Reviews - A sangue freddo | The StoryGraph

7.81k reviews for:

Capote's style of writing is amazing! Throughout the book, I truly felt like I was there, witnessing each event. Some of his descriptions are incredibly unique and engaging: "Except for taking off his boots, he had not troubled to undress. He had merely fallen face down across the bed, as though sleep were a weapon that had struck him from behind"
The level of detail is incredible; at times, it was a bit overwhelming and maybe even tedious, but this hardly took away from the gripping narrative. I'm blown away by this book.

iluvlebron's review against another edition

3.75

dark informative slow-paced

fioreblu's review against another edition

5.0

dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

almablau's review against another edition

5.0

When I was maybe between twelve and fifteen, I bought this book for something like a dollar at my small farm community's library book sale. I would ride my bike to the library often, especially in the summer, and I must have bought it toward the end of the season break, before a new year of school began, because I recall the beautiful prose and descriptions of the Clutter farm as particularly resonant, reminding me of the soybean and cornfields surrounding my little stretch of neighborhood. Of course, I neglected to read much past this, as I didn't have the patience for the prose at the time and had a good deal of running around to do. There was a significant part of me then, too, which felt I shouldn't have been reading such gory details. That it was wrong. Even the mere foreknowledge provided by the book that this family, their lives and perspectives so richly described in part one, would be brutally murdered was enough for me to shudder and hide the book away behind my Bradbury and Asimov. There was a shameful discomfort. Recently, though, I think I might have watched a YouTube video essay discussing true crime, and Capote's 'In Cold Blood' was described as the archetypal true crime work, and I was transported for a moment to my mid-pubescent years. Memory of that dreamy prose brought the book back into my crosshairs, and a lover of horror, I wanted to read something more grounded, horrific, yes, but grounded in reality. I have long shed my discomfort at gory details, and perhaps some of my impatience, and so I embarked on this book again, revisited Kansas to my absolute pleasure.
Capote's commitment to the human, to delving into the circumstances of the people he wrote about, because they were real people, is remarkable. The human beings involved are not excused or rationalized, but described in astounding and interesting detail, such that by the end of the book I felt I had sat with them through the tragedies and triumphs, the grief and success.
Halfway through the book, I felt a lull, because it seemed so clear that the main "action" of the book had passed, the killers having committed their vile acts and the detectives closing in on their tails, but I was delighted and surprised to find a sober analysis of mental health disparities between people raised within supportive and unsupportive homes, the morality of the death penalty, the cruelty and strength of the justice system. Never telling the reader 'this is objectively wrong,' or 'this is objectively right,' but rather 'consider for yourself these details and the conversations that were had at this place and time, because of these particular events.'
I now imagine myself, in hearing of a horrific crime, packing up my bags and heading with a colleague to the town in which that crime occurred, just like Capote did with his friend Harper Lee, and taking extensive notes and covering as much ground as possible to synthesize together something as huge and novel as 'In Cold Blood,' and I don't know that I would have the courage, the presence of mind, the perseverance to do it and to do it as respectfully as Capote did here. This book is well worth the read.

realshuri's review against another edition

2.0

2.5 ✰

For those who are interesting in seeing a very well written story in a journalist perspective, this is a great book. I was invested for more than 200, but then it was too slow for me. It's great for those who are learning how to write for investigative journalism, has a lot of detail, the writing is amazing and the storytelling was perfect. I just think that the book doesn't need the +300 pages. I have still learn a few interesting ways of writing that I'll probably apply when I start my investigative project.