In Cold Blood By Truman Capote
A Post by Frances (Franky) Lin
One sentence to describe the book: An investigative account of a mass-murder – examined in various perspectives – that left my mouth wide open even after I closed the book.
My friend and mentor Evan
recommended In Cold Blood last April,
saying that it is one of his favourite books next to The East of Eden (untouched for now) and The Brothers Karamazov (completed last summer). Trusting his judgement, I went to the nearby
Barnes and Noble in search of this one book.
After glancing at the blurb, particularly the statement about “the
murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial and execution of
the killers,” I felt my inner Spoiler Alarm explode. As far as the (impatient) reader is
concerned, there is a murder, there is more than one killer, and there is an
execution. It’s straightforward, but it
says too much. Probably going to be one
of those super predictable cat-and-mouse chases, right?
Wrong.
Comprised of approximately 340
pages, In Cold Blood has managed to
top my self-invented list of Books I’ve Completed In Less Than Five Days. Right from the start, it introduces the
victims and the murderers. However, the
voice isn’t emotive, for the purpose isn’t to sympathize with one or the
other. Instead, the third-person voice
distances the narrator from the chain of events, so as to give an unbiased
account of the murder in the form of a narrative. Thus, the reader is granted access to
different characters, different psychologies, and different perspectives of the
murder and its outcome.
Although it does not contain
as much fancy imagery that is seen in particularly fiction, the book still
“works” because of its structure.
Instead of chapters, there are instead major sections that separate the
sequence of events in its chronological order – before, during, and after. Within each of these four sections, the
numerous incidents that occur in the particular time frame of the investigation
are further broken up into, well, “unofficial chapters” so to speak. What I like about this structure is that the
story is told in a cohesive manner, which can bring the reader on a journey
with the different characters. The
aforementioned “unofficial chapters” also correlates to this logic as each
sequence can illustrate the events that might have happened simultaneously,
particularly how the story-arcs of the criminals and the citizens
intertwine. When this first happened, I
was initially confused with the sudden introduction of the men named Perry and
Dick, who were seemingly irrelevant to the Clutter family in the previous part. However, as the conversations became clear
and the psychologies of the characters developed throughout the specific parts,
the logic is elucidated. As a result,
the entire tale does not feel completely one-sided. Here, we are telling the story in the eyes of
a seemingly omnipresent bystander. The
reader comes to understand each situation, which ultimately tie in to the
conclusion as to where the sympathies lie – a decision not made for them in the
writing. In other words, the structure
of In Cold Blood is a guiding force
for the reader to comprehend the characters in terms of what they do, how they
do it, and why, all of which contribute to his or her personal verdict for the
masterminds at hand.
Of course, In Cold Blood has its flaws – notably,
it’s accuracy. According to my (hasty)
research – that was, indeed, a Magic
School Bus reference – there were some instances that were fabricated. (I will not specify what they are; it’s more
the reason to pick it up and read it!)
Regardless of some false data, those involved in the investigation have
still verified that the remaining pieces of information are by and large
accurate, so In Cold Blood is not a
tall tale in its entirety. Overall, it
is a worthwhile read, from its structure to its accessible writing style to
some of its vivid imagery that culminates into an analytic yet artistic piece
of non-fiction.
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