In Cold Blood

To put it bluntly, I think this book could be wildly shorter and still extremely impactful. But I think that of most books. This book succeeds in remaining fairly impartial and interesting. Sometimes it drags...sometimes it's thrilling and I can't put it down. The sensationalized idea of this book kept me going, if I'm being as honest as possible. I wanted to be in on this event and this writing that so many have talked about. It was also an assigned book and I've been trying to reach my reading goal. I found the story's beginning and end to be the most interesting sections of the story. I loved getting to know the Clutter family. Admittedly, it was interesting to get to know Dick and Perry as well. I am not usually sympathetic for murderers, but this book allows for a little wiggle room. It's awesome that we can understand why people do what they do, what drives them to heinous acts, and maybe, how we can prevent them. Though I do believe certain subsets of criminals are not deserving of too much sympathy, they are excellent displays of failures in American systems. We can address the orphaned, the abused, the privileged, and the mentally ill American in the same context. This book is a great starting point and beautifully written.