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The detached yet penetrating account of the savage and senseless murder of a family.
Mr. Capote twice won the O.Henry Memorial Short Story Prize and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He died in August 1984, shortly before his sixtieth birthday.
Author biography courtesy of Random House, Inc.
The Last to See Them Alive
THE village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them.
Holcomb, too, can be seen from great distances. Not that there is much to see--simply an aimless congregation of buildings divided in the center by the main-line tracks of the Santa Fe Railroad, a haphazard hamlet bounded on the south by a brown stretch of the Arkansas (pronounced "Ar-kan-sas") River, on the north by a highway, Route 50, and on the east and west by prairie lands and wheat fields. After rain, or when snowfalls thaw, the streets, unnamed, unshaded, unpaved, turn from the thickest dust into the direst mud. At one end of the town stands a stark old stucco structure, the roof of which supports an electric sign--DANCE--but the dancing has ceased and the advertisement has been dark for several years. Nearby is another building with an irrelevant sign, this one in flaking gold on a dirty window--HOLCOMB BANK. The bank closed in 1933, and its former counting rooms have been converted into apartments. It is one of the town's two "apartment houses," the second being a ramshackle mansion known, because a good part of the local school's faculty lives there, as the Teacherage. But the majority of Holcomb's homes are one-story frame affairs, with front porches.
Down by the depot, the postmistress, a gaunt woman who wears a rawhide jacket and denims and cowboy boots, presides over a falling-apart post office. The depot itself, with its peeling sulphur-colored paint, is equally melancholy; the Chief, the Super-Chief, the El Capitan go by every day, but these celebrated expresses never pause there. No passenger trains do--only an occasional freight. Up on the highway, there are two filling stations, one of which doubles as a meagerly supplied grocery store, while the other does extra duty as a café--Hartman's Café, where Mrs. Hartman, the proprietress, dispenses sandwiches, coffee, soft drinks, and 3.2 beer. (Holcomb, like all the rest of Kansas, is "dry.")
And that, really, is all. Unless you include, as one must, the Holcomb School, a good-looking establishment, which reveals a circumstance that the appearance of the community otherwise camouflages: that the parents who send their children to this modern and ably staffed "consolidated" school--the grades go from kindergarten through senior high, and a fleet of buses transport the students, of which there are usually around three hundred and sixty, from as far as sixteen miles away--are, in general, a prosperous people. Farm ranchers, most of them, they are outdoor folk of very varied stock--German, Irish, Norwegian, Mexican, Japanese. They raise cattle and sheep, grow wheat, milo, grass seed, and sugar beets. Farming is always a chancy business, but in western Kansas its practitioners consider themselves "born gamblers," for they must contend with an extremely shallow precipitation (the annual average is eighteen inches) and anguishing irrigation problems. However, the last seven years have been years of droughtless beneficence. The farm ranchers in Finney County, of which Holcomb is a part, have done well; money has been made not from farming alone but also from the exploitation of plentiful natural-gas resources, and its acquisition is reflected in the new school, the comfortable interiors of the farmhouses, the steep and swollen grain elevators.
Until one morning in mid-November of 1959, few Americans--in fact, few Kansans--had ever heard of Holcomb. Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape of exceptional happenings, had never stopped there. The inhabitants of the village, numbering two hundred and seventy, were satisfied that this should be so, quite content to exist inside ordinary life--to work, to hunt, to watch television, to attend school socials, choir practice, meetings of the 4-H Club. But then, in the earliest hours of that morning in November, a Sunday morning, certain foreign sounds impinged on the normal nightly Holcomb noises--on the keening hysteria of coyotes, the dry scrape of scuttling tumbleweed, the racing, receding wail of locomotive whistles. At the time not a soul in sleeping Holcomb heard them--four shotgun blasts that, all told, ended six human lives. But afterward the townspeople, theretofore sufficiently unfearful of each other to seldom trouble to lock their doors, found fantasy re-creating them over and again--those somber explosions that stimulated fires of mistrust in the glare of which many old neighbors viewed each other strangely, and as strangers.
