In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote
read: circa 2007

I link In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song in my mind. In both books you have a murder as the central act, with the resulting investigation, trial, and execution rippling out from that death. Both are non-fiction books but written like novels. And both show the killers in somewhat of a sympathetic light. Neither Capote nor Mailer exonerates the murderer, but both show some of the factors that led them to that place and the humanity they display in facing their deaths.

The sympathy is especially interesting in In Cold Blood, as the murders were committed by a duo - Dick Hickock, the mastermind of the operation, and Perry Smith, who actually slaughtered the Clutters. Hickock doesn't have the stomach to kill himself, so he finds Smith, a murderer, because he knows he needs a killer to pull off the robbery. Smith isn't insane by the legal definition, but he's clearly mentally disturbed, even sociopathic. He has a disturbed sense of honor - he bars Hickock from raping Nancy Clutter, yet shoots her in the head minutes later. Capote ultimately paints Hickock, not Smith, as the real monster.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's
by Truman Capote
read: circa 2007
Guardian 1000 Novels

I hadn't met my now-wife when I read Breakfast at Tiffany's, and, being single, I saw the relationship between Holly Golightly and "Fred," the narrator, as an unrequited romantic interest rather than a platonic relationship. That's also the tack the movie takes, but of course they had to go and Hollywood-ize the ending and ruin it. The film also features one of the most racist movie performances ever by Andy Rooney. I adored Breakfast at Tiffany's, and I'm kind of afraid to re-read it knowing that most critics believe Fred, like Capote himself, was gay, and so the whole lens through which I saw the story was wrong.