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daredeviling 's review for:
In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
I honestly didn't expect this book to be as good as it was.
I assumed that it was going to be a dry read, but I figured that since this is one of the most well-known true crime books out there, I should read it as a true crime fan. But not so! Capote created a rich world where all the characters came to life on every page. He made me care about every character, even the murderers (though obviously I don't condone what they did and am glad they were caught and punished). He clearly did his research and knew his subject well. The writing was so good as well from a reading standpoint - I thought his turns of phrases and such were really good, and the way he set up the chapters kept me wanting to know more.
The only drawback of his format was that although the bare bones of the book was based on the facts of the case, the fact that he made a story out of it meant that I felt this book was more historical fiction (true crime fiction?) than actual true crime, because it's not like he was there for all the conversations he wrote about between all the different characters. Those were clearly invented (possibly based on witness testimony and all that), and that was a huge part of what made the book compelling, but it extended a bit beyond the reach of the claims of this being a completely true crime book.
Still, I would recommend this to anyone who likes true crime because even though Capote took some liberties with writing parts of the book, it's still compelling and reads really well, and you learn a lot about the crime overall and the background of the murderers and how they were eventually found and prosecuted.
I assumed that it was going to be a dry read, but I figured that since this is one of the most well-known true crime books out there, I should read it as a true crime fan. But not so! Capote created a rich world where all the characters came to life on every page. He made me care about every character, even the murderers (though obviously I don't condone what they did and am glad they were caught and punished). He clearly did his research and knew his subject well. The writing was so good as well from a reading standpoint - I thought his turns of phrases and such were really good, and the way he set up the chapters kept me wanting to know more.
The only drawback of his format was that although the bare bones of the book was based on the facts of the case, the fact that he made a story out of it meant that I felt this book was more historical fiction (true crime fiction?) than actual true crime, because it's not like he was there for all the conversations he wrote about between all the different characters. Those were clearly invented (possibly based on witness testimony and all that), and that was a huge part of what made the book compelling, but it extended a bit beyond the reach of the claims of this being a completely true crime book.
Still, I would recommend this to anyone who likes true crime because even though Capote took some liberties with writing parts of the book, it's still compelling and reads really well, and you learn a lot about the crime overall and the background of the murderers and how they were eventually found and prosecuted.