THE master of River Valley Farm, Herbert William Clutter, was forty-eight years old, and as a result of a recent medical examination for an insurance policy, knew himself to be in first-rate condition. Though he wore rimless glasses and was of but average height, standing just under five feet ten, Mr. Clutter cut a man's-man figure. His shoulders were broad, his hair had held its dark color, his square-jawed, confident face retained a healthy-hued youthfulness, and his teeth, unstained and strong enough to shatter walnuts, were still intact. He weighed a hundred and fifty-four--the same as he had the day he graduated from Kansas State University, where he had majored in agriculture. He was not as rich as the richest man in Holcomb--Mr. Taylor Jones, a neighboring rancher. He was, however, the community's most widely known citizen, prominent both there and in Garden City, the close-by county seat, where he had headed the building committee for the newly completed First Methodist Church, an eight-hundred-thousand-dollar edifice. He was currently chairman of the Kansas Conference of Farm Organizations, and his name was everywhere respectfully recognized among Midwestern agriculturists, as it was in certain Washington offices, where he had been a member of the Federal Farm Credit Board during the Eisenhower administration.
Always certain of what he wanted from the world, Mr. Clutter had in large measure obtained it. On his left hand, on what remained of a finger once mangled by a piece of farm machinery, he wore a plain gold band, which was the symbol, a quarter-century old, of his marriage to the person he had wished to marry--the sister of a college classmate, a timid, pious, delicate girl named Bonnie Fox, who was three years younger than he. She had given him four children--a trio of daughters, then a son. The eldest daughter, Eveanna, married and the mother of a boy ten months old, lived in northern Illinois but visited Holcomb frequently. Indeed, she and her family were expected within the fortnight, for her parents planned a sizable Thanksgiving reunion of the Clutter clan (which had its beginnings in Germany; the first immigrant Clutter--or Klotter, as the name was then spelled--arrived here in 1880); fifty-odd kinfolk had been asked, several of whom would be traveling from places as far away as Palatka, Florida. Nor did Beverly, the child next in age to Eveanna, any longer reside at River Valley Farm; she was in Kansas City, Kansas, studying to be a nurse. Beverly was engaged to a young biology student, of whom her father very much approved; invitations to the wedding, scheduled for Christmas Week, were already printed. Which left, still living at home, the boy, Kenyon, who at fifteen was taller than Mr. Clutter, and one sister, a year older--the town darling, Nancy.
In regard to his family, Mr. Clutter had just one serious cause for disquiet--his wife's health. She was "nervous," she suffered "little spells"--such were the sheltering expressions used by those close to her. Not that the truth concerning "poor Bonnie's afflictions" was in the least a secret; everyone knew she had been an on-and-off psychiatric patient the last half-dozen years. Yet even upon this shadowed terrain sunlight had very lately sparkled. The past Wednesday, returning from two weeks of treatment at the Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, her customary place of retirement, Mrs. Clutter had brought scarcely credible tidings to tell her husband; with joy she informed him that the source of her misery, so medical opinion had at last decreed, was not in her head but in her spine--it was physical, a matter of misplaced vertebrae. Of course, she must undergo an operation, and afterward--well, she would be her "old self" again. Was it possible--the tension, the withdrawals, the pillow-muted sobbing behind locked doors, all due to an out-of-order backbone? If so, then Mr. Clutter could, when addressing his Thanksgiving table, recite a blessing of unmarred gratitude.
