Saturday, August 25, 2012

In Cold Blood (Part Four)

As I had anticipated, Part Four included the “Court Room Scene.” But there’s much more.  First, the long wait behind bars before the trial, and then later the much longer wait for the execution.  Not a lot of big surprises in this section, but quite a few intriguing details and asides.  The author takes this opportunity to enlighten us with some cogent background regarding the history of capital punishment and its important cases, not only in Kansas, but in the country as a whole.  The descriptions of the prison in Leavenworth and of prison life in that time and place are worth the time spent on them. 

Capote also takes time here to thoroughly cover the documentation surrounding the case which explores the ideas around insanity pleas and what constitutes the justification for altering cases based on finding a defendant not culpable by reason of insanity.  The fact that in this case, the issue didn’t come up – indeed was not allowed to come up – is interesting in itself.  The psychiatric evaluators involved were commanded by the court not to give details of their findings, but we are treated to documentation on what they would have brought forth if allowed.  This is compelling reading, prompting a thoughtful reader to take a look inward to see where he stands; the line between a healthy mentality that would never consider murder and the mind of a so-called murderer gets blurred in this evaluation and one wonders just how little it would take to be pushed across that line. 

The trial itself is not particularly eventful, though not exactly your typical television courtroom triteness either.  The actions and reactions of the various players are explored and some interesting sidelights are revealed.  It’s a satisfying rendition, if not very dramatic.  The reaction of the defendants to hearing the death penalty pronounced are fascinating; following a quip made by one of them they both burst out laughing, a fact made widely known by a photo of the incident which appeared in the papers. 

The subsequent incarceration at Leavenworth on death row is nicely rendered.  We get to know other death row inmates, some of them rather high-profile.  More asides describing other murders, cases, outcomes are provided adding, again, some illuminating background on such cases in general.  The mechanisms of the legal wrangling that so notoriously makes headlines regarding stays of execution, delays of capital punishment proceedings and the like are looked at in some depth.
 
The closing sequences describing the hangings themselves are well executed (pun alert).  Some morbid humor is passed around among the witnesses to the event, including members of the press.  The scene, as noticed by Agent Dewey who was in attendance, is surprisingly lacking in dignity, being carried out in a decrepit old warehouse-type building.  The actions and words of the condemned men are decidedly low-key, and the hangings themselves described in a not overtly grisly manner.  But, all in all, a very satisfying conclusion to what has been justly described, in my opinion, as “A masterpiece – a spellbinding work” and quite possibly “The best documentary account of an American crime ever written.”


In September we'll be reading "Legend in Green Velvet," by Elizabeth Peters!  It should be easy to find a copy at a library or used book store.  The first comments should wait until September 7th, and cover the first two chapters.  So we'll take an extra week to it get started, as this is a busy time for everyone who is involved in getting school underway.  Enjoy!

Friday, August 17, 2012

In Cold Blood (Part Three)

The “detective story” that I had anticipated in Part Two more or less takes place here in Part Three, such as it is.  Identifying the killers, which would seem a more daunting task than finding them, turns out to be almost the first thing that happens in Part Three.  It practically lands in the laps of the investigators.  Again, I had the feeling that the plot was moving along too fast, and that there wouldn’t be enough plot left to complete the second half of the book! 

The search for the suspects, once they are identified, starts off slowly enough, requiring some real field work on the parts of the investigators.  Agent Nye turns out to be the real bird dog here, leaving Agent Dewey comparatively fretting on the sidelines.   Several intriguing questioning sessions take place in the process of following up leads, evoking a more conventional detective story feel.  It’s admirably done, considering that the author’s task was to stick as closely as possible to the facts and events as they actually occurred. 

The leads that eventually led to knowledge of the murderers’ whereabouts were largely due to the carelessness and bad judgments of the murderers themselves.  While a fiction account would have provided a more involved sequence of clue-finding and lead-following with some clever twists and turns along the way, real “sleuthing” doesn’t work that way.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that this is a true account, and to not keep expecting the more entertaining aspects of storytelling, even though the author does a superb job of making it feel like a mystery.

The apprehension of the suspects doesn’t lead to a showdown of any kind, coming off rather smoothly – again, like it generally would in a real life situation.  A nice twist that did occur, one of the investigators points out, is that they inadvertently waited until the suspects had had time to locate and collect belongings that contained further incriminating evidence.  “What if we had nabbed them a few minutes earlier!”  Indeed, there are several minor wrinkles in the story that added some dramatic spice to the plot. 

One ironic detail is that it was the “tough guy” who actually broke down first.  Believing that further denial was useless, the implacable Dick cracked almost too easily and tried to pin everything on his partner.  Perry couldn’t believe he would do that, and was even in denial about it until, on the ride back to Holcombe, the town in which the crime was committed, Agent Dewey repeats something that Dick said about Perry’s sordid past that had nothing to do with the crime.  That’s when it hit him that his so-called partner had really sold him out.  A nice dramatic moment of personal awakening, leading to him spilling his guts and the reader is finally let in on a detailed account of the crime.  Our best guess now is that Part Four is…The Court Room Scene? 

