The Library Vault

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

There are many different readers throughout the world. There are people who are born readers. Then there are others who find reading, or sometimes reading finds them. It could be a book or an author that is the catalyst spinning them into a bibliophile. I was one of those people. I did not find reading, reading found me. When I hear stories of how a book developed someone’s love of reading, I grab on and hold tight. I am enthralled because I was that type of reader, too. The book for this Wine & Words post is just that. A trusted and fellow reader recommended this book and found their love of reading.

A crime thriller. A true tale articulated in ardent prose. It is the story of a heinously murdered family, the Clutters in rural Kansas. The story is In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Capote captures the reader immediately and holds them in his grip to the last page. Truman encompasses the reader with immense detail of the Clutter family. Capote begins with Herb, the patriarch. Then he moves to Bonnie, the mother, who suffered from clinical depression after bearing four children: Eveanna, Beverly, Nancy and Kenyon. The two eldest daughters survived the horrific incident, only to deal with the pain caused by this tragedy. While Nancy and Kenyon, the two youngest, lived with the parents and had their lives cut too short. Capote builds the reader to care for this family. The eloquent composition and defined detail humanizes these characters. When the reader turns the page to a dreadful ending, they are spun into a depression themselves; however, those feelings are not unnoticed, but may sway in another direction.

The book enters two ex-convicts who were recently released on parole, Dick Hickock and Perry Smith. As a reader, you follow these two ex-convicts and peel back their layers to feel remorse and sympathy, while in the back of your mind it is known that they committed the crime. Does it make it more real that this was a ‘real crime’? Does it humanize people in a way that we know, as readers, these all ‘real people’ and not a work of fiction? What leads people to commit a crime of this caliber? Who are these people? I think that is what Capote was trying to reveal. Is there always a reason why? 

Capote has created a piece of art. I personally could not put this book down. Understanding that Capote and Harper Lee journeyed down to Kansas, to unveil the truth, in Capote’s own words is daring. I suggest this book to anyone who has not read it. It is more than true crime, it is a work of investigative journalism. It is the observance of humans and the ability to disassociate to present truth. Is Truman’s truth the ‘real truth?’ How can one truly disassociate from something like this heinous crime presented at hand? Well, I think the best way to figure it out is by reading In Cold Blood, while a glass of wine is resting in your hand.

The wine to pair with In Cold Blood is a Gamay from Oregon that bleeds truth across your lips. The wine is Ferme de La Foret. I may have chosen the wine specifically for its color, which is a significant component when observing wine. Gamay is one of my a favorites, but this specific wine produces an elegant hue that satisfies not only the thoughtful words of Truman Capote, but presents itself with the crimson color that leaves our body when oxidized.

Ferme de La Foret’s color not only aligns well with Capote’s celebrated work of art, but with the production of this refined grape through an ‘hands off’ approach. Capote notably writes In Cold Blood as a disassociated author, writing truth from the evidence presented. The vintages of Foret are produced in a similar fashion. The winemaker provides minimal intervention, allowing the wine to speak for itself. Just like Capote, he provided the story through the evidence presented and so does Ferme de La Foret. Take the natural components of this earth and have mother nature present the evidence.