Reviews tagging 'Violence'

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

88 reviews

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

vinacasti's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

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

shinumi's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Murder, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia

sammiesavors's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Violence, Alcoholism, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Homophobia

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

terrificarno's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, Racism, and Pedophilia

ljwrites85's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.0

I've heard so many people recommend In Cold Blood if you love true crime and I got a copy out from my library recently.

I knew nothing about the murder of the Clutter family in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas before reading this novel and I think you don't really need to, to appreciate the novel.

The novel's tone was dark, gritty and, at times, disturbing. Be warned, there are several racial slurs and misogyny throughout the book.  

I understand why it's seen as a 'classic' within the true crime genre. The writing itself while talking about such gruesome things is almost poetic, with insights into both the Clutter family's minds and the killers expertly built up from interviews and news articles. I can admire how much work and time to compile it.

All that being said, the pace started off well, then became almost achingly slow with a lot of details that I thought were unnecessary.

For instance, after the pair of killers were caught, there's an entire section about their incarceration and the other killers who were on death row with them.

That being said, if you have an interest in true crime or the psychology of killers, I would still recommend you read this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Violence

claym's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

letiross's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, and Blood