Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

20 reviews

moraina's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This was a very slow read for me. I appreciate that Truman Capote presented everything as factual and didn’t sensationalize, since these were real people that were affected by an awful crime. However, his lengthy descriptions and tedious run-on sentences sometimes made it difficult to stay engaged. I think he did do a fair job representing the events that happened and provided both commentary from a more outside perspective as well as representing how the community felt during these events, but the writing style did lessen my enjoyment of the book.

The descriptions of Dick and Perry’s capture and subsequent trial really did make me think on what is considered substantial evidence and a fair trial. I think Capote also did a good job delving into the ethics of capital punishment. It is interesting to see how much more religion played a role in these matters, given both the time period and geographic location of the events. Exploring the childhood of Perry, in particular, does end up being rather important for understanding the murders. I found the discussion of childhood abuse and the reasons for “murders with no apparent motive” quite interesting as well (although terrible, of course).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Rape

Minor: Animal death and Terminal illness

dudajoia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Na introdução da minha edição, quando eu li que o Capote se gabava de ter escrito uma obra-prima, fiquei com um pé atrás com ele, e no fundo quis provar que o livro não era tudo isso. Mas pior que é. Você demora a se acostumar com o ritmo e as descrições muito bem detalhadas de tudo envolto na trama, mas logo cada menção mostra o seu propósito, com o talento e o domínio de texto do Capote piscando o olho pra você. Não esperava o tamanho respeito no texto que (apesar das discussões) afirma ser o primeiro de seu tipo, digo isso depois de consumir muito "true crime". A humanidade latente das páginas toma a sua atenção e seu fôlego como reféns, o que não é fácil para uma história tão cruel e tão triste como essa. Ele é excelente ao mostrar todas as pequenas sombras, as sutilezas, as ironias e o absurdo de tudo isso. Jornalismo literário em excelência. Quanto às críticas, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Animal death and Homophobia

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

emersonseyeball's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Cursing, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, and Classism

kemorrell's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual assault and War

hannahchristine's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

I liked how capote told the story of the murders from a perspective that included the victims as well as the murderers. Even though he did tell the stories of the murderers and made the reader feel quite sympathetic it didn't seem too sensationalized and like he excused the murderers. You could build a connection to the victims as well as the murderers but still could base your opinion on an almost objective retelling. (if you ignored Capote's bias towards Perry Smith, although not sure if he actually like him or if he was just sympathetic) Story telling to its finest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, and Car accident

athereaderofbooks's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

2.0

Clearly, I would not recommend this true-crime novel. 

I will give kudos to a couple of aspects of this book: 

1. It was organized in a notable way. It started with showing the past of both the victims and their killers. Their environments were taken into consideration and you developed an idea of their character. Later it led to the investigation and we found out how the murder occurred through confessionals. Truman Capote followed the case until its conclusion. 

2. The entire book was thorough with everything. If something was mentioned it was never offhandedly, and we understood how everyone and everything contributed to the narrative. 

But despite these factors, I hated this book. This is the first time that I have read a true crime book, and this most definitely affected my rating, but this was horrific. Why would I want to read about an entire family being murdered

because some thieves wanted money??

How does one find enjoyment in such a subject when they themself could one day be the victim of such an unsuspecting crime? The Clutters likely never thought of this likelihood and look what happened to them. The only thing this book added to my life was more anxiety, and I already have enough. 

 On top of this, there have been multiple people who have contested the accuracy of this book, saying that there were many pieces of opinion inserted and falsehoods added into the book. (Not just random people online, but people who themselves have analyzed this crime.) 
 
This dragged on and on with a really excessive form of writing and the only interest I had was finishing this book so I could get it over with, understand what happened, and try to forget it. 

And to me, most importantly, there were multiple instances where racial, homophobic, and in general degrading slurs were used. This includes but is not limited to the n-word, the f slur, and out-of-date referrals to Asian, Black, and Native American people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Physical abuse, Excrement, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and War

hot_water's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Abandonment

houndoflove1985's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Racism, and Abandonment

carsonlott's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.5

i really really enjoyed this book. capote invented the true crime, nonfiction novel and is an absolute genius. however, some parts of the book felt unnecessarily dense — like an information dump. despite this, the story was absolutely captivating and even made me feel nauseous at some points. would recommend to anyone with a tough stomach kr true crime lover, 4.5/5. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Abandonment