Ordinarily, Mr. Clutter's mornings began at six-thirty; clanging milk pails and the whispery chatter of the boys who brought them, two sons of a hired man named Vic Irsik, usually roused him. But today he lingered, let Vic Irsik's sons come and leave, for the previous evening, a Friday the thirteenth, had been a tiring one, though in part exhilarating. Bonnie had resurrected her "old self"; as if serving up a preview of the normality, the regained vigor, soon to be, she had rouged her lips, fussed with her hair, and, wearing a new dress, accompanied him to the Holcomb School, where they applauded a student production of Tom Sawyer, in which Nancy played Becky Thatcher. He had enjoyed it, seeing Bonnie out in public, nervous but nonetheless smiling, talking to people, and they both had been proud of Nancy; she had done so well, remembering all her lines, and looking, as he had said to her in the course of backstage congratulations, "Just beautiful, honey--a real Southern belle." Whereupon Nancy had behaved like one; curtsying in her hoop-skirted costume, she had asked if she might drive into Garden City. The State Theatre was having a special, eleven-thirty, Friday-the-thirteenth "Spook Show," and all her friends were going. In other circumstances Mr. Clutter would have refused. His laws were laws, and one of them was: Nancy--and Kenyon, too--must be home by ten on week nights, by twelve on Saturdays. But weakened by the genial events of the evening, he had consented. And Nancy had not returned home until almost two. He had heard her come in, and had called to her, for though he was not a man ever really to raise his voice, he had some plain things to say to her, statements that concerned less the lateness of the hour than the youngster who had driven her home--a school basketball hero, Bobby Rupp.
Mr. Clutter liked Bobby, and considered him, for a boy his age, which was seventeen, most dependable and gentlemanly; however, in the three years she had been permitted "dates," Nancy, popular and pretty as she was, had never gone out with anyone else, and while Mr. Clutter understood that it was the present national adolescent custom to form couples, to "go steady" and wear "engagement rings," he disapproved, particularly since he had not long ago, by accident, surprised his daughter and the Rupp boy kissing. He had then suggested that Nancy discontinue "seeing so much of Bobby," advising her that a slow retreat now would hurt less than an abrupt severance later--for, as he reminded her, it was a parting that must eventually take place. The Rupp family were Roman Catholics, the Clutters, Methodist--a fact that should in itself be sufficient to terminate whatever fancies she and this boy might have of some day marrying. Nancy had been reasonable--at any rate, she had not argued--and now, before saying good night, Mr. Clutter secured from her a promise to begin a gradual breaking off with Bobby.
Still, the incident had lamentably put off his retiring time, which was ordinarily eleven o'clock. As a consequence, it was well after seven when he awakened on Saturday, November 14, 1959. His wife always slept as late as possible. However, while Mr. Clutter was shaving, showering, and outfitting himself in whipcord trousers, a cattleman's leather jacket, and soft stirrup boots, he had no fear of disturbing her; they did not share the same bedroom. For several years he had slept alone in the master bedroom, on the ground floor of the house--a two-story, fourteen-room frame-and-brick structure. Though Mrs. Clutter stored her clothes in the closets of this room, and kept her few cosmetics and her myriad medicines in the blue-tile-and-glass-brick bathroom adjoining it, she had taken for serious occupancy Eveanna's former bedroom, which, like Nancy's and Kenyon's rooms, was on the second floor.
The house--for the most part designed by Mr. Clutter, who thereby proved himself a sensible and sedate, if not notably decorative, architect--had been built in 1948 for forty thousand dollars. (The resale value was now sixty thousand dollars.) Situated at the end of a long, lanelike driveway shaded by rows of Chinese elms, the handsome white house, standing on an ample lawn of groomed Bermuda grass, impressed Holcomb; it was a place people pointed out. As for the interior, there were spongy displays of liver-colored carpet intermittently abolishing the glare of varnished, resounding floors; an immense modernistic living-room couch covered in nubby fabric interwoven with glittery strands of silver metal; a breakfast alcove featuring a banquette upholstered in blue-and-white plastic. This sort of furnishing was what Mr. and Mrs. Clutter liked, as did the majority of their acquaintances, whose homes, by and large, were similarly furnished.
