Starred review from May 1, 2006
In the wake of the award-winning film Capote
, interest in the author's 1965 true crime masterpiece has spiked. Capote's spellbinding narrative plumbs the psychological and emotional depths of a senseless quadruple murder in America's heartland. In the audio version, narrator Brick keeps up with the master storyteller every step of the way. In fact, Brick's surefooted performance is nothing short of stunning. He settles comfortably into every character on this huge stage—male and female, lawman and murderer, teen and spinster—and moves fluidly between them, generating the feel of a full-cast production. He assigns varying degrees of drawl to the citizens of Finney County, Kans., where the crimes take place, and supplements with an arsenal of tension-building cadences, hard and soft tones, regional and foreign accents, and subtle inflections, even embedding a quiver of grief in the voice of one character. This facile audio actor delivers an award-worthy performance, well-suited for a tale of such power that moves not only around the country but around the territory of the human psyche and heart. Available as a Vintage paperback.
September 13, 2024
Gr 9 Up-A slick forger named Dick Hickock hatched a plan to rob a rich rancher in western Kansas, and just before he was released from prison, he found his accomplice: Perry Smith, an unstable loner who'd maybe killed a man. Rumors abounded in prison; maybe that wasn't true, and maybe the Clutter family didn't have a safe full of cash. But one night in 1959, Smith and Hickock showed up anyway, and killed them all: husband, wife, and their two teenaged kids. Over the next five years, Capote spoke extensively to everyone-friends and neighbors of the Clutters, detectives, and both killers. His methods were controversial but the depth of his coverage and empathy made him famous for inventing a new genre: the "nonfiction novel." VERDICT Capote brilliantly contrasts the underside of American life in this purchase that should be on the shelves in most high school collections.-Georgia Christgau
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