Oh Holly, what do we do with you? This beautiful woman is engaging, capricious, untidy, and attractive – mysterious too. She is beautiful on the eye to be sure, instantly attractive; everything seems exciting about her. On open book.

Dangerous.

An impending disaster.

One really wouldn’t want to fall in love with her – easy to do admittedly. Holly would drive you up the wall. It’s not just her passing tastes, her capriciousness, and her naked honesty – it’s the excitement, the risk. I know that’s not for everyone, but for this old bloke, years gone by – I would have lapped her up.

Any dalliance with Holly would certainly end in tears – yours, not hers. The striking thing about Holly is her indifference. Not inflicted in any conscious way, I am sure she doesn’t mean it. You could say she’s careless with the hearts and feelings of others.

Importantly, she doesn’t give false promises.

Just because others fall for her charms, and they are substantial, does that mean she’s obliged to reciprocate their emotions towards her? I’m not so sure.

I love her free spirit.

Capote, and this is my second experience with his work, was a genius.

5 Stars

Well, what can one say about Holly Golightly. She was beautiful, she was mean, she was independent, sometimes cruel, sometimes caring. Holly was as free as a bird, but shackled by her birth. She was temptress and torturer. She was glue and glamorous. Holly was light and darkness. She conquered and crashed. She loved and loathed.

Holly:"... good things only happen to you if you're good. Good? Honest is more what I mean. Not law-type honest -- I'd rob a grave, I'd steal two-bits off a dead man's eyes if I thought it would contribute to the day's enjoyment -- but unto-thyself-type honest. Be anything but a coward, a pretender, an emotional crook, a whore: I'd rather have cancer than a dishonest heart. Which isn't being pious. Just practical. Cancer may cool you, but the other's sure to. Oh, screw it, cookie -- hand me my guitar, and I'll sing you a fada in the most perfect Portuguese."

Her story is narrated by her upstairs neighbor, an aspiring writer, who befriended her, despite a downstairs neighbor, Madame Sapphia Spanella's outspoken wrath against Holly: "A crude exhibitionist, a time waster, an utter fake, somebody never to be spoken to again". But Holly was also 'pampered, calmly immaculate, as though she'd been attended by Cleopatra's maids'.

Nineteen year old Holly was from Tulip, Texas, before she landed up in New York. Since the age of fourteen she was on her own, taking care of her brother Fred, who was in the army. He loved peanut butter, which she bought for him anywhere she could find it during the war times.

n  "Fred's a soldier," said Holly. "But I doubt if he'll ever be a statue. Could be. They say the more stupid you are the braver. He's pretty stupid."

"Fred's that boy upstairs? I didn't realize he was a soldier. But he does look stupid."

"Yearning. Not stupid. He wants awfully to be on the inside staring out: anybody with their nose pressed against a glass is liable to look stupid. Anyhow, he's a different Fred. Fred's my brother."

"You call your own f-f-flesh and b-b-blood stupid?"

"If he is he is."n

This is a short novella, about a female character who deserved her place as one of the most outstanding literary characters of all times. What captured me the most is the way this young woman was presented to the world. Someone who could be loved; a young woman who could become a friend. She had heart and soul. She was warm and wonderful. But just as cold and calculating, since she did not quite trust the people's intentions towards her and therefore never really allowed herself to bond with anyone.

n  "I like a man who sees the humor; most of them, they're all pant and puff."n

Her actions prevented people to come too near, even her friends stood aside. A tragic figure. A statistic for the cognoscenti, the people who despised the likes of her.

The film adaptation of this novella was very different from the book. I suspect nobody wanted to play the lead role of Holly, since it was unacceptable for their careers. And to get Audrey Hepburn to be the star, the script had to be changed considerably. The most important difference was to portray Holly as an innocent young woman who did not prostitute herself in the movie. The male lead, played by George Peppard, became a romantic character instead of the gay writer who became her friend in the book(he fell in love with his childhood postman). In the movie he also became a toy-boy himself to a wealthy women (not part of the book).

Although I enjoyed the movie, I loved the book much more.

Truman Capote created a complex character in his iconic writing style. Nobody can forget Holly Golightly. The social realism of the 1940s-New York embraced this girl next door, and made her something very different than the normal portrayal of these social climbers. She became a person with a heart and soul. Someone to empathize with.

A wonderful, soul-touching story. A classic must-read.

I haven't seen the movie adaptation of Breakfast at Tiffany's, so I had zero expectations going into the book. However I have always been intrigued by Audrey Hepburn's iconic Holiday Golightly and by Truman Capote in general, so I just had to read this.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is about our unnamed narrator's slightly tragic friend-zoned relationship with the vivacious starlet/playgirl Holly Golightly.

"I don't want to own anything until I know I've found the place where me and things belong together."

Holly is a fascinating character made of opposites. She's worldly and vulnerable, classy and crass, a girl obviously playing a vixen but is infinitely broken and oblivious to the things she really needs. Come to think of it Holly Golightly might very well be one of the prototypes of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl.

