Tag: Truman Capote

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

Posted August 30, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Book of the Month, Non-Fiction / 0 Comments

In Cold Blood by Truman CapoteTitle: In Cold Blood (Goodreads)
Author: Truman Capote
Published: Penguin, 1965
Pages: 336
Genres: Non-Fiction
My Copy: Library Book

Buy: AmazonBook DepositoryKindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

In 1959 a farmer from Holcomb, Kansas was killed along with his wife and two of his four children by a couple of two-bit thieves. This brutal crime spawned a desperate search for the killers who left bloody footprints at the murder scene. From petty crime to mass murder, In Cold Blood tells the story from murder to the gallows where they were executed by hanging.

In the Truman Capote literary masterpiece, it is easy to consider In Cold Blood a crime novel; it has shades of pulp and southern gothic throughout the book. However this journalistic investigation has often been cited as the first and best example of the non-fiction genre known as true crime. While there have been true crime books before In Cold Blood, this book did redefine the genre. Capote likes to call his book a non-fiction novel which he defined in an interview with The New Your Times as “a narrative form that employed all techniques of fictional art, but was nevertheless immaculately factual”.

However this is not just a book about the brutal murder of the Clutter family; we also get a Capote’s depiction of rural America. Outside the details of the crime, the author paints a descriptive backdrop of Kansas, the way he sees it. Religion, masculinity, femininity, the nuclear family and small town communities all play a big part in developing the scene. When he talks about the crime, the reader gets to explore the psychological motivations of murder and awaiting execution.

There is the issue of mental illness that needs to be explored when talking about In Cold Blood. It is almost like Truman Capote wants to challenge the reader to consider if Perry and Dick suffered from an untreated mental illness. There are shade of delusional, depression, schizophrenia and a sociopathic personality that comes through when talking about these two people but as this is 1959 I expect no psychological consult or treatment were given to these men; the court rejected the request.

I expected a true crime book but I feel like In Cold Blood was trying to do something similar to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I was very impressed with this book and I feel like Capote may have ruined true crime and even narrative non-fiction for the rest of the authors in these genres. Capote’s investigational skills and mastery over the written word is what makes this book a masterpiece.


Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

Posted April 3, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Classic / 2 Comments

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman CapoteTitle: Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Goodreads)
Author: Truman Capote
Narrator: Michael C Hall
Published: Penguin, 1958
Pages: 157
Genres: Classic
My Copy: Audiobook

Buy: AmazonBook DepositoryKindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a romantic comedy starring Audrey Hepburn that the Library of Congress has recently deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. It was a cheesy and mildly offensive (Mickey Rooney’s character) adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella of the same name. I recently had a chance to read Breakfast at Tiffany’s before rewatching the classic film and as I expected, another Hollywood butchering.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s tells the story of the unnamed narrator and Holly Golightly who are tenants in the same Upper East Side brownstone. The novella follows the narrator’s observations the life of this Manhattan café society girl. Holly has no job, but she survives by socialising with wealthy men who in turn give her money and expensive gifts.

It is important to note that Truman Capote has stated that Holly Golightly is not a prostitute; this is a popular misconception that I believe is debunked in the novel (but doesn’t mean it’s wrong). There is a conversation about three thirds of the way through this novella where Holly says she could never be a prostitute, she can’t separate love and sex. Even Capote came out and say that she wasn’t a prostitute, saying in an interview that “[Holly] was the prototype of today’s liberated female and representative of a whole breed of girls who live off men but are not prostitutes. They’re our version of the geisha girl.”

It is hard not to compare Breakfast at Tiffany’s the novella with the movie, everyone has seen the movie but I wish the book was celebrated for its brilliance. The movie has a focus on romance but that’s way off. What I found in the novel was friendship, isolation and on a very basic level hopes and dreams. There was an element of love in the novella but less traditional love, more of a focus on unrequited love (the wealthy men’s towards Holly) and love between friends.

I do have to wonder if the unnamed narrator has an autobiographical element to him. Both the narrator and Truman Capote share the same birthday, (the same birthday as me, 30th of September). I don’t know much more about Capote’s life but sharing a birthday makes me wonder. Holly was modelled after multiple women in Capote’s life, women he considered friends. I might find a biography of Truman Capote to learn more about it.

I listened to the audiobook of this novella read by Michael C. Hall and all I can think of was Dexter Morgan. The unnamed narrator in Breakfast at Tiffany’s had a similar narration style to that of Dexter and I kept waiting for something slightly sinister to happen. None of the characters were sociopaths like Dexter but I do think it enhanced my experience.

I loved this novella and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it. I didn’t remember reading much from the movie when I picked up this book; luckily, I think that might have tainted the experience. Capote’s writing was incredible and I feel like I need to read more of his, In Cold Blood is obviously a priority, although a biography might be beneficial first.