Hi Tim,
I really enjoyed reading your comments. Sally mentioned them at our reference staff meeting today. I read In Cold Blood when it came out - I am that old. Saw Capote and Infamous which did tweak my interest again. Reading the comments today made me want to reread it as an adult. I just placed it on hold.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Hi Tim,
Your comments are beautifully written and insightful. I'm especially interested in what you say about the difference in readers' ages ... how this book appears to someone under 30 as opposed to say, someone like me or Jennet or Linda who grew up in the late '50's, early '60's. This will be an interesting line for discussion.By the way, I'm hoping you've seen the movie Capote. Or, were you waiting to finish the book?
Your comments are beautifully written and insightful. I'm especially interested in what you say about the difference in readers' ages ... how this book appears to someone under 30 as opposed to say, someone like me or Jennet or Linda who grew up in the late '50's, early '60's. This will be an interesting line for discussion.By the way, I'm hoping you've seen the movie Capote. Or, were you waiting to finish the book?
Monday, July 30, 2007
I'm Working On It
I have reached Part II "Persons Unknown." I am a little ways into that section. This is my first Capote, did I mention that(?), and I think my first "true crime" novel. I loved your post, Tim. I can't wait to continue reading this book. I also look forward to hearing from some members who have a perspective that span the time periods. The research dork in me is dying to look into the case when I am not reading the book, but I will hold off and plug away. I should have some good quality reading time tonight!
Finished!
I finished In Cold Blood last night.
One of the things I find most fascinating about the book is that, the picture it paints, the overall sense of empathy you feel for all parties involved (often including the killers), is so fleshed out and fully realized that it’s amazing to think this was really the first book of its type, that Capote did not have a blueprint to follow here and that he was, in essence, creating a genre all his own. The funny thing is that In Cold Blood is written at such a high standard that it really shames (and that might be being a little lenient with my criticism) other subsequent entries in the true crime genre. In that sense it’s like Capote set the bar extraordinarily high and then watched as the genre devolved into what it is today, rather than watching the genre evolve into something more amazing than he imagined while creating his meticulously researched, gloriously composed novel.
That the novel was so meticulously researched but still managed to be thrilling and engaging at the same time, accessible to nearly anyone really, is one of its best selling points. I wouldn’t think a reader would have to be particularly interested in the murders or Truman Capote to pick up In Cold Blood and get engaged with the material. This is one of those novels that can be read differently depending on what you’re looking to take out of it. If you just want a gory, eerie true crime novel, you’ll probably be content. If you want a study on criminal psychology this book is for you. If you want to ruminate on the death of the American Dream in the 1960’s and the beginning of the decline in American values and social behavior (because you’re a big dork or whatever) you can pick up In Cold Blood and be more than satisfied. It’s not too short, not too long, and keeps up a pretty good pace, even in the final acts when not much is going on in real time.
I actually thought the last third of the book that focused on the killers awaiting trial was interesting, in part, because it allowed a reader of my age (under 30) to see a legal system that functioned differently than the one I’ve grown up with. Specifically I’m talking about the different rules governing the all too familiar “insanity defense”, and the general abuse of civil liberties (abuse, at least, as it would be perceived today) that took place in the mid-60’s (at least in Kansas). It was really the only part of the book that did not necessarily feel almost timeless to me but was really interesting and enlightening.
Basically, I thought the book was great and couldn’t be happier that I read it for the book club. It’s definitely the kind of novel that will stick with me for awhile.
One of the things I find most fascinating about the book is that, the picture it paints, the overall sense of empathy you feel for all parties involved (often including the killers), is so fleshed out and fully realized that it’s amazing to think this was really the first book of its type, that Capote did not have a blueprint to follow here and that he was, in essence, creating a genre all his own. The funny thing is that In Cold Blood is written at such a high standard that it really shames (and that might be being a little lenient with my criticism) other subsequent entries in the true crime genre. In that sense it’s like Capote set the bar extraordinarily high and then watched as the genre devolved into what it is today, rather than watching the genre evolve into something more amazing than he imagined while creating his meticulously researched, gloriously composed novel.
