Cate Does the Classics: Lesson 1-In Cold Blood
I am rapidly becoming a fan of Truman Capote.
I'm currently reading "In Cold Blood" (to be honest, have been working on this book, among others, for several weeks now). Initially, I reluctantly scuffed through that dusty, Kansas landscape and the lives of the Clutters. Maybe reluctantly because I knew what happened to them. Maybe because I couldn't stop picturing Robert Blakeley as the squat, intellectual villain.
But then, something incredible happened. I was transported. I was in the car with Perry and Dick as they drove down colorless roads in the nighttime to the Clutter Farm. I was mourning alongside Nancy's friends--her best friend, Susan, especially, who could picture Nancy dancing in the red velvet dress that she had been buried in.
I give you these passages:
"As the black Chevrolet regained the highway and hurried on across a countryside imperceptibly ascending toward the colder, cracker-dry climate of the high wheat plains, Perry closed his eyes and dozed off into a food-dazed semi-slumber, from which he woke to hear a voice reading the eleven o'clock news. He rolled down his window and bathed his face in the floood of frosty air . . . The car was going very fast. Signs, their messages ignited by the car's headlights, flared up, flew by."
Did you get that: cracker-dry. Can't you just feel that bland, thirsty setting?
Or from Susan, the 17 year old best friend of Nancy, after viewing her friend in the coffin:
"Because all I could see was the dress. I knew it so well. I helped her pick the material. It was her own design, and she sewed it herself. I remember how excited she was the first time she wore it. At a party. All I could see was Nancy's red velvet. And Nancy in it. Dancing."
Capote's attention to detail is immaculate, his research thorough. His descriptions are spot-on. His writing, of course, is fluid, the work of a man bestowed with many gifts. But it is his way of respecting the people, his subjects--the Clutters, the ones left in that small Kansas town of Holcomb, frightened and mourning, and even the criminals, Perry and Dick--that leaves me a bit breathless, a bit in awe.
I'm currently reading "In Cold Blood" (to be honest, have been working on this book, among others, for several weeks now). Initially, I reluctantly scuffed through that dusty, Kansas landscape and the lives of the Clutters. Maybe reluctantly because I knew what happened to them. Maybe because I couldn't stop picturing Robert Blakeley as the squat, intellectual villain.
But then, something incredible happened. I was transported. I was in the car with Perry and Dick as they drove down colorless roads in the nighttime to the Clutter Farm. I was mourning alongside Nancy's friends--her best friend, Susan, especially, who could picture Nancy dancing in the red velvet dress that she had been buried in.
I give you these passages:
"As the black Chevrolet regained the highway and hurried on across a countryside imperceptibly ascending toward the colder, cracker-dry climate of the high wheat plains, Perry closed his eyes and dozed off into a food-dazed semi-slumber, from which he woke to hear a voice reading the eleven o'clock news. He rolled down his window and bathed his face in the floood of frosty air . . . The car was going very fast. Signs, their messages ignited by the car's headlights, flared up, flew by."
Did you get that: cracker-dry. Can't you just feel that bland, thirsty setting?
Or from Susan, the 17 year old best friend of Nancy, after viewing her friend in the coffin:
"Because all I could see was the dress. I knew it so well. I helped her pick the material. It was her own design, and she sewed it herself. I remember how excited she was the first time she wore it. At a party. All I could see was Nancy's red velvet. And Nancy in it. Dancing."
Capote's attention to detail is immaculate, his research thorough. His descriptions are spot-on. His writing, of course, is fluid, the work of a man bestowed with many gifts. But it is his way of respecting the people, his subjects--the Clutters, the ones left in that small Kansas town of Holcomb, frightened and mourning, and even the criminals, Perry and Dick--that leaves me a bit breathless, a bit in awe.
posted by Cate at 8:50 PM
9 Comments:
Hi Cate! I've just been reading through your entries! I love the passages you included that create such a vivid picture in In Cold Blood. Can you even imagine a world without books? One of the saddest things truly to me is people who can't get lost inside the world of a book, people who sort of say, "Ahhh, I don't really like reading much." I don't mean it as a criticism or insult, I just mean that they have expanded my life in so many ways. I feel like I know some of my favorite authors more than some people I have known in real life because they share so intimately- Anais Nin, for example. SARK too, of course!
And it looks like you are in that huge snowstorm back East. Is it as fun and cozy as it looks or not so much? I suppose if you have to trudge to work and back it might not be so inviting! I'm so glad to have discovered your site.. Thank you for your kind comments on my site too! I'll be back soon! Stay warm!
you have to read other voices other rooms, it's hard to believe he wrote it when he was 22! man I feel like a shlep.
Hi Cate.... I love Truman Capote too. He is so precise. What I preferred in the first passage was that flickering, precise image of the car's headlines -
"The car was going very fast. Signs, their messages ignited by the car's headlights, flared up, flew by."
Take care there. I have to go and write a Val's memo. An everyday memo. You know. Draw a few new web pics. See you. And I want to repeat that I just think your imaging in writing is so precise and economic, yet knife-sharp drawing.
Hey everyone, read My Reality at the right sidebar here. And the rest. I'm waiting for the others, patiently. Slow soul food is good for you.
Ann Marie
Hi there!
I've always been a little nervous to read Capote, but I think that I will approach it from the perspective of reading his WRITING. Thank you for the peek in! I'll let you know how it goes!
Cate, thos passages were amazing. I have never read Capote but you have inspired me! I can feel your excitment and I too want to get lost in the tale.
a.
I am so glad you are enjoying this book! My cousin decided when he was in high school that this was his favorite book. He claims it still is. 8 Years later and he is still begging me to try it. I don't know why I resist. Maybe you are the nudge I need! xoxo
Alexandra,
I agree--I can't imagine a world without books. That would be a world not worth living in (Am I being overly dramatic here? I think not!). I was at IHOP a couple of months ago and the waitress told a guy (who was dining by himself, like me, and reading a book) that she didn't read because it was boring. She said it like she was proud. And I thought, "Yes, you really are a fool." For admitting that, but also, for not getting the magic. Her loss. I'm going to check out Anais Nin. I've seen the name but never read anything. Oh, and I love SARK!
CR,
That's one my list! You and Busy91 turned me on to Capote!
Ann Marie,
"Precise" is the perfect word to describe his writing--isn't that sentence just incredible? And I so appreciate your comments about my writing! Thank you a zillion times over. They mean so much to me!
Megg,
Oh, you should--and let me know your impressions! I had a hard time getting into the story, but now, I'm having a hard time pulling myself away. I can see why people admire him--such a gifted man!
Andrea,
Capote paints with words the way you paint on paper--colorful, intense, powerful, nooks and crannies, bright spots and shadows, the whole bit! Let me know if you read him and what you think.
Baylor,
I've got to admit that my pull to Capote began because of his relationship with Harper Lee--To Kill a Mockingird is my all time favorite book. And I loved Dominick Dunne's character, Basil Plant, in The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, who was supposedly based on him. I started reading it and just couldn't get into it, until last night. Now, I'm hooked. If you read it, let me know what you think. I love that your cousin loves it and considers it a favorite! Hugs!
I need to go back and read "In Cold Blood" again.. but I'm with you.. I have Robert Blakeley burned in my brain. I don't know if that will ever change!
Holli,
I don't think that they could've picked a better person to play the part! He's such a high energy little guy . . .
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