A review by herelieshenry
In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

Capote’s prose is masterful, but the non-fiction aspect was handled in a way I don’t find responsible, and I think that, as one of the first major modern true crime media “sensations”, In Cold Blood embodies many of the same problems that true crime media, particularly dramatizations, maintains today. I don’t dislike Capote, and in fact I quite like his writing for the most part, but I couldn’t in good conscience give this book a wholly glowing review. There would still be issues if I looked at it the way one looks at fiction, but monumentally less — that said, it is not purely fiction, and I can’t look at this novel & not be acutely aware of the fact that these were real people & the facts were embellished in ways that can’t really be brushed off, in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Car accident, Abandonment, and War