It's strange how much I like the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, even though it's really not a very good one, and it's even offensive in some parts. Something about the wistful mood it sets, the effervescence of Audrey Hepburn and her gorgeous Givenchy clothes and hats, that lovely soundtrack, and the indelible characters till makes for a wonderful film-watching experience despite its flaws.

Reading the book was an unusual experience because so much of the dialogue was so familiar, and the story isn't very different for at least the first two thirds of the book, though Holly Golightly is a much bolder and bawdier and than she is in the film. But as I was drawn further into this story of a man who is platonically but irresistibly fascinated by this marvelous woman, I was intrigued by not only this notion of being absorbed in another person nearly to the exclusion of all else, but by this portrait of one of the strongest and most positive relationships that can exist: that between a woman and a gay man.

I was surprised to find how quietly complex and poignant this story was, and how skillful the writing, especially in regards to the unnamed narrator and the careful masking of his sexuality. (The clues are so subtle, but they're there.) While the film always gets me teary against my will with the cheap shot of the cat being thrown out in the rain and the swelling Mancini when he comes back, the very different ending of this book left me with a subtle but lingering sadness. Losing friends can be an intense and life-changing experience, too; it's a shame that we haven't yet seen the film that shows the love story Capote meant to tell.

4.5 estrellas
Me enamoré de la pluma de Capote.
Una novela corta con personajes muy pintorescos y muy muy particulares.
Holly es una chica que a pesar de tener 19 años y una vida aparentemente superficial y libertina, tiene una filosofía de vida tremenda.
Frases que te dejan pensando y sobretodo situaciones que te hacen ver que infancia es destino: inestabilidad , no encontrar tu lugar en el mundo.
¡Me encantaron los diálogos y su narrativa!

I listened to this on audio with Michael C Hall as the narrator. He did a great job even though I had to get past Dexter reading the book to me -ha.

However, I didn't connect to the story at all. I thought it a very mediocre story and Holly Golightly a crude opportunist. After reading it I have no idea why Audrey Hepburn was cast in the movie role. In the words of Capote himself Holly was an "American Geisha" girl looking for wealthy men to support her in a high-class lifestyle. Maybe it had meaning for the times in which it was written but I found nothing appealing or informative about the story. No one in my book club liked it.

This is a rare case where I'd recommend the movie over the book. It's vastly different than the book - in a good way.

4.5 stars

short review for busy readers: 3 shorter stories and 1 longer classic from Truman Capote. Quick read and a good intro to Capote’s fictional work. Makes you want to read more of him. Dated, offensive language in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

in detail:
This Penguin Essentials edition contains 4 Truman Capote stories. The 3 short ones are magnificent, and I’d even go so far as to say flawless which is a word I never use with stories, but I can't think of a single way to improve them stylistically. (If any particular reader likes them is totally different question)

Oddly, it’s the film famous “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” which is by far the weakest entry, by far the longest (coincidence?), and by far the one you don't care about finishing. It’s more a character sketch than a full story and has a number of plotting problems.

Below a description of each piece…

The Flower House (5 stars): a popular young prostitute in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, falls in love with a country boy and goes to live with him in his village. Little does she know she’ll have not only poverty, but his mean spirited, witchy grandmother to deal with, too.

A Diamond Guitar (5 stars): a man serving a life sentence for murder who has given up on anything outside of his prison has his zest for life and the world revived by a lying, criminal Cuban boy with the most beautiful guitar.

A Christmas Memory (4.5 stars): an elegy for a much older, eccentric female cousin a young man spent his earliest childhood with and developed a deep love for. Wonderfully touching without being heartwarming or sentimental. Possibly autobiographical.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (3): similar in structure to “The Great Gatsby” in that an outside male observer relates the doings and parties of a troubled socialite who lives a wild, glitzy life. Not very well structured with a lot of boring, artificial drama bits and down time. Paper thin plot.

Our current PC mindset would term Holly Golightly a terrible racist and homophobe. However since the story takes place in 1942 and Holly is country Texan, the racial and sexual slurs fit her manic pixie dream girl personality.

Taken together: 4.3 stars.

Holly Golightly… making women feel inadequate since 1958.

At least the iconic Audrey Hepburn film version of her anyway, which technically debuted in 1961. It's probably best to set aside any notion you have of Hepburn’s portrayal in order to immerse yourself in the original Breakfast at Tiffany's text by Truman Capote though.

