33 Comments
Elizabeth Asamoah-Baffour
7/29/2019 02:47:44 pm
At first before I was reading the book, I thought the tone of the book was going to be lonely and despaired. I think I got that impression off of the cover of the book. Based off of the book title, cold blood usually means murder. So the book would be circling around a murderous time and obviously having some culprits that killed the innocent people. The book reminds me of present time of how innocent groups of people get killed for no reason nowadays. It reminds me of the stuff I see on the news and it truly breaks my heart that this is the world we live in. Why this a world we live in but can't truly live in it?
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Minh Le
8/10/2019 05:02:23 am
I totally agree with you. It's so sad to know that such things still happen to innocent people nowadays and even in more brutal ways. The book reflects reality so well, which is why it is still relevant until present days.
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Jessica Robinson
8/10/2019 03:30:33 pm
I agree with you. Even the title was a foreshadow, I did think it was about a murder and usually one that was for people who were innocent. I also thought this book was going to be like a mystery, I was interested in the beginning and I didn’t really have to go over to read it again and understand. I’d say my first reaction was curiosity, seemed like this book had a lot to it.
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Bach Tran
7/30/2019 11:38:44 pm
At first, I would predict that the tone is going to be mysterious as it is talking about a murder case through the narrator. As we follow along, it would slowly reveal the traces that the murderer left behind and reach to the conclusion who the murderer is. After reading it, I find it quite interesting that it narrate the criminal perspective too and go beyond just capturing the murderer and talk about their trial. This book is quite unique and I cant recall a book similar to this one.
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Xi Cheng
8/9/2019 11:09:05 am
Yeah! I totally agree with you. The things happened in this book is beyond expectation. But it is still interesting, I am attracted by the reason of murder not only the murderer. In addition, the writter divided the book into four chapter, and each chapters has several sections, the way that author use to divide this book likes the way an director cut a movie. Each section is like a scene, and each scene has a main chacater or a main idea. And the transition of a scene to the next scene usually present the purpose of the author. For example, in the first chapter, the author put each person in the Clutter family as a section, and mix with the paragraphs of Perry and Dick. And becomes an interesting contrast.
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Jailyn Adames
8/11/2019 11:06:17 pm
I can agree with you, Bach. All murder or crime books and even shows seem to have a mysterious or suspenseful tone to them. It seems that the author was trying to get us to connect with the criminal in a personal way. I can’t compare this book to anything i’ve read.
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Ryan Sarau-Young
8/1/2019 04:26:24 pm
When I first read this book, it felt a little bit boring. The parts with the Clutter family not only felt a bit rushed, but felt like at some points while reading it that I wanted them to get killed. I think it was more of the fact that I knew what was going to happen already. I think it was also the reason that I wanted to see the investigation right away. If I were to read it again, I might just skip that first part.
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Marcel Torres
8/4/2019 01:10:12 pm
Ryan, I completely agree with you. The entire backstory on every person is not needed because we all know they die in the end. Maus was WAY better than this garbage.
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Jailyn Adames
8/11/2019 11:09:58 pm
Marcel, I think I would have to disagree. Although I did enjoy Maus better, I think that it’s important for the reader to know ALL characters, even if they die in the end. Because the book was written as a novel, we should feel like we have a sense of who all these characters are. You wouldn’t read a novel and not know anything about the character, because that wouldn’t be a novel.
Minh Le
8/4/2019 10:34:51 pm
I found it less enjoyable to read than the other books we have for summer reading, Maus I and II. The mysterious tone really fit the theme of the book but other than that, the slow-paced narration and long descriptions of emotional processes made the book unnecessarily long and boring. I usually enjoy reading about crimes but I'm disappointed this time.
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Marco Nova
8/6/2019 07:12:33 pm
At first I wasn't interested at all because Maus was easier. I thought it would be boring. While reading, the book had a feel more of a novel and it is information dense. It is journalistic and precise with a smooth tone. The book talks about a town in Kansas and a crazy investigation with lots of suspects. I like the book since It is precise, it reminds me of jury duty, as if we are were on it. I liked this book.
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Valentino Lara
8/9/2019 06:15:34 pm
Yes reading Maus 1 and 2 was easier yet I was more interested in reading In Cold Blood because I already knew the story of the holocaust. I like Marco how you mentioned it is written in a journalistic way and is very precise. Truman Capote is very poetic and a well versed writer and his company included people like Harper Lee.
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Diamond Russell
8/8/2019 11:10:28 pm
The interest from when I first started reading versus the end of reading part one has completely changed. Even before beginning the novel I noticed how the novel was split into four parts. From reading the first part I noticed how it was “The last to see them alive”. From reading the back of the book I knew that “them” specifically was the Clutters. While reading I highlighted and something that caught my attention was on page 41 “And that, “he was to testify the next day, “was the last I seen them”. I thought that was important in a way because it’s sorta related to the title. As well as on page 50 “Bobby Rupp described his last visit to the Clutter home”. That’s also in a way related and I would have expected Bobby to be one of the last mainly because he was Nancy’s bf and probably would have never expected something that drastic to happen. From first reading I was kind of confused and I didn’t really know what was going on. What I noticed from reading and starting part one was how it was going back and forth. What I mean by back and forth is how one section would talk about the Clusters then the other part would be about Dick and Perry which at first confused it but it was unique. To me it was very surprising how fast the murder was brought up so soon in the novel. I found it so funny how members of the church brought up how Mr.Cluster missing church to sleep was abnormal so in a way that’s how they noticed something was off. I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m confused as to why the Killer spilt the boys from the girls. I don’t really think that’s something major but I was just curious and why much more damage was done to the boys especially Keyon, who got his throat split. I would never in a million years know how to react to a scene like that and which I felt really bad for Bobby.
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Xi Cheng
8/9/2019 09:33:33 am
When I started reading this book, I thought that it would like the book Murder on the Orient Express or other kinds of booka about murder cases. I thought the story began with peace and then people been killed but we not actually have sense who would be murdered. However, it not happened in this book, everything in the book seems already be known by the reader, it's a kind of expecting, I'm expecting the murder. The murder should happen on the family of Herbert Clutter. This writting skills really attract me, it makes me to think about why the writter wrote the book in this way. I am interested in this book.
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Valentino Lara
8/9/2019 04:46:02 pm
As the others have stated I find part one somewhat unnecessary and due to the title of the book it is quite clear what was going to take place. All in all the novel was definitely better than I thought. It was filled with both horror and tragedy. It is clear also towards the end how one must come to terms with a life changing experience which will change their life forever.
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Nikya Warren
8/9/2019 10:28:38 pm
My first impression was based on the title. “In Cold Blood” is often associated with murders. So when I read the title my first thought was this may be about a murder especially based off the suspicious cover. The tone of the book so far is kind of monotoned. The theme this book might explore is actions have consequences because it is a murder mystery. This book reminds me of this other book I read called Ransom it was a kidnapping mystery but it gave me a similar vibe like this novel.
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Isaiah Davis
8/10/2019 10:00:54 pm
If I’m being honest from the title and the cover of the book I could easily guessed that murders would happen in this book. I know that “ In cold blood” without mercy or not showing sympathy. I knew it was going to be some sort of violence that will occur in this book. The book to me in the beginning was very boring and I was just confused and it was also just a lot of words and how the point of views were changing I didn’t know what was really going on. When it got to the part about the deaths that’s when I was really interested and the book was coming together for me. I also like murder mystery books.
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Cielo Bernard
8/17/2019 12:57:55 am
That is exactly how I felt in the beginning of this book! It was so slow, and tedious to me. It wasn't until the murders that I started to connect everything.
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Isabella Hernandez
8/10/2019 11:51:01 pm
My first impressions on the book is that I thought I was going to be reading a book of a private investigator who is trying to solve a murder. I also assumed that it would be some sort biography book of a famous criminal an all his murders. A sort of Al Capone type kind of story to be honest just by looking at the cover.
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Alexandre Martinez
8/11/2019 08:57:57 am
When I read the title “ In cold blood” I knew people would die and with that often comes with a mysterious tone. The only bad part was how slow the story went on. If were to read it again I would pass.
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Randhy Perez
8/11/2019 12:53:29 pm
I thought that this book was just going to be another mystery/crime book, but I was wrong. The amount of detail the author gives when the murder happens is unreal, and the thing that made it even more scary was that it actually happened!
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Alani Waites
8/11/2019 01:15:43 pm
I honestly didn't know what to expect, I never read a book about murder before definitely not one based on a true story. My thought was that it was going to be like Law & Order or Criminal Minds where they tell about the death first and then give a backstory, but it was the opposite. The slow build up and very long descriptions made the book less interesting for me.
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Nathan Borja
8/11/2019 01:33:33 pm
Hearing the name of the book, it sounds like it's gonna be a mystery book. Like every other book the book title is mostly like a metaphor for something deeper in the book. I also noticed that each chapter has a different sentence or word for it.
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Samuel Barrera
8/11/2019 05:34:05 pm
At first I thought that the book was going to be a mystery. I definitely did not expect this to be based on a true story.
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Cindy Orduno
8/11/2019 06:21:53 pm
I also thought the book was going to be a mystery book. And I didn’t know the book was based on true on a true story either! I only figured out it was based on true events when I first picked up the book when a family member who read the book too told me.
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Elias Lopez
8/11/2019 06:24:21 pm
My first impressions were that this was going to be a regular book about a murder case but it wasn’t just that. The author goes into a lot of detail in this book and it really makes you use your imagination to make this real to you. Before I thought it was be about investigation and spies or something along those lines. I thought that a theme would be deception. For example like if someone was questioned about the murders maybe they could’ve deceived or lied about things that they know. Or if they know who did it. A book that reminds me about it is “Nazi Hunters” were some Jewish spies are spying on Adolf Eichmann.
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Haziel Sanchez
8/11/2019 08:46:44 pm
From the title of In Cold Blood, my first impression was this was going to be creepy or a murder case. The theme that I assumed this book to be about was Death and I was right. There are many shows and movies out there that are investigations about the death of someone so that’s what I was thinking about. As I read, I did expect it to be about violence and honestly I didn’t need a warning about it. I do recommend it for people who aren’t interested in true story based books.
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Alejandra Sotelo
8/11/2019 09:32:10 pm
My first thought was that this book was going to be filled with a lot of mystery and their was in deed going to be a murder. This book was really interesting and I enjoyed reading it since the beginning because of all the drama and all the unexpected scenes.
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Jailyn Adames
8/11/2019 10:51:59 pm
Before I read a book, I read the back cover first. Just from what that gave me I knew this book was going to be interesting. I also knew that this book was going to test me because it’s pretty long and since it’s non-fiction I have to pay attention while I read. This genre isn’t really my favorite, but it was a good way to get out of my comfort zone with books.
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Jocelyne Salgado
8/12/2019 08:22:25 am
Non fiction has never been a genre I'm into reading but this book was able to hook me to the events that were yet to unfold. As I first began reading the book I was wondering if the story would just be about the Clutters and maybe how it was hard to maintain a farm during the mid 1900's as the Cold War was approaching and everything was changing. As I began reading I thought the tone was dull.
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Jocelyne Salgado
8/12/2019 08:28:20 am
As I first began reading this book I was confused about how the blood in the title would relate to the story, and so I predicted that the story would lead to a tragic accident or murder. The book sort reminded me of other murder stories with a twist as it was written as a novel, it was able to keep the tone suspenseful.
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Cielo Bernard
8/17/2019 12:51:30 am
When I first got this book, I thought it looked super boring. When I read the first chapter, I was still thinking that this book was super boring, but all of a sudden I became attached to the Clutters, and the second that happened they were murdered in cold blood. I knew this would be a sad book for me to read, but now I understand why it was so sad. It was because I saw both sides of the story. I thought that the main focus would be exploring how the town was affected by this tragedy. That was one theme the book focused on, but one theme that came up much later in the book is the morality behind the death penalty. For many in the town of holcomb, capital punishment was the best solution. “ A life for a life”. But the book explores whether or not death by hanging is a humaine thing, as it took around 20 minutes for a person to be considered dead. This book reminds me of the book Monster. Monster was a book about a teenager that was in a case where the death penalty was considerd, becasue of a petty crime that became fatial.
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Imani Gonnigan
8/18/2019 09:11:48 pm
I originally thought that this book was going to be boring and a my opinion it kind of was. although Nancy's character left an impression on me since she was this person who was supposed to be perfect in every way. She was the town's darling and everybody loved her. And it kind of felt like even if she didn't want to be she was forced to be this person, this character that everybody wanted her to be. And she couldn't say anything about it.And that is the reality a lot of people have to face. When you're raised to be one way, people only see you in a certain light. So you never get to truly explore who you want to be because it goes against who you were raised to be. I can't tell if Nancy was that way because she wanted to be or because that's the expectation everybody had for her.
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Hello. Welcome to the summer reading forum for Junior English and Honors Junior EnglishYou need to post five times about each book you read before summer starts. Archives
August 2019
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