A unique piece of literature - now that makes a change (In Cold Blood - Truman Capote)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Date:	08/04/09 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: unpredictable

Disadvantages: it's real

Whilst perusing the recommended books in my local Waterstones this afternoon, I was somewhat taken aback to see Truman Capote's 'In Cold Blood' on the shelf. I studied the book as a fresh faced 17 year old on my A Level course, and just recently persuaded my wife to read it: we both really liked it.

The book is famed as the first non-fiction novel, in that it weaves a true story into a literary event. The true story is the brutal murder of a family in 1950s America, pieced together by Capote's interviews and research with those who knew the victims and, ultimately, the murderers.

What Capote did, was befriend the murderers, even embarking on a homosexual relationship with one of them. This controversially affected the telling of the story, which biased and favoured Capote's lover over the second murderer.

The book is intriguing like any crime novel, but with the added sense of horror that it is a true story. The scenes explaining the murder and subsequent murder scene are tough to stomach, and shouldn't be read by those who dislike gory scenes.

Of course, there is some fiction in the tale too, as Capote uses some creative licence in the narrative, and the blend of truth with biased truth and artistic licence is what ultimately won the text so much critical acclaim (and got it onto my A Level syllabus).

At 343 pages, it's not short, but Capote's easy going style is no challenge to cover.

The real intrigue surrounds the eccentric author, and to find out more about him, you can watch the film 'Capote', which came out a couple of years back, and covers much of the context of this novel.

All in all, this is an interesting text that differs from pretty much everything else out there, but bear in mind the murders it depicts are real.

Summary: read it if you dare