In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (1993 ~Trade Paperback~Mint)

Description: Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all timeFrom the Modern Library’s new set of beautifully repackaged hardcover classics by Truman Capote—also available are Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Other Voices, Other Rooms (in one volume), Portraits and Observations, and The Complete StoriesTruman Capote’s masterpiece, In Cold Blood, created a sensation when it was first published, serially, in The New Yorker in 1965. The intensively researched, atmospheric narrative of the lives of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas, and of the two men, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith, who brutally killed them on the night of November 15, 1959, is the seminal work of the “new journalism.” Perry Smith is one of the great dark characters of American literature, full of contradictory emotions. “I thought he was a very nice gentleman,” he says of Herb Clutter. “Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat.” Told in chapters that alternate between the Clutter household and the approach of Smith and Hickock in their black Chevrolet, then between the investigation of the case and the killers’ flight, Capote’s account is so detailed that the reader comes to feel almost like a participant in the events. Throughout this novel, it discusses the death penalty and the judicial system’s role in deciding the outcome of the trial. In Cold Blood, written by Truman Capote, illustrates how quickly a small town turned on each other in the mists of tragedy when they believed the murderer to be one of their own. The book follows the life and death of the Clutter family and the lifespan of Perry and Dick. Perry and Dick are both convicted felons, Capote illustrates their lives together after they were released from jail as well as flashbacks from times in their life before jail. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were partners after jail despite the dramatic contrasts in their childhoods. Perry had a traumatic childhood, with 2 of his siblings dead before the time he turned 30. He also suffered from a motorcycle accident which disfigured the lower half of his body and caused him to become addicted to painkillers. Dick lived a somewhat normal childhood with 2 loving parents. The Clutter’s were a well-respected wealthy family in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. On November 15, 1959, the Clutter family was killed with a shotgun held a few inches away from their face. Alvin Dewey, the lead detective on the case, struggled with finding a motive for their murders as there were almost no clues. This novel follows the Clutter family case with new clues and a possible motive coming to light. The title In Cold Blood tells the reader that the novel is going to be about a merciless killing that we later find out was driven by greed. Truman Capote won the O. Henry Memorial Short Story Prize twice for his short stories such as A Tree of Night and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In Cold Blood was Truman Capote’s only true crime novel, however, he wrote many other novels such as Other Voices, and Other Rooms. In Cold Blood was published in 1965. Truman Capote well illustrates how easy it is for people to become mistrusting and turn on each other. By the end of the novel the citizens of Holcomb as well as the individuals involved in the trial are on edge and are beginning not to trust each other. Capote creates a good hook and intrigues the reader by telling the reader from the start that the Clutter family is going to be killed. The reader will learn throughout the novel that people change and not everyone can be trusted no matter what you have gone through with that person. In Cold Blood is mainly for people ages 16+ because the details of the murder are not appropriate for children under that age. In Cold Blood is intriguing and unlike most true crime books that I have read, because of the immense detail Truman Capote puts into the backstories of all the characters including the other convicts and individuals Perry and Dick encounter in their travels.

Price: 4 USD

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

End Time: 2024-11-24T02:05:26.000Z

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