Review of In Cold Blood by Capote (Written July 3rd)
The book In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Consequences is, as the subtitle states, based on a true story. Capote researched the murder and interviewed as many people who knew the victims and the murderer’s as he could. The research took him years and he started immediately after the murder’s happened. The book is sometimes described as a pioneering work in the true crime genre, an originator in non-fictional novels and a forerunner to the New Journalism movement. It is, all in all, an important piece of writing.
And it is a well written novel. The characters are vivid. The language is exceptional and it keeps its reader wanting more. What else does a good novel need?
I was aware of the true story aspect of the book before I started reading it. And although I stay away from true stories as a child keeps away from the fire I for some reason decided to dip my toe in. Whether Capote’s writing is exactly accurate is of course debatable. I highly doubt that it is possible to write a book (tell a story, report news) exactly accurate. As this is a piece of writing, art if you will, I see it as inconsequencial if he was exactly accurate or not. It doesn’t bother me as a reader if someone was wearing blue trousers instead of yellow or who said what when. I’m only interested in the story Capote has to tell.
And it is a story worth telling and he tells it well. It’s a story worth reading and yet when I put the book down I felt somewhat dissatisfied.
I am in the habit of looking for the point of things. When a writer travels and spends years researching a certain criminal case so close to his own history I must ask myself what was the point? What did he have in mind? When he finished the novel, what was the point of telling the story? Was he just experimenting with the non-fictional form and treating into the journalism aspect of storytelling or did he have something else in mind?
And somewhat to my dismay I was left unsatisfied in this aspect. I see no grand morale of the story (which I should and do regard as a good thing - we have too many moral lessons (I prefer the Swedish word morale-cake) in literature) and I see no point other than what I’ve stated above.
Was he just interested in this particular case, a perfectly human curiosity which he decided to make a story off? Did he have something to say about capital punishment? About brutal crimes? I guess the topic has already been discussed to death and I’m sure the debate will go on.
What I do think is that for the lack of this point that I was hoping for I find the plot and the story somewhat tattered. The daughters cake-baking, the background of the two criminals, the deeds done to the Clutter family, the trip to Mexico, the chase, the trial, the imprisonment, the deaths of the perpetrators. It’s all portrait in the story and real life is greatly lacking in plot as we know. Capote does the best he can with it but because of the pointlessness (I’m sorry I can’t find a better word for it) I find myself almost hoping for a moral-cake in the end just so that the bits and pieces will somehow fall into place. But they never do.
Instead you are left with a well written novel which is based on a true crime. The reason the reader actually reads to the end (and I suspect many don’t) lies in the details of the crime (which is brutal and yet somewhat of a carrot if the reader is the donkey) and then in the satisfaction when the perpetrators are punished.
It’s an interesting novel and I have great respect for Capote’s work. Whether every detail is correct isn’t important to me as I am not reading the novel to get full details of the heinous crime (and yet I get them - all the gory details). I still feel reservation towards this book for the reason stated and for the fact that I don’t like reading true stories.
A true story, in my opinion, is never as well written as a fictional one so I guess to know the extent of Capote’s capacity I will have to read something else he has written.
And it is a well written novel. The characters are vivid. The language is exceptional and it keeps its reader wanting more. What else does a good novel need?
I was aware of the true story aspect of the book before I started reading it. And although I stay away from true stories as a child keeps away from the fire I for some reason decided to dip my toe in. Whether Capote’s writing is exactly accurate is of course debatable. I highly doubt that it is possible to write a book (tell a story, report news) exactly accurate. As this is a piece of writing, art if you will, I see it as inconsequencial if he was exactly accurate or not. It doesn’t bother me as a reader if someone was wearing blue trousers instead of yellow or who said what when. I’m only interested in the story Capote has to tell.
And it is a story worth telling and he tells it well. It’s a story worth reading and yet when I put the book down I felt somewhat dissatisfied.
I am in the habit of looking for the point of things. When a writer travels and spends years researching a certain criminal case so close to his own history I must ask myself what was the point? What did he have in mind? When he finished the novel, what was the point of telling the story? Was he just experimenting with the non-fictional form and treating into the journalism aspect of storytelling or did he have something else in mind?
And somewhat to my dismay I was left unsatisfied in this aspect. I see no grand morale of the story (which I should and do regard as a good thing - we have too many moral lessons (I prefer the Swedish word morale-cake) in literature) and I see no point other than what I’ve stated above.
Was he just interested in this particular case, a perfectly human curiosity which he decided to make a story off? Did he have something to say about capital punishment? About brutal crimes? I guess the topic has already been discussed to death and I’m sure the debate will go on.
What I do think is that for the lack of this point that I was hoping for I find the plot and the story somewhat tattered. The daughters cake-baking, the background of the two criminals, the deeds done to the Clutter family, the trip to Mexico, the chase, the trial, the imprisonment, the deaths of the perpetrators. It’s all portrait in the story and real life is greatly lacking in plot as we know. Capote does the best he can with it but because of the pointlessness (I’m sorry I can’t find a better word for it) I find myself almost hoping for a moral-cake in the end just so that the bits and pieces will somehow fall into place. But they never do.
Instead you are left with a well written novel which is based on a true crime. The reason the reader actually reads to the end (and I suspect many don’t) lies in the details of the crime (which is brutal and yet somewhat of a carrot if the reader is the donkey) and then in the satisfaction when the perpetrators are punished.
It’s an interesting novel and I have great respect for Capote’s work. Whether every detail is correct isn’t important to me as I am not reading the novel to get full details of the heinous crime (and yet I get them - all the gory details). I still feel reservation towards this book for the reason stated and for the fact that I don’t like reading true stories.
A true story, in my opinion, is never as well written as a fictional one so I guess to know the extent of Capote’s capacity I will have to read something else he has written.