn't as sick, is certainly still pathetic. I honestly don't know what Capote saw in him. I don't think either of them deserved to die, but that's less because of Capote's telling of the story and more because I don't agree with the death penalty for anyone.
The book itself is decent. The opening chapter is stellar, the way it cuts back and forth between the killers and the victims manages to build tension for a tragedy that is already known to the reader. It does suffer from some pacing issues, and I don't understand why Capote felt the need to tell the story of the other men on death row. Maybe he had a reason, but if so it passes over my head. I also would have liked the book more if it spared some time to focus on the public reaction to the executions of Dick and Perry, given how the whole Clutter tragedy became so infamous, it'd only make sense for the final conclusion of it to bring about some amount of public discourse. That all said, the prose is great, Capote has a wonderful knack for describing environments and building societies in a reader's head, and there were points where I felt like I was reading a very dark road trip story, as the two killers traverse from settlement to settlement, unaware that their death warrant was signed the moment they fired those four shots.
If you're looking for a source on the Clutter murders, this isn't the most unbiased, but I think it's the best one out there. It's definitely flawed, but also gripping and thought-provoking. I think Capote did a good job.
The book itself is decent. The opening chapter is stellar, the way it cuts back and forth between the killers and the victims manages to build tension for a tragedy that is already known to the reader. It does suffer from some pacing issues, and I don't understand why Capote felt the need to tell the story of the other men on death row. Maybe he had a reason, but if so it passes over my head. I also would have liked the book more if it spared some time to focus on the public reaction to the executions of Dick and Perry, given how the whole Clutter tragedy became so infamous, it'd only make sense for the final conclusion of it to bring about some amount of public discourse. That all said, the prose is great, Capote has a wonderful knack for describing environments and building societies in a reader's head, and there were points where I felt like I was reading a very dark road trip story, as the two killers traverse from settlement to settlement, unaware that their death warrant was signed the moment they fired those four shots.
If you're looking for a source on the Clutter murders, this isn't the most unbiased, but I think it's the best one out there. It's definitely flawed, but also gripping and thought-provoking. I think Capote did a good job.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia and Murder
Minor: Religious bigotry
directorpurry's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
It would be wrong, in many ways, to say I love this book. So I'm not going to.
Engaging with any type of true crime media, be it audio, visual, or literary, should bring prominent ethical questions to mind. (Believe me, I say this as a lover of all things true crime.) Thoughts of exploitation of the victims, the families, and sometimes the perpetrators, should be seriously considered. The closer the crime, the higher the cost. In this case, a book about a murder in 1959 being read (first sometime around 2013 and then a second time) in 2021 has a much lower feeling of exploitation than a book about a murder in 1959 being published in 1965 does.
In creating In Cold Blood, Capote did just as many things wrong as he did right. Reading this book is a deeply literary experience. Being a piece of history - not to mention a reread - there is considerably less suspense than, say, a brand new fiction novel. But the building sense of dread created in the first act is truly masterful. The audience knows what is going to happen, and yet... I knew exactly what was going to happen. I remembered the murder confessions in fairly explicit detail for reading this almost eight years ago; but I still found myself drawn into the story and carried along by the narrative force. The writing itself is poetic at times and plain at others, but always fitting the story this piece works so hard to tell.
When creating true crime media, I firmly believe that every action taken should be as respectful and ethical as possible in order to respect the dead, at the very least. The legacy of this book is far from spotless. Not only are there allegations that segments of this book were misleading, if not entirely fabricated, and Capote's methods of interview and investigation have been questioned both by contemporary witnesses and other journalists and authors after the fact.
There are times when the story is simply too convenient - elegant moments present themselves for a striking visual or convenient meetings and resonant conversations occur in a way that is particularly rare outside of a piece of fiction. Even while writing this review, I often found myself considering what descriptor to type out - was book or novel actually the word I wanted to use? The controversy of that line is certainly a mark against this book, but only in its ethos, not in its place in literary history or even the American consciousness of crime.
I certainly view this piece much differently than I did when I read this first as a 15-year-old. The way Perry Smith is presented as a particularly sympathetic player is both difficult and powerful. He is at once "the bad guy" and also just misunderstood. I think the first time I struggled to understand how that dichotomy was drawn - teenagers are not exactly known for their understanding of gray morality - but I see it a little better now. I can both condemn these men and understand how they saw themselves - not as the villains but misunderstood heroes. There are many depths to the human mind and it's very easy to misrepresent one's self - especially to one's self.
I don't research for my reviews, but I did for this one. Partly because I didn't want to misrepresent the controversies around this book, but also, at least a little bit, because I wanted to do what I could to respect the dead as well.
Engaging with any type of true crime media, be it audio, visual, or literary, should bring prominent ethical questions to mind. (Believe me, I say this as a lover of all things true crime.) Thoughts of exploitation of the victims, the families, and sometimes the perpetrators, should be seriously considered. The closer the crime, the higher the cost. In this case, a book about a murder in 1959 being read (first sometime around 2013 and then a second time) in 2021 has a much lower feeling of exploitation than a book about a murder in 1959 being published in 1965 does.
In creating In Cold Blood, Capote did just as many things wrong as he did right. Reading this book is a deeply literary experience. Being a piece of history - not to mention a reread - there is considerably less suspense than, say, a brand new fiction novel. But the building sense of dread created in the first act is truly masterful. The audience knows what is going to happen, and yet... I knew exactly what was going to happen. I remembered the murder confessions in fairly explicit detail for reading this almost eight years ago; but I still found myself drawn into the story and carried along by the narrative force. The writing itself is poetic at times and plain at others, but always fitting the story this piece works so hard to tell.
When creating true crime media, I firmly believe that every action taken should be as respectful and ethical as possible in order to respect the dead, at the very least. The legacy of this book is far from spotless. Not only are there allegations that segments of this book were misleading, if not entirely fabricated, and Capote's methods of interview and investigation have been questioned both by contemporary witnesses and other journalists and authors after the fact.
There are times when the story is simply too convenient - elegant moments present themselves for a striking visual or convenient meetings and resonant conversations occur in a way that is particularly rare outside of a piece of fiction. Even while writing this review, I often found myself considering what descriptor to type out - was book or novel actually the word I wanted to use? The controversy of that line is certainly a mark against this book, but only in its ethos, not in its place in literary history or even the American consciousness of crime.
I certainly view this piece much differently than I did when I read this first as a 15-year-old. The way Perry Smith is presented as a particularly sympathetic player is both difficult and powerful. He is at once "the bad guy" and also just misunderstood. I think the first time I struggled to understand how that dichotomy was drawn - teenagers are not exactly known for their understanding of gray morality - but I see it a little better now. I can both condemn these men and understand how they saw themselves - not as the villains but misunderstood heroes. There are many depths to the human mind and it's very easy to misrepresent one's self - especially to one's self.
I don't research for my reviews, but I did for this one. Partly because I didn't want to misrepresent the controversies around this book, but also, at least a little bit, because I wanted to do what I could to respect the dead as well.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, Vomit, and Religious bigotry