Next segment: Part Four, Conclusion


Also, we hope you'll join us in September with the book, "Legend in Green Velvet" by Elizabeth Peters!

Friday, August 10, 2012

In Cold Blood (Part Two)

By the end of Part One I had that feeling that most of the story had been told, and wondered how the author was going to sustain the interest level of the reader.  Sure enough, the plot flags a little and the urgency, if not the tension, seems to abate.  A more jaded reader might give up on the book at this point, but that would be a mistake.  At the beginning of part two, I thought, Aha, this has evolved into a detective story!  The introduction of a new main character, Agent Dewey, in charge of the investigation, and his three main assisting detectives was new, welcome territory.

Some detective work is covered here, but it alternates with long passages describing the travels of the murderers to Mexico and back.  Many pages are dedicated to an in depth analysis of the lesser of the murderers, Perry Smith.  We begin to wonder if the author is so proud of all his research into the case that he is determined to include as much of it as he can get away with, even if the reading gets tedious.  But if the reader is content to go with the slower flow, there are many rewards to be found in this section.

Only toward the end of this section was I reminded that earlier in the book, the motives for the murder were rather glossed over, and that the references to the person or persons who supplied the murderers with the information about the victims were very vague.  As Agent Dewey tries to establish a motive, we realize that the author has cleverly withheld that from us.  Were the murderers misled by their informants into believing that there were valuables worth a substantial amount of cash in the house?  If so, did the mysterious (to us) informants know the family and have a grudge against them?  The conversations we are let in on between the two murderers give us no clue that they found the outcome unsatisfactory.  There are even a couple of suggestions that they were satisfied with it.

So the lengthy character study of Perry Smith might be leading to an understanding of why he might turn himself in, out of guilt or a suspicion that it was inevitable that he would be caught after all.  The fact that he is a very conflicted individual, with a sensitive side and a conscience is certainly drawn out in detail.  This is in stark contrast with his partner Dick, who seems in many ways to embody the heartless, conscience-free monster that we have come to associate with crimes of this type.  The section ends with them hitch-hiking back into the US, and Dick’s passing up a ride with a trucker because he wants to find a car with someone in it they can kill in order to confiscate the car and the victim’s wallet.

Missing from this section are several of the characters that were so poignantly introduced in part one, such as the boyfriend of the slain young girl.  I keep expecting him to come back into the story and play a role in the aftermath.  Several of the close friends of the family were described in enough depth to suggest that they would make a return appearance as well.  And more of the details of the detective work by Dewey and his men will surely bring us some nifty surprises in the two remaining sections, Parts Three and Four.

Next segment: Part Three

Friday, August 3, 2012

In Cold Blood (Part One)

FM:  I’ve known about this book, and wondered about it, for most of my life, but just now got around to reading it.

CJ:  I too have known about this book for years, but for whatever reason have avoided it. Strange though, I have a kind of deja vu that I have either read the story or seen a movie, but can't for the life of me nail it down.

FM:  I think there is a movie based on the book that is considered something of a classic in its own right, in much the same way that the movie of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” with Gregory Peck, is a classic.  Although we don’t encounter the dramatic event that “In Cold Blood” is centered on until the first corpse is discovered on about page 60, there is a palpable “slow build” up to that point which literally quickens the pulse.

CJ:  At first I struggled to keep track of character names, but quickly began to appreciate the chronological order of character development. I like the fact that the murders weren't introduced until page 60. It built suspense but by the time we got there we "knew" the characters and could almost picture their faces.

FM:  One interesting device Mr. Capote uses to help us relate to the characters better is that of ending each of the story segments – at least early on – with an ominous foreshadowing of the horror to come.  (“Then, touching the brim of his cap, he headed for home and the day’s work, unaware that it would be his last.")  While this could have come across as rather corny literary show-off ploy, the author uses just enough finesse to pull it off; indeed managing to make it add immeasurably to the story.  One of several odd touches that set this author apart.

CJ:  I found it odd that friends of the Clutters came to clean the crime scene. Is that standard procedure? TV never shows us what happens after the coroner drives away with the bodies.

FM:  So much has happened in this first of four parts that one wonders; how much plot line can be left for the remaining three?  It almost seems as if the climax of the book has already occurred.  But if the quality of writing to which we have already been treated is any indication, there should be plenty of intriguing plot line left to discover.  We have already seen some foreshadowing of the tensions that will build between the various members of this closely knit small community as the suspicions mount over who the murderer(s) might be.  And we already know that the real murderers are eventually discovered from fact that the details of their actions are so well known.

CJ:  I think the climax will come with the disclosure of the motive. It is obvious the killers know where the victims live, not an easy place to find for strangers. I'm also interested in knowing their previous crimes. Another piece of the puzzle yet unsolved is how authorities connect the killers to the crime.

Next segment: Part Two