The film is set in the ‘60s, the book in the ‘40s. Hepburn’s Holly is a polished brunette, Capote’s is a Marilyn Monroe-like blonde. On the screen Ms. Golightly is a café society girl, on the page she is, essentially, a call girl. (To be accurate, she’s referred to as an "American geisha.”)

She’s also fairly crass, and unfortunately quite racist (as is the language in the book). Still, she’s presented as the quintessential object of the male gaze. Even the seemingly brother-like unnamed narrator can’t help but idolize her as the manic pixie dream girl men perceive (want? need?) her to be.

What makes the book so successful is that it’s a master class in character development. By its conclusion readers have a very vivid portrait of Holly Golightly, which is a remarkable feat given she doesn’t really want anyone to know who she truly is. Capote shrouds her in an opaque cloak of mystery but also gives us magical glasses to see right through it.

Blog: https://www.confettibookshelf.com/

I enjoyed Capote's In Cold Blood, and found that dark, true-crime telling at odds with what I imagined this book was about (I haven't seen the movie, but am very familiar with the glamourous images of Audrey Hepburn that people immediately associate with this story). When I was considering reading this, I stumbled upon the audiobook, which was, lo and behold, narrated by none other than Michael C. Hall. I had to listen!

First of all, I loved hearing Hall's voice again, after years of no Dexter. He has a wonderful voice. He did a great job narrating, although I have to say I didn't enjoy hearing him read Holly's dialogue in a womanly sounding voice. It sounded weird, and possibly put me off of her as a character a little. Which brings me to what I thought of the book:

I assumed this book was vintage 'chick lit', but it was more than that. I'm willing to bet that the book is deeper and darker than the movie. Holiday Golightly is a mysterious young woman who makes her living off men (she has been described by Capote as a modern day Geisha), who makes quite an impression on the nameless narrator. I think Capote wanted us to like her, see her as a damaged, vulnerable, lost girl who needs saving and a place she can call home. She's beautiful, charming and men flock to her. She's shocking (for the time, and for now, I daresay). She's at times thoughtful. But I found her, amidst her "darlings", pretty unlikeable and completely self absorbed. I tired of her omissions and trying to figure her out, which presents a problem when reading this book.

Capote is a wonderful writer, and I enjoyed listening to his prose. But at the end of it all, I was left a little empty.

It never crossed my mind to read this book since I had not seen the movie, but after reading A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote I was smitten. For such short stories I treasured both of these books. Something about his writing puts you right there in the story, and I love how even though his writing is poetic and beautiful it’s so easily readable. Since I knew nothing about this, I went in only having an image of a beautiful and elegant looking Audrey Hepburn in my head playing the character of Holly Golightly, and my impression of her character could not have been more false. Nor could the story could have proceeded in a more different direction than I had expected, but I loved it nonetheless, for the insight into Holly’s character and her amusing life. She was an eccentric character who looked at life through rose colored glasses and had many unfavorable qualities, but despite these traits there was something so charming and lovable about her that I couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards her. I wanted so much more and was disappointed when the story ended, but given his style I think the ending had a purpose… I just felt sorry for her poor cat!

“Oh darling, this is the most perfect little story, my idea of the absolute finito! Not a comma out of place, not a iota of clumsiness blurring the flawless tone. The most proper words pushing all the right buttons, stirring up emotions one didn’t even know were there.

And quel dialogue; not un peu bit phony. Or perhaps it is so, but it is real phony and that makes it genuine. Same as everyone inhabiting this story. Bless you, darling, for having done such a marvellous job with the whole merde of an affair; you managed to make it shine, positively glow. Not that those other people in Hollywood didn’t, by God, it had the most spectacular sugarcoating, their film did, très charming, they even changed the time from the early 1940s to the 1960s so that they could have Mr Givenchy’s divine gowns, them being infinitely more chic than those war-time frocks. But quel rat that they had to add the romance and the happy end and take out all the hard edges. Oh well, it did turn out beautifully, no complaints, but still…

…this is the real thing, and yes, I got what you did, even though, I’m no ‘serious’ reader, my reading consisting of tabloids and travel folders and astrological charts, not that this ever stopped you from sharing your stories with me. But I must simply insist that those know-it-all book lovers give it a try, if only to get an idea of what the mean reds were really all about, why I’d rather have cancer than a dishonest heart and why it’s better to look at the sky than live there. Such an empty place; so vague.

