Colour me disappointed!

DUDES!
Now we are truly superfriends. Props to Jane for doing stuff!!

Anyhoo, I may be the only one who has finished In Cold Blood; I was over-eager as I had wanted to read it for ages. Imagine my dismay to find it boring and crap! I kept thinking it was going to get exciting so I kept reading but it never did get exciting. Just more boring.

I figure I must be missing something? It's widely viewed as a modern literary masterpiece, so I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say; maybe there's some awesome grand narrative I'm overlooking or some such. As far as I'm concerned, Capote's style of writing was unremarkable, if a little irritating with the dialogue style. Which was upsetting as I'd had my heart set on loving the book and author, being as I am somewhat favourable toward American popular culture. Hmmm...

I never got enough of a sense of the protagonists' actual characters to invest myself in their story. I figured the killers would be shown in a sympathetic light (ala recent films about American school shootings), hence all the controversy and hoo-ha, but I didn't have any feelings about them either way. They were just two dumb guys who killed some people for no real reason, drove around for a bit calling each other 'honey', then went to prison and died. The crime itself was definitely 'cold-blooded' and for that reason fascinating, but I was hoping for a little more thrills and gore, frankly. I mean, this book was banned in several states! Why? Maybe said States took a particularly strict stance on forgettable literature. I was also expecting there to be more of a homoerotic undertone to the whole shenanigans, as I had heard this theme mentioned before. But it was a bit of a stretch to assume the dudes were jonesing for each other, seeing as how they.... weren't. Probably everyone called each other 'honey' in those days (or at least Capote called everyone 'honey'; rumour has it he was a little sly, if you get my drift....). If you ask me, the 'homoeroticism' readings are just a way for literary critics to retrospectively inject some excitement into the text. The most interesting part of the whole book was when Capote listed some of the crimes comitted by one of the other inmates of the prison; that guy sounded truly nuts and I would have much rather read his story.

So what's the deal? Am I really so desensitized to violence and evil that I can't appreciate the true genius of In Cold Blood? Have 50 years of shock-value media made the difference between masterpiece and boooo-ring? Is the fact that nobody else is anywhere near finishing the book an indication of support for my views? If you ask me, this book is a prime example of a text that nobody really likes but everyone says is awesome in order to look smart and interesting, much like Eternity and a Day, the most long and boring film ever made.

I look forward to your comments and am open to new and exciting theories!!
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