Other than a housekeeper who came in on weekdays, the Clutters employed no household help, so since his wife's illness and the departure of the elder daughters, Mr. Clutter had of necessity learned to cook; either he or Nancy, but principally Nancy, prepared the family meals. Mr. Clutter enjoyed the chore, and was excellent at it--no woman in Kansas baked a better loaf of salt-rising bread, and his celebrated coconut cookies were the first item to go at charity cake sales--but he was not a hearty eater; unlike his fellow-ranchers, he even preferred Spartan breakfasts. That morning an apple and a glass of milk were enough for him; because he touched neither coffee or tea, he was accustomed to begin the day on a cold stomach. The truth was he opposed all stimulants, however gentle. He did not smoke, and of course he did not drink; indeed, he had never tasted spirits, and was inclined to avoid people who had--a circumstance that did not shrink his social circle as much as might be supposed, for the center of that circle was supplied by the members of Garden City's First Methodist Church, a congregation totaling seventeen hundred, most of whom were as abstemious as Mr. Clutter could desire. While he was careful to avoid making a nuisance of his views, to adopt outside his realm an externally uncensoring manner, he enforced them within his family and among the employees at River Valley Farm. "Are you a drinking man?" was the first question he asked a job applicant, and even though the fellow gave a negative answer, he still must sign a work contract containing a clause that declared the agreement instantly void if the employee should be discovered "harboring alcohol." A friend--an old pioneer rancher, Mr. Lynn Russell--had once told him, "You've got no mercy. I swear, Herb, if you caught a hired man drinking, out he'd go. And you wouldn't care if his family was starving." It was perhaps the only criticism ever made of Mr. Clutter as an employer. Otherwise, he was known for his equanimity, his charitableness, and the fact that he paid good wages and distributed frequent bonuses; the men who worked for him--and there were sometimes as many as eighteen--had small reason to complain.
Anonymous
Posted Fri Apr 04 00:00:00 EDT 2008
Having never read anything by Truman Capote and after seeing the Oscar-nominated 'Capote,' I was inspired to pick up (finally) IN COLD BLOOD. I was a bit annoyed by Capote's personality in the movie and realized that I could have never stood to be in the same room with him because his self-love would have drive me crazy. I didn't let that stop me from purchasing the book, though, as I had heard good things about his writing and his 'masterpiece.' I've often been disappointed by books, but finished them to completion for the sake of not jumping to conclusions. Unfortunately, this is one book that I had to stop halfway through because, again, Capote's personality seemed to be shining through and I was getting annoyed. I know I'm going against the grain of many critics, educators, and readers alike, but I was not enjoying one bit of my reading experience. I found his writing to be the rambling of a man who couldn't keep one consistent thought going (perhaps it was the alcohol?). It was like reading a stream of consciousness that wasn't going anywhere. His thoughts jumped from past to present and back again without any cohesiveness. Halfway through the book, I was still unfamiliar with the 'characters' and much of their personalities. If it gets better in the second half of the book, I'll never know. Go ahead...give me a poor rating for my review. Just giving my opinion as a reader of many quality classic and modern books.
17 out of 39 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri Jan 26 00:00:00 EST 2007
I have given this title five stars because the five stars represent an 'outstanding' work. In Cold Blood is certainly that an outstanding work. However, there was little to enjoy but the style, the pure ease at which this tale stretches its legs in your imagination and makes itself at home...A little too at home. I am haunted by this, Mr. Capote's masterpiece. The sheer omniscience which Mr. Capote achieved through so many hours, days, months, years of research bring to the page the godlike perspective one expects from a well crafted work of fiction. While I have heard from some sources that this work was embellished, I am hard pressed to believe that the core tale is any way affected by fabrications. Reader beware you shall know know both slayer and slain. And, if in the end you put this down untouched, unmoved, unshaken, I hope to God that you just didn't understand it. Consider this review both a reccomendation, and a warning.
12 out of 13 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Mar 23 00:00:00 EDT 2009
I Also Recommend:
November 14, 1959 started out as an ordinary Saturday morning; running errands, working on the ranch and baking apple pies. The Clutters were well known in Holcomb, Kansas. Holcomb being a small town, it's inhabitants knew everything about eachother, for example how Mrs. Clutter suffered from "nervous episodes" and how Nancy and Bobby Rupp have been dating for some time now. That same day, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were planning a "score." Sunday morning, four bodies were discovered in the Clutter's house: Herb Clutter, Bonnie Clutter, Nancy Clutter and Kenyon Clutter. All were murdered by a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. The shocking deaths became the headlines of every newspaper and magazine. Rumors started, panic rose, paranoia struck. Meanwhile, Perry and Dick escaped and were trying to fulfill their dreams in Mexico. After some failures and money problems, they returned to the states. A former inmate of Dick and Perry hears of the murders and turns them in. The hunt is on. When they both were found, they were questioned and eventually sentenced to death. This "true account" is a never ending battle between man verses man verses self.
