Some First's

As I continued reading the book, I realized the Capote is in no way trying to confuse the reader or dissuade him/her from the truth. He is being perfectly blunt and honest about everything. I had never read a book that gives you all the information on the first few pages. Lack of information is what usually keeps the reader interested, since they want to be able to figure everything out. But this is certainly not the case here.

So I began to wonder what his purpose was. It is evidently not one of those typical mystery books, since the reader immediately knows the Clutter's will be murdered, and soon later figures out that the killers will be Dick and Perry. So what keeps the reader going? What makes him/her interested? And then I realized on of the only pieces of information that Capote is holding back: The reason why the two delinquents kill an entire family. After becoming aware of this, I realized that this was actually the reason why I  wanted to keep reading: Just to find out what reason this family might have given to the killers, what could be so bad to have them killed.

Not only is this the first book I've read where almost all the information is immediately revealed, but it is also the first one that does not have a main character. Sure, anybody might argue that the Clutter's are obviously the main characters, since they are the focus. But I disagree exactly for this same reason. They are the focus because they were murdered, and they are murdered before chapter two even begins. So how could main characters cease to appear in more than half of a book?

Instead of a main characters, this book shows different points of view regarding the murder. It shows how Bobby reacts to the news, "helpless to help but wanting to" (72) and then crying; tells about Mrs. Myrtle Clare, who considered the terrified attitudes of her neighbors to be ridiculous and reffered to them as "a lily-livered lot, shaking in their boots afraid t shut their eyes" (87); and follows Alvin Adams Dewey as he attempts to solve the mystery.

It is definitely a strange book, but this is exactly what makes it impossible to forget about.