I can’t haul myself to Tiffany’s these days, but your heavenly little story serves as that kind of place I want to lose myself in. The place where nothing very bad could happen. Not while those perfectly constructed sentences unfold, anyway.

I’m very scared, Buster. Yes, at last. Because it could go on forever. Not knowing what’s yours until you’ve thrown it away. Happy endings are for the screen. Books afford to show that it’s the everlasting journey that matters…

Lulamae Barnes, aka Holly Golightly, (still) Travelling."

Fourth reading. All in one sitting. Getting even better with time.

In Holly Golightly, Truman Capote has created an unforgettable character. I think he wanted to create a “woman” who could not be “caged”- a woman that could not be pigeon-holed.

I will remember her for her sparkling personality, for her wit, for her boundless faith in herself, for the small kindnesses she did willingly. I don’t think she was as flighty as she let the people in her life believe. She was smart and savvy- she knew what she wanted and I really hope she got it!

I really admired Capote’s writing. So many brilliant turns of phrases. I must admit that I was reminded of The Great Gatsby as I was reading. The voice of the narrators in both had a similarity. I am always impressed with authors who need a mere 85 pages to tell a perfect, complete story!

Some lines I loved:

“ A disquieting loneliness came into my life, but it induced no hunger for friends of longer acquaintances: they seemed now like a salt free, sugarless diet.” ( After Holly stops seeing our narrator)

“If I could find a real life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture, and give the cat a name.”

“Everybody has to feel superior to somebody, “ she said. But it’s customary to present a little proof before you take the privilege.”

I don’t think I ever saw the movie- my goal for this weekend!
Update: Nov 5, 2023- I just watched the movie! So different from the book. I won’t be able to stop humming Moon River for a while now. I really enjoyed the movie, but the book’s ending was more realistic!

Published: 1958

Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote is a novella centered around Holly Golightly, a young woman living in New York City. The narrator, an aspiring writer, becomes interested by Holly’s unconventional lifestyle, her charm, and her past. Set in the 1940s, the story explores themes of loneliness, independence, and the search for belonging. Holly’s character remains an iconic figure of mystery. The novella is a reflection on identity and the masks people wear in order to remain hidden but in the spotlight.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote is an American Classic!

Did you know that Capote's 'Holiday Golightly' is somewhat different from Hollywood's 'Holly Golightly'? In fact, everything about Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's is truer, more realistic, and life-like than the elegant, gentile, and filtered version depicted on the Silver Screen.

What stands out to me the most in this novella is the author's writing style. Truman Capote can write.

Capote held my attention with enlightening spurts of dialogue and the wandering, yet contemplative thoughts of the nameless narrator. In case you don't already know, this story is about the relationship between Holly and her neighbor, who is our nameless narrator.

Told from the narrator's perspective, it's quite an adventure he takes on as he enters into the 'whirlwind of excitement" in the form of nineteen-year-old Holly. This young woman is fiercely social and although she has at least one female friends we know about, it's men Holly chooses to be surrounded by. Lots and lots of wealthy men who provide her with gifts and such...

Listening to the '2 hour 50 minute' audiobook narrated by Michael C. Hall isn't a half-bad way to spend an afternoon. His gender voicing, especially for Holly, is particularly entertaining. I'm usually a little put-off when a male narrator does female voicing but this is "Dexter", after all, and somehow it works. The voice he uses for the nameless narrator sounds unbelievably similar to George Peppard's voice, who plays this character in the movie, and I enjoyed that special nod to the past.

There's a lot to love here. When someone speaks of Breakfast at Tiffany's it seems to strike a pleasant memory and feeling by the look on their face and the smile in their eyes. It's the movie, I think, but the true credit of this common reaction needs to go where it all began, with Capote.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is an American Classic that was first published in the November 1958 issue of Esquire Magazine, almost 65 years ago. This is Truman Capote's story, his characters, it all began with him and I highly recommend this novella!

5⭐

I spent today in bed because I wasn't feeling well and spent part of that time just reading this from front to end and I have to say it was a nice set of short stories to read while feeling sick and sorry for myself. I feel like writing was comforting and all the stories had that undertone of loneliness or grief that tends to resonate with me. Of course I loved Holly Golightly, I tend to really like flawed/ridiculous/over the top characters. I really liked the last story as well, A Christmas Memory, or maybe it just made me cry so I'm feeling very tender about it. I didn't really like House of Flowers but I did like A Diamond Guitar as well. Overall a good read, hoping to read In Cold Blood sometime soon too since I really enjoyed Capote's writing style.