A major theme is the idea of the American Dream. Herb Clutter lived what seemed a perfect life, "He was, however, the community's most widely known citizen...he had headed the building committee for the newly completed First Methodist Church...was currently chairman of the Kansas Conference of Farm Organizations, and his name was everywhere respectfully recognized..." (Capote 6). He had power, money, a beautiful family, happines and respect. This story just puts a twist on the American Dream; it can't be fulfilled in this blood thirsty world.
My favorite part of the book was getting into the criminals' heads. Just knowing the little things that made Perry who he was, made the story that more real, "On the cover of the second notebook, the handwriting of which he was so proud, a script abounding in curly, feminine flourishes, proclaimed the contents to be "The Private Diary of Perry Edward Smith"- an inaccurate description, for it was not in the least a diary but, rather, a form of anthology consisting of obscure facts, poems and literary quotations, and passages for newspapers and books paraphrased or quoted" (Capote 146). I really enjoyed reading about the thought processes of Perry. It's easy to tell that Truman Capote took an interest in Perry's life, and really analyzed him well. I also loved the amount of detail Capote put into his research and eventually, the novel; his writing sucks you in and makes you experience every bit of the situations. I don't think there was anything I didn't like about this book, whether it was, Capote's writing style or the characters in it, i loved it all.
In Cold Blood first and foremost, just makes you realize how far the human mind can really take you, secondly, how no one is innocent, thirdly, sometimes the world is not just, but someone has to pay, and finally, Capote makes you realize that anything can happen in this world...
10 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Oct 14 00:00:00 EDT 2007
In Cold Blood is a book by Truman Capote and is widely regarded as his most famous novel. Capote had read about the Clutter murders and wanted to write an exciting nonfiction novel, so he set out on a five-year journey to write this book. In Cold Blood is also widely regarded as one of the best true crime novels that has ever been written. It details on the true story of the brutal murder of the Kansas Clutter family in 1959 at the hands of Dick Hickock and Perry Edward Smith. Capote uses and incredible amount of figurative language and advanced writing techniques to make you feel that you are inside the book. He really goes into depth on the character¿s back stories to make sure that you know everything about them some of these parts however were somewhat dull and made me wonder why they were included in the book at all. He makes some strange contrasts also that make you wonder what he is getting onto, like comparing a sweet and caring girl to that tattoos that the killers have on their arms. He also makes sure that he sheds light meticulously on everything to make sure you know what is going on, even then however the story is somewhat hard to hold onto as Capote has many storylines going on at once. Capote did succeed immensely with creating suspense in the novel. You can really tell when it¿s about to get interesting because the pace of the novel is sped up and the text gains a strange air about it. The novel begins right as Dick and Perry take a long road trip across the state to where the Clutters live, hoping to get to a hidden safe inside their house. They don¿t find the safe, but they do end up taking the lives of the whole Clutter family without a tiny bit of remorse. The book concludes at the murderer¿s execution at the hands of the Kansas police. In Cold Blood is a spiraling rollercoaster ride that has you hanging on for dear life 'or understanding' throughout the book. It is a fantastic read for somebody who is into detective novels and complicated storylines. It also shows no mercy to the squeamish and impressionable, but if you can able to handle it, then I would say that it is a must for anyone who wants a long and interesting ride.
7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Fri Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2006
In Cold Blood is one if not the best true crime books I ever read. The way Truman Capote describes the murders. It made me feel that I was there with that poor family. It is always interesting to me everytime I read it to decide what I would do if I was with The Clutter family to try to escape from Richard Eugene Hickcok and Perry Smith's muderous rath. It is trully a chilling masterpiece. I loved every minute reading it.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sat Jan 05 00:00:00 EST 2008
I think this is a really awsome book... I was really into it. I had to read it for my Junior AP English class and I hardly ever get even half through with any of the books assigned in that class, but this time I actually did and I enjoyed it. Highly recomended, very suspensful. I read it in two days!
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Before reading this book I had never heard of Holcomb, KS or the Clutter family. I had never heard of Richard Hickock or Perry Smith either. But after reading this masterpiece I fell like I was right there along side all of them back when this took place. This is an awesome book and you can cleary see how it affected Capote.
4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Apr 02 00:00:00 EDT 2007
IN COLD BLOOD By TRUMAN CAPOTE Are you the type of reader that likes to put puzzles together? Well look no further because this book will make you feel like your trying to solve the case all by yourself. This book has a lot of good action, suspense, and mystery to sink your teeth into. Truman Capote delivers great detailed descriptions of everything so you don¿t miss one bit of the setting, plot or characters. The main characters in the story are the Clutter family, which includes Herbert (dad) Bonnie (mom) Nancy (daughter) and Kenyon (son). The Clutter families are a well-known farmer family with bright kids like Nancy a straight A student and leader of many clubs and Kenyon who is very fond of machinery and carpentry. The family overall is a well-known wealthy family and rarely has enemies. The character that caught my attention would have to Herbert because Herbert begins to have strange feelings about the days to come and begins to plan life insurances just in case. Herbert is a hard worker and always has things on time and ready for anything. But what he isn¿t ready for is still yet to come to his home in Holcomb Kansas. On the other side of Kansas are men named Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. These men have been criminals for a while always in and out of jail and almost always wanted for something. One day they decide to take a long road trip. They take very long days just driving across the state playing guitar, singing and more driving. The Clutters are still living life and unaware of what might be coming to them. They¿ve got no idea death is on it¿s way. One morning Mr. Clutter gets up, as usual, to start the day. He eats an apple because according to him ¿its perfect apple eating weather.¿ One of Mr. Clutter¿s workers approaches Mr. Clutter and tells him that his wife is sick and asks for the day off. Mr. Clutter agrees to relieve him for the day. A couple hours later the Clutter dog comes running out of the house towards the direction of where the road is. Also where a parked car is. The dog has a strange history of which when it sees a gun it tucks its tail and gets away. Mr. Clutter approaches the two men, which apparently were armed with a rifle and a knife. This as you might know already is a major clue. That night in Kansas, a cool still silent night, four shots rang out through the air that meant someone¿s life had just ended. The next morning as usual one of Nancy¿s friends comes to get Nancy to go to school together. No one answered and she began to worry so she went to the neighbors to see if they knew anything. The neighbor didn¿t know as well and they both went back to the house together to find their bodies on the floor. There aren¿t may suspects in the story except for Nancy¿s boyfriend Bobby who was with the family the night before. He is not freed until he passes a lie detector test. The people of Holcomb begin to come up with theories of how they may have been murdered. A jail inmate hears about the murders and tells the authority who it may be. All the clues add up and the Feds begin to track down the killers. The agents caught the men and the two were sent to death. I personally did not find this read amusing because I thought the author spent too much time explaining every little detail of the setting. I think this would be a great read for anyone who likes mystery and detective books. I do think that that the plot was rather complicated. I would not recommend this book for certain types of readers.
4 out of 18 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2007
The brutal murder of the Clutter family was the news story of the day in November 1959. Newspapers carried the story and people discussed the details at the barber shop and over coffee at the local cafe. It was especially alarming because this was a well-known and well-liked family in the community. Who could be safe if the Clutters produced two suspects: Perry Smith and Richard Hickock.Truman Capote is captivated by the story and decides to write what he calls a 'nonfiction novel.' The book is the result of five years of research. The story had to be more than intresting than newspaper articles. It had to show the human side of the killers as well as the Clutters. The story weaves back and forth between the two making it sometimes difficult to follow. The book is excellent and worth the time to read. I highly recommend it.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue Aug 21 00:00:00 EDT 2007
I found this book to be boring to an extent that I wanted to read no more. The author spends, in my opinion, too much time on things that don't really need to included. The beginning starts slowly with a description of the setting and characters that seems to stretch on and on. The middle, too, is full of describing one character in particular for an annoying amount of time. The end stretches on with nothing that really need to be said included. All and all it was a pretty dull book.
