In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Groundbreaking in its time and engaging at first, since you simply have to know who would do such an awful thing. But once the perpetrators were caught and brought to trial, reading the rest of the book was a chore."

2 Stars.

Pros: Capote was good at drawing the suspense out at first, hooking the reader into needing to know who did the terrible crime.

Cons: This book went on for about 100 pages too many/There were no redeeming or likable qualities at all about Dick/The murders just didn't seem to make any sense, hence the title In Cold Blood.

Full Review:

George H. Clutter and his family are a hard working bunch. He owns a farm and runs his business well and honestly. He has two grown daughters, one married and the other engaged, and another daughter in high school as well as a young son. His wife, Nancy, suffers from a nervous disorder, and has been to treatment for years upon years with no apparent remedy. They live their lives honestly. They are good, hard working, intelligent, kind people. And one night, they are all brutally murdered.

Dick and Perry are two paroled burglars who have met up together to "settle a score" as Dick says. Perry seems to be an involuntary and slightly unwilling victim. But Dick convinces him that the plan is foolproof. And so, they murder the Clutters and escape. For months on end the police look for any sort of clue that might lead them to solve the grisly murders and nothing is apparent until a former cell mate of Dick's confesses to talks they had while they were in prison together.

I kept reading long after the crime, the arrest and into the trial because I just had to know what happened. I had to know how the book ended. But I felt nothing for Dick or Perry. I felt no remorse from either of them, Dick was a coward, Perry was emotionless and stunted. As characters they just had no redeeming qualities and by the trial, I just wanted the damned book to be over with.

I learned something with this novel though, that true crime is not my genre. All the months upon months of legal jargon etc, it just let me feeling frustrated and impatient. The beginning of the book did hook me, I wanted to know who killed the Clutters and more importantly why, but when I found that out, the revelation was dull, nonsensical and pointless.

Comments

Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury

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“Rick Deckard is a Bounty Hunter who's on the trail of six "Andys" (Androids) who have come to Earth illegally. His job is to track them down and "retire" them. Something he found easy to do until he met her, Rachael Rosen. The Android that does the impossible, passes the "Voight-Kampff" test. The story quickly devolves into a slow, drawn out and frankly boring mystery that was putting me to sleep by the end." ⭐⭐ Pros: I was more interested in comparing it to the film, "Bladerunner."/At first I kind of liked the drab, dreary atmostphere but it soon became soporific. Cons: I had no real idea what was going on with Mercerism/The end there had me blinking in bewilderment, like with Herbert's 29th Dune Book/There was a lot of idle chit-chat while they were in murderous/intense situations, it just seemed odd. Full Review: Rick Deckard, a Bounty Hunter, contracted with the San Francisco Police Department hunts down and retires rogue ...

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

“The tale of Andy Dufresne and how he served his time at Shawshank prison, as told through the eyes of his friend and fellow inmate, Red. Dark and disturbing but also compulsively readbale. I finished it in 2 days. Also enjoyable is Frank Darabont's 1994 film adaptation, "The Shawshank Redemption." ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pros : Red has a soothing, drawl, making the reading easy and flowing/Since I saw the film first, I couldn't help but compare the book though I was pleased to find that the two were very similar. Cons : Things got a bit rambling a bit at the beginning/Since I saw the film first I couldn't help but compare the book but this ended up not being a con. Full Review: The state of Maine has a prison. Shawshank Redemption. And Red is the guy that can get you things. He also happens to be the only guilty man in Shawshank but that's netiher here nor there. He meets Andy Dufresne for business purposes at first and he finds him to be a calm, cool man and Red likes him i...

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