That the novel was so meticulously researched but still managed to be thrilling and engaging at the same time, accessible to nearly anyone really, is one of its best selling points. I wouldn’t think a reader would have to be particularly interested in the murders or Truman Capote to pick up In Cold Blood and get engaged with the material. This is one of those novels that can be read differently depending on what you’re looking to take out of it. If you just want a gory, eerie true crime novel, you’ll probably be content. If you want a study on criminal psychology this book is for you. If you want to ruminate on the death of the American Dream in the 1960’s and the beginning of the decline in American values and social behavior (because you’re a big dork or whatever) you can pick up In Cold Blood and be more than satisfied. It’s not too short, not too long, and keeps up a pretty good pace, even in the final acts when not much is going on in real time.
I actually thought the last third of the book that focused on the killers awaiting trial was interesting, in part, because it allowed a reader of my age (under 30) to see a legal system that functioned differently than the one I’ve grown up with. Specifically I’m talking about the different rules governing the all too familiar “insanity defense”, and the general abuse of civil liberties (abuse, at least, as it would be perceived today) that took place in the mid-60’s (at least in Kansas). It was really the only part of the book that did not necessarily feel almost timeless to me but was really interesting and enlightening.
Basically, I thought the book was great and couldn’t be happier that I read it for the book club. It’s definitely the kind of novel that will stick with me for awhile.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Hi everyone,
I finally started In Cold Blood today. I'm listening in the car and, fortunately, the book is read by our own reading fest star Scott Brick. He has a great voice for this; using a soft, low cadence he lulls the reader into a false cocoon of security. Of course it's the author's talent that allows us to feel the dichotomy between this wholesome, peaceful town of Holcomb, KS and the horror of what's about to happen. I'm looking forward to it now. Anyone want to go for a ride?
I finally started In Cold Blood today. I'm listening in the car and, fortunately, the book is read by our own reading fest star Scott Brick. He has a great voice for this; using a soft, low cadence he lulls the reader into a false cocoon of security. Of course it's the author's talent that allows us to feel the dichotomy between this wholesome, peaceful town of Holcomb, KS and the horror of what's about to happen. I'm looking forward to it now. Anyone want to go for a ride?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
I've Started
Having finished Harry Potter on Sunday I began In Cold Blood yesterday. I did not read as much as I had hoped but today's lunch gave me a good boost. This morning I looked for an interview with Capote on YouTube but found a tour of Holcomb instead. In addition to the tour of Holcomb, the researcher(?)/fan(?)/freak(?) also seems to have gone to a museum or other place where there are facts and evidence. Warning...there are a couple of photographs (not close-up) of the victims post-crime. I will be interested to see the film now that I have see the actual locale.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Itchy
Now I am more itchy to start the book. Thanks for that awesome post, Tim. I will definitely begin after the review book. As to Wikipedia...I hit it, myself, for personal reference or as a springboard. I am just against it as THE source or a source we give patrons or as a source when clearly there are better things (i.e. databases to which LCLS subscribes). :) lecturelecturelecturelecturelecturelecture:)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
This Blog Was Composed...In Cold Blood...
I started In Cold Blood this weekend.
So far, it’s fantastic.
I’ve made it through the first one-hundred pages (paperback edition) and can’t put the novel down. Actually that’s technically a lie since I read eighty of the hundred pages Saturday night (I have no life) and twenty more last night (Tuesday) which means, I guess, that I really didn’t have any trouble putting it down. But I swear I spent a good amount of time thinking about it and wanting to read. Honestly, I only intended to pick the book up and read ten or fifteen pages just to get it on my radar and become invested in the book club, if you will. I’m also reading David Robert’s Shantaram (which I’ve been reading forever) and itching to start David Wellington’s 13 Bullets, plus the new HP comes out this Saturday so I didn’t want In Cold Blood to get lost in the shuffle. I never really intended to start reading heavily but the book is really captivating, full of images I can’t get out of my head.
It moved a little slowly for the first couple of pages but Capote paints such a vivid picture of all parties involved that, by the time I reached the section where the Clutter family is gruesomely and efficiently dispatched, I was really horrified. The fact that the crime took place during 1959 in small-town Kansas only makes it even more impossible to comprehend. These murders would really be shocking to me today, forty-eight years later, so I can’t imagine what kind of amazement and gruesome interest the killings must have generated at the time. I’m just reaching a section where Capote is beginning to stress the level of fear and mistrust the quadruple homicide caused in Holcomb and I can see why. With an apparently motiveless crime wiping out an entire family, and not just any family mind you but some of Holcomb’s most distinguished citizens, I’d definitely be locking my doors from that day forward. And get a watchdog (that isn’t afraid of guns for god’s sake).