3 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Mon Oct 09 00:00:00 EDT 2006
Having recently watched the excellent movie Capote about the writing of In Cold Blood, I decided to read the book, and I am glad I did. Capote's book defined the true crime genre with excellent writing, meticulous research, and an even-handed approach toward the perpetrators of a senseless, violent crime that shocked rural Kansas. Although Capote identified strongly with (and may have been somewhat attracted to) Perry Smith who actually killed the Clutter family, I was not sympathetic to Smith or his partner Dick Hickock in the least. The detail in the setting that Capote provides often drags the narrative down a bit, but it pays off by giving you the feeling that you are witnessing the events unfold first-hand. Patience is rewarded for those who appreciate excellent writing.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Tue May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2004
¿In Cold Blood¿ has been seen as one of the best nonfiction murder stories for the past forty years. Truman Capote wrote a griping tale of a Kansas farmer and his loving family who were brutally murdered on November 15th, 1959. Dick Hickock and Perry Smith were two former convicts who had recently been released on parole. Both men made then journey to Holcomb, Kansas that November evening hoping to become ten thousand dollars richer. However, when they found no safe holding the loot, Mr. Clutter and his family paid with their lives. After years of searching the men were finally apprehended in Las Vegas and put to death on April 14th, 1965. This book has you on the edge of your seat to the very last page. The way the book is laid out for the reader is what keeps it interesting. Capote moves back in forth between scenes with the Clutter family and scenes with Dick and Perry. Capote uses great description when it comes to the characters, making it so the reader can really get to know each one. His scenes are very detailed, making it easy as a reader to picture things in your mind. Overall I enjoyed ¿In Cold Blood.¿ No scenes were too graphic and the most important thing was that it kept me interested. If you are looking for a good murder story, then ¿In Cold Blood¿ is a must read.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Thu Nov 14 00:00:00 EST 2002
In the sixties after reading an article about the multiple murder of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, writer Truman Capote went to investigate. The product of his six years of research, interviews, and investigation was released in his book, In Cold Blood. In Cold Blood is a book with many different angles and ideas. The book was at the forefront of a new genre known as New Journalism, in which true events are treated in a fictional way. Capote's book is one of the most fascinating and intelligent true-crime books ever written. In his book, Capote gives his readers a behind the scenes look at the Clutter family. He lets you get to know Herb Clutter who is undyingly devoted to his invalid wife, Bonnie. You soon feel close to the two teenage children, Kenyon and Nancy who are polite, good students with good values. Right when you start to fall in love with this family living the American dream, Capote takes his readers on a journey that begins with the family's murders and ends only with the deaths of their two killers, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. Throughout the remarkable story Capote's keen sense of detail and description puts the audience in the story and allows them to see it from all angles. Not only to you read about the murder, but also how it affected the family and friends of the Clutters, the killers, the detectives who work diligently, and the whole tiny town that was shocked into terror. The best aspect of Capote's book and the most attacked is his account on the killers. He tells his readers of whom Hickock and Smith are, what they grew up like, and how they feel and think. He also tells of the effect the tragedy has on the town, who in the midst of a nightmare found themselves distrusting their own neighbors. It is an honest and eye-opening account on how tragedy affects people. Capote's story is chilling mostly because it is true. That there are people like Hickock and Smith and no matter where you live, tragedy can strike you in the "safest" of towns. Capote really did spend years of research and getting to know all the people involved. It is an amazing and detailed account of murder, but can get a little too wordy. Unfortunately, Capote uses too many journalistic techniques at times and goes off into unimportant facts and data. These tangents can get quite annoying, especially when you just want to hear what is going on. However, Capote makes up for his innumerable facts by his keen detail and engaging style that makes it almost impossible to put this book down. It is truly a gem and I recommend it to all that are interested.
