Reviews tagging 'Child death'

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

43 reviews

gh1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Child death, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Racism, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: Toxic friendship

kylielf's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

3.25

I originally thought this book was going to be a murder mystery but it read more so as a documentary-style recalling. I thought the writing was good and the book was well crafted, it just was not in my taste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Death, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Pedophilia

sophiaroesler's review against another edition

dark mysterious

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Murder

Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, and Pedophilia

babs4205's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Murder

isaarusilor's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Child death, and Racial slurs

sarasreading's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

3.25

I can totally see how this became a hit and completely redefined the way true crime was written. I didn't think it would take too long to read when I first started, and my copy wasn't very thick, but this book is dense. I could read for 45 minutes and discover that I'd only read 10-12 pages. 

It's also probably the first book where I've had to write out all the names, because the first third or so of the book throws dozens of people at you, some you never really see again, and some you do. So it's hard to know who is going to be important until the story unfolds.

Also, as you get deeper into the book, it becomes less about the true crime, and morphs into a study of the killers' lives, one in particular. By the end it's obvious that this was done to show that criminal psychology is complex and not as black and white as it was believed back in the 1950s. But the reader doesn't really know that while slogging through the middle of the book, which is bogged down with pages and pages of letters and biopyschosocial history. 

Still, glad I read it, and it's probably a must for any true crime lover. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Murder, Child death, Racial slurs, and Gun violence

Moderate: Pedophilia

henrygravesprince's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

Capote’s prose is masterful, but the non-fiction aspect was handled in a way I don’t find responsible, and I think that, as one of the first major modern true crime media “sensations”, In Cold Blood embodies many of the same problems that true crime media, particularly dramatizations, maintains today. I don’t dislike Capote, and in fact I quite like his writing for the most part, but I couldn’t in good conscience give this book a wholly glowing review. There would still be issues if I looked at it the way one looks at fiction, but monumentally less — that said, it is not purely fiction, and I can’t look at this novel & not be acutely aware of the fact that these were real people & the facts were embellished in ways that can’t really be brushed off, in my opinion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Death, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racism, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, War, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Homophobia, Abandonment, and Grief

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

brandywyne's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Blood, Murder, Death of parent, Gore, Child death, and Death

_carmel_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

A very slow book. I disliked the authorial voice and opinions, however it is a very important book in the space of literature. It is genre defining and also forces the reader to challenge their own beliefs and place them in an uncomfortable position. Excellent use of syntax. Makes you think. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Violence, Death, Cursing, Classism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Pedophilia, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Hate crime, Gun violence, Addiction, Abortion, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Child abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Sexual harassment, Racism, Medical trauma, and Alcohol