"In Cold Blood": An In A Word Quickie Book Report On Gay Porn

I have returned from my self imposed exile to continue to blog at unreasonable speeds.

My solitude included cuddling up with the book, "In Cold Blood" by Turman Capote. [Warning: very strong stereotypes and moderate homophobia to follow] And let me tell you, that gay guy can spin a damn good yarn. Using the word yarn, is a tad misleading due to the fact Capote maintains the book is non-fiction. I am sure for the most part it is, however there are portions of the book that are assuredly Capote's embellishments.

"In Cold Blood" is based on the true story of the murders of 4 people in a small rural Kansas town outside Garden City in 1959. What Capote does is take hundreds of pages of interviews and research and then molds the information into an engaging, almost fictional murder mystery type novel.

The character development is some of the best I have ever read. You personally get to know about 10 different personalities connected to the Clutter murders. One of the more brilliant decisions Capote made was to juxtapose what the family was doing before they were murdered and what the killers were doing leading up to destroying the Clutter family.

One of the rumors I have heard concerning "In Cold Blood," was that while interviewing one of the murderers, Capote actually grew very attached to Perry Smith [although not what you are thinking, but rather felt sorry for him]. Whether true or not, you will never notice it in the book. And while Capote does a good job of establishing some compassion for the killers, he never leads the reader very far from the pain and anguish of the brutal murders.

A few parting side notes on "In Cold Blood:"

• Turman Capote researched "In Cold Blood" with the help of Harper Lee, a childhood friend and author of "To Kill A Mockingbird."
• Due to Capote's flamboyant nature [read: raging homosexual] it has been argued he never would have been able to gather the information and interviews without Harper Lee at his side. She lent a certain "star quality" to breaking the ice when talking to the residents and authorities
• Also while researching some background on Capote and "In Cold Blood," I stumbled across an interesting debate concerning "To Kill A Mockingbird." It seems there is some opinion that Capote may have actually wrote a considerable portion of "To Kill A Mockingbird." In fact, some of those close to Capote have actually said he claimed to have written as much as 80% of the novel.
  

I know "In Cold Blood" is considered an American classic and I should have probably read it sooner than 30 years into my life. However, that said, if you haven't the time to read perhaps Capote's finest novel, please do so. It's 340 or so pages will keeping you moving from beginning to end. Capote's greatest accomplishment with "In Cold Blood" is the ability to keep the reader engrossed in the story, while knowing most of the facts about the murders before you start even reading the book. As I sit here writing this post, I truly feel like almost knew the Clutter family, there killer and the men and their families that brought them to justice. Quite simply: a classic.

Postscript:
There is no gay porn within the pages of "In Cold Blood," just in case you were wondering. [I kid, I kid...chill out no nasty, pro-gay rights emails needed].