In Cold Blood

I picked this up the other day when I wandered into the book store. It's so notorious, but one of those things I never got around to reading. Have any of you read it, and what are your thoughts on it? I've made a start, and have been fascinated by the snapshot it provides of life in a small midwestern town in 1959. It's like another world in some ways, but still points up to me the many differences that still exist between the culture here in England and the one back home. I mean the insular, intolerant nature of small town life there, the Puritanical view of life. You know what I mean? Kind of like the version of America depicted in 'Bowling for Columbine'--somehow simultaneously backward, arrogant, complacent and paranoid.

I read In Cold Blood several years ago and still consider it a masterpiece.  One interesting thing I noticed is how Capote seems to glorify one of the killers (Perry, I think?)  When I told this to my father later, he said that Capote fell in love with Perry whilst interviewing him for the book, so the way he is represented is somewhat skewed as a result.  I'm not sure if this is accurate, but my father tends to know his stuff when it comes to literature.

It is a heartbreaking story, and you will be devastated when you reach the end of it.  I haven't read anything else by Capote but perhaps I should.

I haven't read In Cold Blood, but Breakfast at Tiffany's is masterly as well. But something like the movie Natural Born Killers would be unthinkable without the presence of In Cold Blood.