Reading Breakfast at Tiffany's was like looking at a lit firecracker waiting to go boom, because at every turn of the novel and every decision that Holly made, felt like a step closer to ruin.Her characterization is the best part of the novel.

Given that this was published in 1958, I imagine the humor and the dialogue in his book were pretty much risqué at that the time. Truman Capote's writing was fantastic, but this was just 3.5 stars read for me. The boom I was expecting turned out to be nothing but a pop.

A trillion billion times more profound & wonderful than movie, which is drivel, aside from featuring the ever luminous Audrey Hepburn. Sugh a great, great book!!!!

⭐⭐⭐⭐:) A minha opinião em https://youtu.be/tUsOA_iJqJM A primeira vez que li Truman Capote.
Neste livro temos a história de Holy uma mulher, deslumbrante, espirituosa, no entanto extremamente vulnerável e por isso esta história se torna um pouco triste.
Temos como narrador um escritor que conhece Holly de uma forma muito especial, nutre por ela um amor platónico não correspondido.
Gostei desta novela com comédia à mistura, no entanto não foi uma história suficiente para chegar às 5 estrelas.
O livro é pequeno daí não haver desculpas para não ser lido.
Boas leituras

"Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell", Holly advised him. "That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky"

"Good luck and believe me, dearest Doc - it's better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes and things disappear."

It’s a brilliant character sketch, 150 pages you can polish off in a day. The story of a fascinating, seriously flawed young woman who moves to New York in the 40’s leaving Hicksville  along with her husband & his children behind and reinvents herself as Holly Golightly, in the process losing all sense of who she is. A complex character, shifting between generosity and self-absorption, kindness & cruelty. Capote can write… you almost hear the clicking of martini glasses and smell her perfume wafting from the pages. Agree with Norman Mailer who said he "would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany's"

I’ve been thinking about Capote lately. Read To Kill a Mockingbird ,heard about the huge snit he was in over Harper Lee winning the Pulitzer; how despite all her help when he was struggling to write In Cold Blood he still ended a lifetime friendship over it. Then I read Rules of Civility and thought Amor, you sly devil - you've been watching “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” haven't you...I saw the film years ago, vaguely remembered so I thought I'd read the book. Surprise... It’s entirely different from the movie and FAR better. Audrey Hepburn the classic example of miscasting. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Audrey, her pearls, her little black dress – along with Grace Kelly she’s an icon of sophistication – what she is not is Holly Golightly. I've now discovered that Capote and I are in perfect agreement.
'The movie became a mawkish valentine to New York City,’ he said, 'and as a result was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly.’
Poor Truman, seems he couldn’t catch a break…

Cons: To short, I wanted more. I usually pass on novellas for this reason. The other characters could have been more developed, Holly’s story felt unfinished. Agree with Mailer - he shouldn’t have changed 2 words, just think he needed to add a couple of thousand more. 3 ½ stars rounded to 4

“The answer is good things only happen to you if you're good. Good? Honest is more what I mean... Be anything but a coward, a pretender, an emotional crook, a whore: I'd rather have cancer than a dishonest heart.”

Die wenigstens, die für den Film “Frühstück bei Tiffany” schwärmen, werden die Romanvorlage von Truman Capote. Ich zähle auch dazu. Schon als Junge fand ich die selbstbewusste Art, wie die wunderschöne Audrey Hepburn die Holly Golightly spielt, einfach faszinierend. Kann man sich wirklich von einem so prägenden Film lösen, wenn man den Kurzroman (oder die lange Kurzgeschichte?) liest? Nein, es ging nicht. Ich hatte permanent Audrey Hepburn in meinem Kopfkino.

Das verklärt die Sichtweise auf das Buch. Wenn ich aber mal versuche, den Text losgelöst von den Bildern auf mich wirken zu lassen, dann wundert es mich, dass man aus seiner Vorlage ein solchen Film machen kann. In manchen Szene blitzt der Charme und die Eigensinnigkeit von Holly im Roman durch, aber die langen Monologe ihrer Verehrer, Nachbarn, Ex-Ehemänner nehmen ein viel größeren Raum im Buch ein, als mir das lieb war. Es war interessant, den Roman zu lesen. Er löste aber bei mir nicht das intensive Gefühl des Films aus. Das Buch wirkt etwas hektisch und geschwätzig, während der Film auch mal eine Szene in seiner Ruhe wirken lassen kann. Beispielsweise wie Holly in der Eingangsszene in den Morgenstunden in die Schaufenster von Tiffany’s schaut, einen Donut ist, noch im Abendkleid von der nächtlichen Party, den Kopf dabei hin und her dreht. Diese Sehnsucht nach dem Schönen und dem Kostbaren kommt da ganz ohne Worte aus. Das Buch ist lesenswert, der Film ist aber noch sehenswerter.

