Justin

Capote finds humanity in such a senseless, cruel tragedy of a quadruple homicide of a family in an otherwise innocuous small town in America. From exploring the different perspectives involved in the case - the police, the people, and the perpetrators -he not only weaves a compelling narrative of a seemingly impossible task of capturing murderers with almost no clues, but manages to engender empathy for everyone involved: the criminals included.

Without sensationalizing or glorifying their actions, Capote gives insight into how they came to be through carefully researched documentation and interviews. It is not a way of engendering sympathy for these men, as for every ‘sympathetic' trait Capote includes, he is quick to remind the reader of their depravity - but it is his way of asking the reader to understand what made these men act the way they are, whether it was a stroke of bad luck or the way they are. It is through the inclusion of juxtaposing traits and tragic history that plague these men, that Capote only offers a complex question that has a subjective answer unique to the reader. Are these men born of sin or are in need of guidance? Capote takes no sides, but gives only the facts needed to understand the question asked.

The prose in this novel is so masterful, immersing me in the story almost forgetting that these were not fictional people in a fictional world; filling the environment with so much detail, giving many individuals personalities to flesh out the community that was rocked by such a horrific disaster. The most minute of details are given notice by Capote, with prose that weaves in exposition masterfully within the story. His research is evident, but his passion for the story even more so, as the story pours with detail without feeling overabundant.

There is some controversy around this book surrounding the misinformation - but much of it is harmless, just leaps that Walker took for research. Such as his suggestion that lack of sleep causes cancer - which there is no evidence for that (but the point is that it is bad for your health).

But as an OT student, I knew most of the information already. There was very little new information, except at the end with anecdotes, and perhaps the political messages at the end calling for work reform. It is well written enough that the familiar information is enjoyable to read again, but this book does not go deep enough into the science for my liking. It talks more about the implications and results of the science of sleep rather than the neurological reasons. Too much theory for my liking.

Really only advocated for two policies - and they are good policies.

The book doesn't do much steelmanning but it does provide some good evidence to advocate for the policies. Problem is that I was already for Universal Basic Income prior to this, so I did just nod my head along with the book and a lot of the justifications it made, I knew before hand. But it is a good book to have a conversation with someone who decries it as “socialism” or “impractical”

But when the book advocates for open borders, I am still a little bit unconvinced. Walking away from the book with “I think I should do more research” is probably not the book's intended effect. This is a controversial issue so it does not really apply to American problems as opposed to how it is in Europe because there are a lot of talking points that the book ignores.

But overall, it was a good quick read.

What struck me about this book is 1) how unabashedly queer this book is, not even subtext - just full on gay which was a nice thing to see be treated as normal and 2) how funny this book is. This book takes its time in the first half, really letting these character dynamics shine through in perhaps the most human way possible. They downplay the horror by making jokes without sacrificing the sincerity of the characters - it's not like the MCU where it uses bathos to defuse tension, it really is to augment the depth of these characters because it is human nature to make jokes about things. It was nice to see a book not afraid to show that side of humanity. It put these characters front and center as they all have depth in their own ways and elevates them from the usual fodder.

But what makes me not enjoy this book as much as many others do is the fact that it is just not scary. It tries to do the likes of Poe or Blackwood where much of the horror is within the minds of the characters, but there's a good chance that what is happening is real - something I've grown to not like. I want a story to go big or go home - not toe the line of what's real or what's not as things appear and disappear the following chapter without explanation. It dilutes the horror just a bit because I feel as if it was just cheating me a bit by playing both sides. In the cases of Poe or Blackwood, they earn their scares because of the prose that winds to a tension and it is told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator - something that is not the case here.

While I appreciated the attempts at characterization, it seems to focus so much more on the horror; I wanted to learn more about these characters rather than what was going on in the House.

Can sense that this book was really good, but so much of it went over my head that I can't say I enjoyed it so much. Well written, but not enough for me to want to reread it again to decipher what happened. Glad I read it however.