Rating: 
Summary: lo policial por excelencia
Review: A algunos nos parece que todo asesinato es una obra de arte. De los millones y millones cometidos a lo largo de la historia de la humanidad muchísmos de ellos han sido incorporados a la literatura universal porque a ciertos autores les han parecido encantadores y dignos de perpetuarse en la memoria colectiva.Recordemos el inicial, que es la muerte de Abel y ha quedado registrado en el Génesis. En Éxodo el nombre de Moisés se escribe después de un homicidio cometido por el propio Moisés en la persona de un egipcio. En el Nuevo Testamento se narra una muerte Redentora que es el asesinato colectivo cometido contra Jesús el Cristo. El escritor ingés Thomas de Quincey se enamoró tanto de ciertos crímenes que llegó a escribir un libro muy famoso titulado El Asesinato considerado como una de las Bellas Artes de recomendable lectura. Francisco Villa se lanzó a la Historia después de asesinar y su biografía de bandolero sentimental fue agonía y éxtasis de los revolucionarios hasta antes del dos de julio de 2000. El licenciado Donaldo Colosio fue un burócrata mediano y al momento de su muerte se encontraba sin trabajo, pero su violento homicidio en marzo de 1994, lo lanzó a la Historia (con mayúsculas). Con el asesinato (1892) de los estadounidenses esposos Borden cometidos por su hija (Lizzie Borden took an ax ...), según ciertos criminólogos, nos encontramos al más encantador, digámoslo con elegancia, de los cometidos "entre particulares", por distinguirlos de los abundantes asesinatos cometidos contra hombres públicos (contra César, contra Lincoln, contra Obregón, contra un regidor suplente en mi pueblo que es Las Choapas). El adulterio, además del asesinato o el suicidio, ha hecho surgir novelas memorables: Ana Karenina de Tolstoi, Rojo y Negro de Stendhal, El Amante de Lady Chatterley de Lawrence, Servidumbre Humana de Somerset Maugham (es patológico el deseo de Philip de ser humillado por Mildred. En cierto momento, ambos aspiran al suicidio o al homicidio), Romeo y Julieta de Shakespeare (obra bonita porque los muchachos se matan. Los une el amor y la muerte dicen los cursis). Fausto de Goethe es, digamos, una muerte en vida (frase de mi abuela, qepd), por la inquietante relación de Fausto con Mefistófeles. En Los Tres Mosqueteros de Dumás las novias de los mosqueteros son mujeres casadas lo que quiere decir que yo me quedo con el adulterio y la muerte como leit motiv y dejo a otros lectores la aventura de los diamantes que Artagnan rescatará en Inglaterra. Matar a la mujer a la que uno ama desesperadamente es el tema central de la violenta noveleta El Túnel de Ernesto Sábato. Nunca un crimen ha sido, digámoslo sin elegancia, nunca ha sido tan comercial, como el que dio origen a la novela A Sangre Fría del escritor homosexual norteamericano Truman Capote. Capote había escrito obras regulares, pero un buen día tropezó con crimen cualquiera en el que dos hombres cualesquiera asesinan a cuatro cualesquiera miembros de una familia de tantas. Capote se enamora de este crimen, de un crimen más de los tantos que abundan, cometido en noviembre de 1959 contra los Clutter (los padres, un hija y un hijo adolescentes). Capote hace una obre de arte de estos hechos triviales (por lo recurrentes) hallados al azar en un periódico.
Rating:
Summary: A remarkable read, a fascinating study
Review: "In Cold Blood" is the rare kind of book in which you get to experience a true story of horrible acts, but at the same time, you receive an interesting look into the workings of American justice. Whether you are a supporter of capital punishment or not, or a student of criminology or just a curious reader, this book is for you. It will take you through all the emotions of terror for the slain Clutter family and both hatred and empathy for their killers. Capote proves to be an well-researched author and not a sensationalist for at times, when it was expectant of him to paint a bloody picture of the victims or the hangings of their murderers, he does not give you that. Without completely describing the crime scene, he is still able to portray the feelings of the residents of Holcomb and Garden City, where the murders took place. I expected to hate Hickcock and Smith at the end of the book but I pitied them. I also felt sorry for a small town in Kansas that whose existance completely altered by these murders. While this was an engaging book, I could not help but wish it had never been written, that the Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon Clutter had never been harmed. It is evident that "In Cold Blood" will take you through every emotion possible and back again by the time you have closed the book. I would highly suggest this book for all people, but especially those with an interest in American justice in it's various forms. You will learn a great deal about how far we have come in our history and a brief glimpse as well in where we are headed.
Rating: 
Summary: Still shocking
Review: What surprised me the most about this book was how shocking it remains after 40 years and countless similar acts of violence. Capote's writing was excellent. I was drawn in much stronger and faster than I expected to be. Had a hard time putting it down. He does a wonderful job of setting the time, place and people. You feel the deep loss and dispair along with the community. His exploration of the murderers as people is very interesting. I honestly don't remeber what inspired me to read this, but I'm awfully glad I did. Good, good stuff.
