Capote in Kansas

First and foremost this is not retelling of Truman Capote's book about gruesome murder of entire family in 1959. Goal here is to present the Capote, novelist and story writer from New York as he tries to talk with the both police and incarcerated murderers in Kansas to collect the materiel necessary to write one of his most famous books - "In Cold Blood". Capote with his extravagant clothes and big-city attitude was so much out of place in Kansas that it took some time for him to acclimatize and finally be able to openly talk about the murders with police, people in the city and murderers themselves. Faced with gruesomeness of the murder itself and grief of relatives and friends of murdered family Capote was scarred forever.

Authors show more decided to concentrate on Capote himself. To do this they removed from the picture people that worked very closely with Capote (especially here I mean Harper Lee) and concentrate solely on Truman.

With this approach the investigation of the murder is put out of the focus in this graphic novel- as a matter of fact if you don't know anything about the case you will definitely be puzzled. This is story of Capote and his internal struggle with murder and everything around it. Everything else is removed.

Art is very good and manages to present the reader with those minutiae that are essential for a story like this but often present quite a challenge for the graphic presentation.

So if you are looking for investigative journalism like story this will not be it. If you are looking for a insight into the psyche of a very interesting person then this is book for you. show less

Truman Capote settles on the perfect idea for his next book - a "nonfiction novel" about the murder of a farm family in Kansas. To that end, he travels to the small Kansan town to interview family, neighbors, law enforcement, and the murderers.

This book is a fictionalized account through Capote's eyes as he works on his now famous In Cold Blood. Other than the ghost of Nancy Clutter that Capote converses with, it does seem pretty factual. Obviously, some conversations are imagined, but they seem more than possible. Due to the book being a slim volume, we only really see snippets of interactions, but you get a sense of Capote's relationships with Dewey, Perry, and others. (Of course, as someone who has read about Capote and the Clutter show more case, I know a lot about it; others who go into this book with no background may be miss out.)

The black and white illustrations seem sparse at first glance, but they actually convey a lot about setting, tone, and characters. There are several pages with no words at all where the illustrations tell the whole story.

All in all, this is an interesting and quick read for those interested in Capote and his connection to the Clutter family's murder case. show less

Neither a comic version of Capote's famous In Cold Blood nor a comic version of the story of Capote writing In Cold Blood. It's something else, but something good. Don't read if you're unfamiliar with the story. This functions better as supplementary material. The relationship Capote has with Harper Lee is deemphasized but an interesting one with Nancy Clutter is developed.

Interesting graphic novel protrayal of Capote's struggle to write In Cold Blood. The story is told mostly with pictures and minimal text. Very well done. This book would be an excellent introduction to the graphic novel format for anyone who has never read a graphic novel. Pictures and text compliment each other and both are necessary to move the story forward. Wonderful use of the format and an excellent example of a graphic novel to be enjoyed by an adult audience.

I've read In Cold Blood but it was so long ago that I found myself getting confused about what really happened compared to fictional-Capote's experiences. Once I realized the ghost was a ghost, I enjoyed it much more.

Came into this with high expectations, but was sorely disappointed. The quality of the storytelling is rather low, and I found the author's interpretation of Capote lacking in insight.

Good, but slight. Makes me want to go watch the film "Capote" to get more into the story. I liked the use of the Clutter family ghosts. OK, and I also now want to re-read In Cold Blood.