good old fashioned murder

So yesterday after reading a movie review for like, the second recent movie to come out about Truman Capote, I decided to finally read that copy of In Cold Blood that has been kicking around.

Survey says? A tempered sort of enjoyment. It's far more artfully written than I would have immediately suspected. I found myself wanting to read ahead in the chapters to gain answers to questions that Mr. Capote deftly dangled just out of reach. Which is strange because given the lurid subject matter, what really strikes me about this how calmly and tepidly the story presents itself.

Which leads me towards what I feel is really the most interesting thing about this book, which is how much you can tell that it was published back before action movies and crime thrillers as we know them. It's interesting to reflect on how the jerky, overblown, slick way we make movies has influenced how many people write.

Also, the description of Mr. Clutter, "...his square-jawed, confident face retained a healthy-hued youthfulness, and his teeth, unstained and strong enough to shatter walnuts..." is really superb because usually when reading character descriptions I always tend to wonder what their teeth could shatter.

Biggest drawback? Besides the lack of sensationalism I've grown culturally addicted to? Is that, Mr. Capote, we get that you based this book on a lot of firsthand research and interviews and put a great deal of your life into personally talking to many of the people involved. But we would understand that without you putting every other word in quotation. For example:

"...and "more than anything in the world" he desired a reunion with this man, his "real and only friend", the "brilliant" Willie-Jay...if things "didn't work out with Willy-Jay" he might decide to "consider Dick's proposition."

This might be the "correct" way of referencing "documents" and "interviews" but I find it a little "distracting" as a "reader".

Seriously Mr. Capote. How do you go from mass murder to Breakfast at Tiffany's anyway.