Am citit atîtea povestiri nereușite despre fete nebunatice, nesăbuite, zăpăcite, rele, răutăcioase, meschine etc., încît am deschis cartea lui Capote fără să-mi fac nici o iluzie. Am urmărit acțiunea (cîtă este!) cu mult scepticism. Am fost vigilent la fiecare f(r)ază a povestirii, am măsurat gesturile lui Holly Golightly (adevăratul ei nume e, în realitate, Lulamae Barnes) cu asprimea unui judecător de moravuri, am încercat s-o privesc nu prin ochii naratorului fascinat de exuberanta femeie, ci prin ochii mei neîncrezători, exigenți, acri, răi...

Povestirea (că doar n-o fi roman...) m-a constrîns să las la o parte scepticismul. Mi-a plăcut. O fată, un soi de „gheișă americană” (zice Capote), îi zăpăcește pe bărbați și, în urma unui incident bizar (e acuzată de legături cu mafia drogurilor), ia avionul spre Rio și dispare în neant. Așa, pur și simplu. Peste 15 ani, neconsolatul narator anonim și Joe Bell, proprietarul unei crîșme de pe Lexington Avenue, își amintesc de Holly și de fulgerătoarea ei prezență în New York-ul anilor 40. Aș îndrăzni să spun că Holly e o perfectă întrupare a tîrfei neprihănite. Și mai are și umor...

P. S. Am văzut filmul cu Audrey Hepburn cu prea mult timp în urmă și nu mai păstrez nici o amintire legată de el.

The theme that unites Breakfast at Tiffany's with the three much shorter stories in this volume is the powerful bond of friendship between unexpected people or in unusual circumstances.

The title story is a male fantasy - so I wrote in 2010. Except that Capote was gay, so it's probably his idea of a typical straight man's fantasy. As Carmen says in a comment, she's what we'd now call a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.



Holly
The story is of course about Holly Golightly, a charming but utterly self-absorbed, mysterious fantasist, full of intriguing contradictions. She has big ambitions and none at all, but she does want the security of having breakfast at Tiffany's. She is often flirtatious, but at other times she plays the total innocent (e.g. getting her neighbour to put sun oil on her). At times she is oblivious to what people around her know and think, but at others, she is remarkably perspicacious about the personality and motives of those around her.

Knowing more about Holly only makes one realise how unknowable she is. When talking about her childhood, "it was elusive, nameless, placeless, an impressionistic recital".

Fred
At times, the narrator acts like a stalker of his attractive and enigmatic neighbour (examining her rubbish and investigating what she read at the library), yet he didn't alienate me. Perhaps one reason is the way that Holly uses men. As the men are happy to be used by her, where's the harm?

Film
It's written in such a visual way, that I'm not surprised it was turned into a film. (I hadn't seen the film when I read and wrote this, though I had seen pictures of Audrey Hepburn as Holly.)

Quirky quote
"A group of nuns who were trying on masks" (in a department store).

Quirky "fact"
Holly has a problem with Thursdays, much like Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!


The other, shorter stories in this volume

House of Flowers
This starts in a brothel in Port au Prince and the dialogue did not ring at all true to me (but I'm hardly an expert on Haitian prostitution). It explores the friendship between the working girls, and how love is hard to discern in such an environment.
What is love like? "You feel as though pepper had been sprinkled on your heart, as though tiny fish are swimming in your veins".

A Diamond Guitar
About friendship in prison and the effect of long-term incarceration on the psyche.

A Christmas Memory
A beautiful story of the self-made traditions that form a loving bond between a young boy and an elderly relative.


Note: I updated this review in April 2018, picking up on comments below - without rereading the book!

So I read it. It was good, Holly was nuts but purposeful. Playing the ditsy blonde was a job to her, it earned her money and other benefits. Kind of disgusting really, but as long as there are rich men with an inflated idea of their own ability to pull pretty women for themselves alone, then there are women who will play up to them.

I loved the way the book was written. The longing of the narrator for the elusive Holly. If only he'd had more money...

3.5 stars

***

Before I actually read the book. On books appearing on my wishlist I've never read. I've actually just started to read this book as my first ever buddy-read and was startled to find it already on my list.

I've never read this book. I don't know why it's here and rated 3 star. Last week it was Infinite Jest that got on my list with a 3* rating and I've never read that either. I wonder how many more books are on it that I have no knowledge of and how this is happening? Is it from GR end or is from people in my shop doing stuff when I've left myself signed into Goodreads? I've had people do stuff before but usually comments, and mostly on a blog I had, not here. This is weird.

So I've changed the dates and cleared the ratings, but still very puzzled.

I have always loved the film and have put off reading the novella as I realised that it would be very different, and it was! Audrey Hepburn manages to make Holly quirky and likeable. Capote portrays her as damaged and damaging. The restlessness of youth and the fear of being "caged" is clear and will be recalled by many of us. Holly's solutions leave her pursued by many but understood by few. The book and film do not detract from each other because they are so different. The film is for the romantic; the book is more thought provoking and even today Holly is shocking in her nihilism (slightly stretching the meaning of the word).