I also find that In Cold Blood is surprisingly well written and can only imagine what the true crime genre would be like in 2007 if some of today’s more talented writers devoted their efforts to it. The only pet peeve I have so far is the way Capote puts some of the text in the middle of paragraphs into quotations to stress that a brief snippet is a direct quote, despite the fact that most of the work is simply retold in the structure of a traditional novel. I don’t know why this bothers me, but for some reason it does.
I’ve already done a little background reading about the book (on Wikipedia, don’t kill me Laura!) and will definitely check out the film as well as Capote after I finish.
A final note: I can’t believe how progressive some of these rural folk were in frickin’ 1959. It seems that a lot of participants are divorced, and strict, conservative Mr. Clutter allowed Nancy’s boyfriend to stay at their house until ten p.m. watching television. My curfew was eleven o’clock until I was seventeen and this was the mid to late nineties! And what kind of farmer stays up that late anyway? I thought farmers went to bed early and woke around four or five o’clock in the morning…
So far, it’s fantastic.
I’ve made it through the first one-hundred pages (paperback edition) and can’t put the novel down. Actually that’s technically a lie since I read eighty of the hundred pages Saturday night (I have no life) and twenty more last night (Tuesday) which means, I guess, that I really didn’t have any trouble putting it down. But I swear I spent a good amount of time thinking about it and wanting to read. Honestly, I only intended to pick the book up and read ten or fifteen pages just to get it on my radar and become invested in the book club, if you will. I’m also reading David Robert’s Shantaram (which I’ve been reading forever) and itching to start David Wellington’s 13 Bullets, plus the new HP comes out this Saturday so I didn’t want In Cold Blood to get lost in the shuffle. I never really intended to start reading heavily but the book is really captivating, full of images I can’t get out of my head.
It moved a little slowly for the first couple of pages but Capote paints such a vivid picture of all parties involved that, by the time I reached the section where the Clutter family is gruesomely and efficiently dispatched, I was really horrified. The fact that the crime took place during 1959 in small-town Kansas only makes it even more impossible to comprehend. These murders would really be shocking to me today, forty-eight years later, so I can’t imagine what kind of amazement and gruesome interest the killings must have generated at the time. I’m just reaching a section where Capote is beginning to stress the level of fear and mistrust the quadruple homicide caused in Holcomb and I can see why. With an apparently motiveless crime wiping out an entire family, and not just any family mind you but some of Holcomb’s most distinguished citizens, I’d definitely be locking my doors from that day forward. And get a watchdog (that isn’t afraid of guns for god’s sake).
I also find that In Cold Blood is surprisingly well written and can only imagine what the true crime genre would be like in 2007 if some of today’s more talented writers devoted their efforts to it. The only pet peeve I have so far is the way Capote puts some of the text in the middle of paragraphs into quotations to stress that a brief snippet is a direct quote, despite the fact that most of the work is simply retold in the structure of a traditional novel. I don’t know why this bothers me, but for some reason it does.
I’ve already done a little background reading about the book (on Wikipedia, don’t kill me Laura!) and will definitely check out the film as well as Capote after I finish.
A final note: I can’t believe how progressive some of these rural folk were in frickin’ 1959. It seems that a lot of participants are divorced, and strict, conservative Mr. Clutter allowed Nancy’s boyfriend to stay at their house until ten p.m. watching television. My curfew was eleven o’clock until I was seventeen and this was the mid to late nineties! And what kind of farmer stays up that late anyway? I thought farmers went to bed early and woke around four or five o’clock in the morning…
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Blogging
Just a note for those of you who do not have blogs or have not been a guest writer on a blog...the members of this discussion group have direct posting privileges so rather than leaving a comment on an existing post, you may create and edit your own original posts. We can then comment on your posts.
Monday, July 2, 2007
A Selection is Made!
Let's go ahead and choose In Cold Blood. It is available in numerous copies and multiple formats, including OverDrive downloadable. I will even watch the movie. I expect it will take a little while for all of us to get this one accomplished. Read/listen and post at will.
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