2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MayMayZombie
Posted Tue Dec 07 00:00:00 EST 2010
Truman Capote is the kind of writer who likes to mention every boring detail. I personally feel this book could be shortened down to a quarter of its length and still get the same point across. The writing is so dry I really did not enjoy reading it. I had it as a school assignment and dreaded reading every chapter. It was overall just boring and tedious. If you enjoy reading slow paced very detailed books you will love this. I prefer entertaining and exciting books.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Sun Oct 21 00:00:00 EDT 2007
In Cold Blood provides an interesting and emotional look at the brutal murder of a family committed by two middle-aged men. Truman Capote sets the story up with a lengthy description of the Clutter family lifestyles, which not only grabs the reader¿s attention, but also causes a sort of attachment and understanding to this benevolent family and its specific members. Capote then goes through the same process with the soon-to-be killers causing the reader to see how average and normal the antagonists seem. He is very descriptive when writing about new characters or locations to further enhance the realistic atmosphere felt when reading the novel. Capote continues his detailed and explicative writing as he tells how Perry and Dick (murderers) fled the scene and continued to Mexico to escape their past and the investigation. Months later, four officers show up to arrest and interrogate the two men based on new evidence and a key witness that was found. Perry and Dick instantly turn on each other when facing a penalty as serious as death and turn to lies and deceit in hopes of having their penalty reduced. It is ironic that all they had before the crime were each other, but as soon as the interrogations begin they are worst enemies. The tale ends with the imprisonment and delayed, but imminent, execution of both men. There were many themes in In Cold Blood but the ones that were recurrent throughout the novel were finding the limit between right and wrong, can morals change the view of the law (is murder punishable by death if the individual cannot mentally tell that the act is wrong), and does revenge ultimately cause the victim¿s family to feel at ease. Capote uncovers more of the killers¿ childhoods and reveals how disturbing they were. Some believed that Perry and Dick could not even feel remorse as they killed their victims. In fact, research into Perry¿s past was done and it was stated that, ¿His [Perry] childhood was marked by brutality and lack of concern on the part of both parents¿poorly controlled rage ¿ easily triggered by being labeled inferior to anyone else¿ and attaches little real value to human life¿ (297-298). Capote realized that the controversy over the punishment for a human killing another and feeling nothing would be large, which is why he chose to create a novel around this general theme. I liked the story immensely and Capote is a prodigious author. The thoughts invoked kept my attention throughout the novel and kept me wanting to read more. I enjoyed the writing style and the descriptive attitude, but some parts were slightly too long. I think a few too many characters were added in, and even though Capote hoped to make it seem more realistic for the reader by doing this, some parts became confusing and many character names were never used again in the story. Readers looking for something relatively short, yet thought provoking, should pick this up, but people who are sensitive to issues such as murder and descriptive events surrounding this should not read In Cold Blood.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Wed Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2007
Scott Brick does a pretty good job of narrating and making distinctions between characters (even though not all Kansans have southern accents). The downfall was that Capote went into too much detail on too many people. In short, he overcomplicated the story, which was interesting although difficult to follow.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2003
With 'In Cold Blood' being my first book to read, I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. I was quite nervous at first about reading the book because of the size of the book. As I began to read through the story I found out it wasn't so bad. I first noticed I was into this story when I stared losing track of time and forgeting about other work. I suggest that if anyone enjoys mystery or death, 'In Cold Blood' is your book to read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Thu Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2003
i thought this book was veyr good but was drawn out. i though that truman capote could have shortened the story a lot. the vocabulary is very easy to understand in this story. this is really the only book that has been able to hold my attention in a while. i would recomend someone to go buy this book and read it. it is definantly a good read.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted Thu Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2003
This book was by far one of the best books I have ever read.The way Truman Capote explains and meshes in each character in the book was the best part. You could just smell and feel the warmth of the Clutter home, the fresh farm air, the coziness of the farm home.Until their murderers came along and you smell the fresh scent of gun powder and senseless violence.He weaves a tale that is as fascinating as it is true.A definite read, a true classic.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted Sun Mar 10 00:00:00 EST 2013
IIIIII LLLOOOVVVEEE IIIIITTTT
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Overview
Five years, four months and twenty-nine days later, on April 14, 1965, Richard Eugene Hickock, aged thirty-three, and ...