Rating:
Summary: A True Masterpiece
Review: I've been hooked on books since I was 5 years old and I don't think I've read anything that affected me more than "In Cold Blood." The story is set decades ago but is so ageless that it might have been last month. What makes this book so powerful is that the Clutters, their friends, and the murderers are all conveyed as real people with dreams, faults, virtues, and lives. These are not stereotypes, or shallow charicatures. Somehow, Capote seems to have captured their true natures and distilled them down into words that allow us experience them. As I progressed through the book, I found myself caring more and more what happened to these people until I couldn't bear the thought of the Clutters dying let alone the horrible details. This book is so engrossing and so very real that virtually any reader will find it powerful and compelling. It is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting and brutally beautiful
Review: The crime described in this book -- a multiple homicide -- could have been presented in the trite and breathless prose that inspires lurid TV cop shows. But it is not. Capote's writing lifts the Clutter tragedy well beyond the commonplace and transforms it into art. The poignant images he chose to include (the sad little dinner Perry serves in prison to his only friend, Dick's parents unknowingly going about their lives with a murder weapon propped up against the wall, Kenyon's radio, Bonnie pleading for Nancy's virtue, Nancy's beloved Babe sold at auction) tug at the heart as surely as the details of the crime appall us. And Capote waited until the end to share those gruesome details, when all the emotion we've invested in both the criminals and Clutters give their horror even greater impact. Beautiful construction, beautiful prose. An American classic.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: I find it strange that Capote is best known for Breakfast at Tiffany's when this was far and away his most profound, respectable work. Not only was it the sprout of a whole new genre(what we now know as "journalistic novels" or "creative nonfiction") but it's well-written and provocative. This novel is a news report; it reads like one of TIME Magazine's better feature pieces, yet it captivates like good fiction. The basis of this book is unique and creative, and journalism at its highest creative point.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Better Ones
Review: I rather enjoyed this book. The author does a good job telling a story that is rather depressing and scary. Given the large amount of book in this class, his one stands out becuase of the writing. He have a very good flow through out the book and he is a master at describing the location and people involved. If you are to read a true crime book this is one of he better ones out there.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: There are occasions when inspiration reaches a good writer and energizes him or her to become a great writer; a master. For Ernest Hemingway it was visiting the simple, strong people of Cuba's fishing villages. For John Gunther it was the courage and affability shown by his son during the boy's struggle with brain cancer. For Pat Frank it was being asked, "What do you think would happen if the Russians hit us when we weren't looking?" For Truman Capote it was massacre of the Herbert W. Clutter family. Mr. Capote did not actually know Mr. Clutter or any member of his family personally. He read about their puzzling murders in a small New York Times article. The hipster novelist and short story scribe, always looking for a new muse, caught the next train for the Clutter's hometown of Holcomb, Kansas, notebook in hand, to see what kind of work the case might inspire. Throughout the six years Mr. Capote spent researching and writing his "non-fiction novel," he carefully observed the community of Holcomb; witnessed the search for, capture and eventual execution of the Clutters' murderers (Perry Smith and Dick Hickock, two excons who were given misinformation about a safe Herbert Clutter supposedly kept in his office. Mr. Capote interviewed both extensively) and found literary gold. In Cold Blood is an American masterpiece. From the warm, vivid caricature of Holcomb to the extensive biographies of Dick and Perry to the stark portrayal of death row, the novel displays our country at its best (The Clutters' wholesomeness; Perry's childish sense of adventure; the intimacy of Holcomb) and at its worst (The decadence and abuse of Perry's childhood; Dick's utter callousness; the vengeful execution of the duo). The imagery that makes up In Cold Blood is bound to become deeply insaturated into the psyche of any reader both because of its poignancy and because it is so masterfully verbally painted. The story is told from the golden pen of an author who has obviously, carefully measured every scene, paragraph and sentence for its impact. Be it the significant weight of the subject matter (Localism, stability, adventure, greed, murder, capital punishment and the links that connect all are all explored), the personal connection Mr. Capote felt by being in Kansas and knowing the "characters" or some other inspiration, the author exhumed magnificent, spell-binding skill and style, that was evident, yet not fully emerged, on his previous works. For In Cold Blood, the chemistry flowed, the stars aligned, the doors opened and a master was truly born. The novel is truly a monumental classic.
Rating: 
Summary: TOO DETAILED
Review: Capote writes this book like a huge newspaper article. The novel lacks something that I can't quite put my finger on. Either his writing style is bland and personality free or the story is so cliched and typical that it's just tedious too stay focused on it. I agree with many reviewers who complained about the book's details being uninteresting and unnecessary too the plot. I did like the humanizing of the criminals however which I think many novels lack. I gave the book three stars because in hidesight (I read it 5 months ago) I think I learned something from this trite and overly detailed true crime story. (This is a very MIXED review, I know. Well, read the book just because it's a classic, although I'm not quite sure why this stands out in history above others.)
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading in high schools
Review: ....BR>As brilliant the writing and compelling the drama that Capote pours into the novel, the horrific fact of it is that an innocent mid-western family was senselessly murdered based on a jailhouse rumor. I feel Capote's best work in the book is in the beginning with the suspense he builds to the impending murders (I'm not ruining any plot, the backjacket of the book begins with "On Nov. 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces..."). The reader knows what's going to happen, one can sense the crescendo of tension through the first 50 pages, and yet I became so compelled for the Clutter's that I found myself hoping they would somehow, someway, find a way to survive the events of that tragic fall evening 40 years ago. And that is what I believe is Capote's best success in the book; he fills the reader with compassion - for both the Clutter's - and ironically, the killers, Dick and Perry.
Some reviewers complain the middle of the book drags a bit but Capote is trying to give the reader both sides of the story. To understand Dick and Perry, one must understand their misguided pasts. Their background stories also help setup a terrific ending to the book.
Capote also has a gift at capturing a human soul and putting into the pages. The grandpa and young boy hitchhiker story midway through the book is his best but the stories of the prisoners and their everyday nuances is also profoundly ardent.
For most readers, this should be a very easy book to follow. Although Capote constantly jumps from the Clutter's to the crime investigators to Dick and Perry's shenanigans, it still follows a pretty consistent timeline. And it's a very fast read. Although it's close to 350 pages, most people I know have finished it within a week. Modern supense novels like "Hannibal" and "The Stand" may be more sadistic and have a deeper story, but "In Cold Blood" was the forerunner to them all and still ranks among the best pieces of non-fiction literature in the last 50 years.
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