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What Members Thought
I don't know how many times I started this book and then chickened out but I'm glad to have finally seen it through to the end.
Capote creates such a sense of terror and foreboding that I truthfully couldn't handle it. Reading the early pages with the Clutters going about their lives never knowing what was coming stressed me out so badly I had to stop. This time I made it past that point and thought I was in the clear (so dumb!) until Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock are caught and they recreat the ...more
Capote creates such a sense of terror and foreboding that I truthfully couldn't handle it. Reading the early pages with the Clutters going about their lives never knowing what was coming stressed me out so badly I had to stop. This time I made it past that point and thought I was in the clear (so dumb!) until Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock are caught and they recreat the ...more
This is the father of the true crime novel, and it is chilling in its journalistic neutrality. It seems that this book can cause vastly differing opinions among readers, but I found the story of the cold blooded murder of the Clutter family of Holcombe, Kansas by two ex-cons on parole a fascinating exploration into the darkness of humanity and the cold side of human psychology. Capote clearly treated this novel as a labour of love - it is meticulously researched and often dense in its prose. But
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I didn't like it that much when I read it in college as part of a Southern Lit class. But when I re-read it recently, I liked it much more. It's a real true-crime novel, like a Law & Order episode. It's hard to imagine that someone as flamboyant as Capote was in real life could calm down enough to write this by the book, fact-driven, re-telling of a grisly crime that went awry. The backstory is just as fascinating, as depicted in the movie Capote. Read the book, see the movie, in that order.
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In 1959, an entire family were murdered in their home and the author investigates the crime and how it affected the small farming community in which it took place. This book is a work of non-fiction so the fact that this really happened, makes it all the more gruesome! I'd like to mention that I saw the movie but liked the book better because I felt the book concentrated more on the crime itself, where as the film seemed to focus on Capote, the writer. This book was thorough and well-written.
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I can't believe that I never read this legal classic. Scott Brick's narration of the audiobook was excellent, as usual. Though I know there's been some controversy about Capote's methods and about his decision to leave himself out of the book almost entirely, the book still has an important genre-creating role as one of the first novel-style works of nonfiction and one of the earliest and best true crime books.
I found the killers extremely creepy. ...more
I found the killers extremely creepy. ...more
This book was pretty fascinating in the way car accidents are fascinating - awful, gruesome, but you can't pull yourself away. I remember thinking, 'this is the man who wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's?!'
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I can't say anything that hasn't already been said. Very good book.
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Apr 22, 2009
Lacresha
marked it as to-read
May 05, 2009
Haley
marked it as to-read
Jul 27, 2009
Jennifer Eklund
marked it as to-read
Aug 20, 2009
Vesra (When She Reads)
added it
Feb 25, 2010
Micha
marked it as to-read
Feb 21, 2011
Candace
marked it as to-read
