“In Cold Blood” – Truman Capote
Being a true crime junky, I'm always down for a good murder story. I have a decently long commute to and from work every day, spending on average 15 hours a week in my car, and during this time, you will often find me doing 1 of 2 things: listening and singing along to Fall Out Boy, or listening to True Crime Podcasts. Though I don't watch much television, you can be sure I'm one to tune into any episode of Snapped or Dateline (I have a huge sweet spot for Lester Holt and Keith Morrison). I also read the occasional true crime novel (hence the True Crime Corner) and I thought it would be a disservice to you and to myself if I didn't read and review one of the first and most renowned true crime novels In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I like to take each decision I make, whether good or bad, as a learning opportunity. However, I'm still not sure I can say that for my experience with this novel.
In Cold Blood depicts the murder of an innocent family and the detective work that led to the capture of the two criminals who committed the heinous crime. One November evening in 1958, in a small town of rural Kansas, Herb Clutter, his wife Bonnie Clutter, his daughter Nancy Clutter, and his son Kenyon Clutter were all tied up and savagely murdered in their farm house, miles away from neighbors. In a day and age when murder seemed scarce and DNA analysis was inexistent, catching the evil behind this crime appeared daunting and far-fetched. Six weeks later, through the testimony of a witness, law enforcement was able to track down and arrest the two men who committed the murder: Dick Hickock and Perry Smith, two recently paroled convicts from the Kansas State Penitentiary. Tried and found guilty by the state, the two outlaws were sentenced to hang.
Through the triple narrative of the book (the Clutter Family, the detectives, and the criminals - mostly Perry), the reader is given an inside look behind the scenes of one of the most notorious murders of Midwest.
Before reading this, I didn't have any real knowledge about Truman Capote or the brutal murder of the Clutter family. Maybe that sounds pretty naïve of me, but I believe this lack of background information helped me form a truly unbiased opinion of this book. I went into it wanting to like it and excited to see how this particular genre developed over the years. However, from almost the moment I started reading it, I found the book wasn’t able to keep my attention for very long. I know I've said before that I have problems with staying focused, but I don't often have this problem when reading, and I usually take medication for that too. Yes, the book was artistic and poetic, but at the same time, it was over the top. The descriptions seemed too descriptive to the point that I forgot what Capote was supposed to be describing in the first place. Some parts were so descriptive, or the run on sentences too long and irrelevant, that I completely lost track of the entire direction of the story.
This book not only caused my eyelids to droop multiple times, but it also made me suspicious in the factualness of the novel. Though depicted as non-fiction, there are many conversations between certain characters, character day dreams, and thought processes that I questioned ever happened, and if they did, it would be difficult to relay the information in such a way that notes taken of the accounts could be fairly accurate. It reads like a fictional story, which may be helpful for some, but lends an ear of doubt when the whole story is supposed to be non-fiction. It also seems to be biased towards Perry, and could very easily persuade the reader when developing opinions about the crime.
After getting about half way through the book, the best way I could describe this book was, “It sounds like Capote is trying to be Harper Lee but failing.” This was before I found out that Capote and Lee used to be good friends, and she had traveled to Kansas to help interview witnesses and consolidate notes with Capote. She even helped him edit his novel, but when it was published, he refused to give her any credit or mention. Their relationship eventually grew strained and, from what I interpreted, he may have been bitter with her for being more successful than him.
Regardless of my opinion of this book, people continue to promote it as one of the best true crime novels ever made. To each their own, but I don't believe that this book has been able to withstand time very well.
