Really Quite Liked It

Yep, top work on the blog Jane. The Superfriends have risen, like a many headed phoenix from their own ashes!
I finished the book quite a while ago but was trying to put off publishing until we were all up to speed. I'm starting to worry about forgetting too much though.
Not that I found the book forgettable. Shit Jess, I really wasn't expecting that kind of reaction. I've read quite a few other true crime stories about sick fucks alot more depraved than old Dick and Perry, and found them all to be dry and boring (maybe with the exception of the works of that modern day bard, Mark "Chopper" Read), but In Cold Blood I liked.
I thought that Capote's attention to detail with regards to the documentation of the recollections and impressions of those involved in the case, enabled me to gradually make inferences concerning the nature of the protagonists' characters, which I think ultimately painted a more vivid and interesting picture than if he had more explicitly described their personalities. The people involved, though some more than others, were real to me.
Capote's portrayal of the psychological dynamic between Perry and Dick was effective and for me, what made the story as interesting as it was. I've always found the idea that people incapable of committing attrocities individually can do so with others scary. Or just the idea of tandem/group murder or rape in general: the fact that some sort of consensus to commit something like that can be reached is frightening to me.
The other thing I think Capote gave a real sense of was the era in which the events took place. Or should I say the cusp of an era. At times I felt as if I was reading of a time much further back than 50 years. The patriarchal Clutters with their principled methodist lifestyle, in fact most of Western Kansas seemed to me to belong long ago, but this was contrasted with the more contemporary feel of the adventures of Dick and Perry. I felt this conveyed the feel of societal change that may have been evident with the sixties just around the corner. This idea of change goes complements the increasing prevalence in motiveless violent crime that Capote reports later in the book and that I associate more with the present day, and I like the way he highlights this increase with descriptions of the other psychos on death row.
I didn't know anything about the supposed homoeroticism in this book. I agree with Jess, that it seems like a real fucking stretch, like people trying to talk gayness into starwars. Rubbish.
Does anyone know the specifics of why such controversy and banning? I don't really get it.
Truman Capote and Harper Lee: both good names.

Look forward to your thoughts.