Give me books, fruit, french wine and fine weather and a little music out of doors. --John Keats

Monday, May 25, 2009

"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

I became interested in reading this book because I watched the movie Capote. This movie was not an adaptation of the book in question, but it took place during the time that Capote was writing it, and the movie piqued my interest in the story of the murdered Clutter family. I had written this book down on my "list of books I should read" but was never interested enough to seek out a copy to read until I was looking for books to bring with me on my trip.

I must be honest and say that this book was rather dry and dull. It satisfied my morbid curiosity about the murders, but I had to force myself to read it; I did not look forward to picking it up, and I never had trouble putting it down. In fact, if I had not had a limited number of books available to me on my trip, I may not have read it at all. Not only that, but I read synopses for five other Capote books listed at the end of this one, and none of those sounded any good to me either.

One interesting difference between the book and the movie: unless I am remembering incorrectly, the movie left one with the idea that the guilt of the two men convicted of the Clutter murders was in question, whereas the book made it clear that the two men were undoubtedly the guilty parties.

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