Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

9 reviews

s_mivsek's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Well written, would recommend to people who enjoy real crime; just not my cup of tea

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Gore, Physical abuse, Death, Confinement, Violence, Murder, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Racial slurs, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Infidelity, Grief, Dysphoria, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer, Animal death, Self harm, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

emy_clemy's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Mass/school shootings, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Violence, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Chronic illness, Gore, Domestic abuse, Child death, Abandonment, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Murder, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Racism, Ableism, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Suicide, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Car accident

kfergy's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Considered the first contemporary "true crime novel," the writing is very compelling and the quotes from and conversations between characters/witnesses is a really interesting approach to telling the story. It makes me wonder slightly about creative licence on the part of the author, but I dig it. Huge warning for racist slurs though - you could say it goes with the territory for the place and time, but a warning nonetheless. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Violence, Murder, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual content and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Cancer, Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Mental illness

bcooper21's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Gore, Racism, Self harm, Grief, Mental illness, Cancer, Rape, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Sexual content, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Terminal illness, Eating disorder, Vomit, and Car accident

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.25

This text was jarring in that there was vibrant and comprehensive descriptions of seemingly innocuous details and then facts like Hickock's pedophilic tendencies were dropped into the middle of a paragraph, only to be left and then picked up again after dozens of pages. The descriptions of the Clutters, their family life, their friends, and their pastoral joys made the details of their deaths all the more profoundly upsetting. I appreciated the depth of research that went into this book and the information given on the communities the Clutters and their killers spent time in, but I am also, in some ways, upset with the lengths at which this book works to humanize the killers. It's bitter to feel something akin to empathy with either of them or the men that lived with them on death row.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Gore, Cancer, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, Car accident, Sexual content, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Animal death, Death, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Body shaming, Pedophilia, Child death, and Confinement

hannahchristine's review against another edition

dark reflective tense slow-paced

3.75

I liked how capote told the story of the murders from a perspective that included the victims as well as the murderers. Even though he did tell the stories of the murderers and made the reader feel quite sympathetic it didn't seem too sensationalized and like he excused the murderers. You could build a connection to the victims as well as the murderers but still could base your opinion on an almost objective retelling. (if you ignored Capote's bias towards Perry Smith, although not sure if he actually like him or if he was just sympathetic) Story telling to its finest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Death, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, and Child abuse

strange's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

It’s hard to really give this book a rating— it’s a 5 on the writing quality and impact, but somehow it just feels like there’s something missing that I can’t quite place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Pedophilia, Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Mental illness, and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racial slurs, Cancer, Blood, and Addiction

Please, please, please do not push yourself to read this if you in any way feel you’re not ready

athereaderofbooks's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

2.0

Clearly, I would not recommend this true-crime novel. 

I will give kudos to a couple of aspects of this book: 

1. It was organized in a notable way. It started with showing the past of both the victims and their killers. Their environments were taken into consideration and you developed an idea of their character. Later it led to the investigation and we found out how the murder occurred through confessionals. Truman Capote followed the case until its conclusion. 

2. The entire book was thorough with everything. If something was mentioned it was never offhandedly, and we understood how everyone and everything contributed to the narrative. 

But despite these factors, I hated this book. This is the first time that I have read a true crime book, and this most definitely affected my rating, but this was horrific. Why would I want to read about an entire family being murdered

because some thieves wanted money??

How does one find enjoyment in such a subject when they themself could one day be the victim of such an unsuspecting crime? The Clutters likely never thought of this likelihood and look what happened to them. The only thing this book added to my life was more anxiety, and I already have enough. 

 On top of this, there have been multiple people who have contested the accuracy of this book, saying that there were many pieces of opinion inserted and falsehoods added into the book. (Not just random people online, but people who themselves have analyzed this crime.) 
 
This dragged on and on with a really excessive form of writing and the only interest I had was finishing this book so I could get it over with, understand what happened, and try to forget it. 

And to me, most importantly, there were multiple instances where racial, homophobic, and in general degrading slurs were used. This includes but is not limited to the n-word, the f slur, and out-of-date referrals to Asian, Black, and Native American people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Hate crime, Infidelity, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Abandonment, Bullying, Excrement, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, and War

narpetcards's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cancer, Car accident, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship