We've got your back. With the Tough-O-Meter, you'll know whether to bring extra layers or Swiss army knives as you summit the literary mountain. (10 = Toughest)
We've got two Tough-O-Meter assessments of this book. One's for those who faint at the sight of blood and the other's for those who faint at the sight of Merchant Ivory films—especially those with Hugh Grant.
Option 1: Do you love horror movies? Are you into the psychological reads, murders, whodunits, even a good Kinky Friedman novel (and there's never been any other kind!)? If you're a mystery-lovin' woman or man, the Tough-o-Meter on this novel is (4) Base Camp. The whole novel starts with a family being slaughtered, and the rest of the novel is a study in the psychology of the townspeople living in fear, the murderers on the run, and the police as they scramble for evidence. And if you like gruesome descriptions of senseless, as opposed to sensible, murders and hangings, boy, are you in for a treat.
The writing can get intense, but it's rarely hard to follow. The surface ideas—suffering is bad, murder is wrong, those two are bad guys—are, of course, within your range. You can do this. In fact, you're going to have trouble putting the book down.
Option 2: Do you live for Jane Austen and her novels? Is Beowulf your idea of a fast-paced, heart-stopping good read? Did reading Dracula make you queasy and/or make you leave the lights on at night for a few years?
Bad news first: you're looking at (7) Snow Line with this novel—not because it's so hard, but because it's filled with realistic gruesomeness. Factually, the novel is no worse than CSI on its most gore-filled night. Well, maybe a little worse. The truth about gore, however, is that it's what you don't see that messes with your head the most. Your own imagination, as you well know, fills in all the fear blanks that movies and particularly books don't show you. So, while you're reading a vivid description of a murder, your mind pictures the crime scene and heightens your own fears.
What makes this worse, of course, is that Truman Capote is a master writer. He knows how to make you afraid.
The writing itself is very basic, very factual, and not hard to understand at all. The problem you will have, gentle reader, will be getting through the scenes involving the descriptions of the murder, the findings of the bodies, and the executions of the killers. You might want to invest in a new nightlight.