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.

This book is composed of Truman Capote's second novel, Breakfast at Tiffany's and 3 short stories. My rating of 4 stars (I really liked it!) is for the whole book.


n  Breakfast at Tiffany's:n 5 STARS

I saw the movie adaptation starring Audrey Hepburn maybe a decade ago. Prior to that, the song Moonriver by Matt Monro was one of my father's favorite Monro so I grew up hearing that song being hummed by him whenever he was drunk. I liked the song. I liked the movie and I thought I already knew the plot of this novel so I had to postpone reading this. It's just that In Cold Blood (4 stars) will be the September 2012 group read in my book club here in Goodreads and I thought I would like to read all the Capote books that I have. This being a 1001 was naturally my first pick.

I was wrong. The movie adaptation was maybe just 50% faithful to the novel. I wonder why Truman Capote allowed it. Money, perhaps. In the movie, the narrator is a kept-man or a gigolo and some of the interesting characters in the novel are not there. There was also no mention about that scene where Holly Golightly is peeking through the glass window of the jewelry store, Tiffany's while Moonriver is being played. Also, Audrey sports that tall black hair while in the book Holly is blonde with short tomboyish cut.

Well, anyway. I thought that had the novel been a light comedy just like the book, I would just rated this with 3 stars. The book is actually a lot better than the movie. The contrast between the unnamed narrator who is an implied homosexual and Holly who is an implied call girl is one for the books. If you read between the lines, you will see all the metaphors like when Holly gives a cage to the narrator who she calls as Fred (because of his brother) but she says not to put any animal in it, in return the narrator gives her the pendant of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers. The items reflect their priorities in life: stability for the narrator and freedom for Holly. There are others like this, including the carefully chosen names of the characters that already give easy hints on who they are. Intricately woven plot. Brilliantly concocted ensemble. This is my favorite Capote.

This thin novella joins my list of deceiving works. What I mean is that there are works that seem to be thin and light but if you really ponder on the message that the author wants to communicate, you would be bewildered in awe and admiration. Offhand, the following are the thin books that surprised me: Sandor Marai's Embers (5 stars), Alessandro Barrico's Silk (4 stars), Juan Ramon Jimenez's Platero y yo (4 stars), Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo (4 stars) and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories (4 stars). Suffice it to say that not all thin books are mediocre. In the same token, not all thick books are worth reading.


n  House of Flowers:n 3 STARS

Ottilie falls in love with Royal Bonaparte who resides on top of a mountain. She joins him in his house that he shares with his grandmother, the wicked Old Bonaparte. No-read no-write Ottilie tries to injure the grandmother until one day that she losses her temper.

I liked the fairy-tale approach. Royal has a bird called Juno on his shoulder when he approaches Ottilie to be his wife. Cute.


n  The Diamond Guitar:n 4 STARS

This prison drama reminds me of the plot (based on what I heard from my brother) of the gay-drama Kiss of the Spider Woman of Manuel Puig. However, there is no explicit sex scene between the young guitar playing Tico Feo and the fortyish doll maker Mr. Schaeffer. In fact, even if Capote mentioned that they were lovers, they did not make love and what they had was a beautiful symbiotic friendship. The twist in the end is really surprising. Very memorable story.


n  A Christmas Story:n 5 STARS

I read in the introduction of my next Capote, Music for Chameleons, which I will add in my currently-reading folder right after this review, that this short story is based on his childhood memory of growing up in the South. That's why. When I was reading the poignancy, I found it so honest I felt that it was based on real events in Capote's life. I think that transparency is what makes some writers really enjoyable to read. Capote has the ability to make his feelings captured in his works that the same feelings can be relayed to his readers right at the time that his works are being devoured.

This story is about a small boy and his grandma and they are preparing for Christmas. I will not tell you the whole story but there is a character called Mr. Haha who is called such because he has been known not to have the ability to laugh. One of the best short stories that I've read.

Whoa Capote!

I’m sure this was shocking when it was first published as I found parts of it quite jarring (the various racial slurs, the use of the word dyke). I love her name, Holly Golightly, an apt name for the character who we don’t know really, we see her through the eyes of the narrator, her one time neighbour. He doesn’t judge her lifestyle, just presents it. I think she’s a more complicated character than just a party girl; her childhood and marriage at age 14! and for much of the story she is still only 20 so I find it very hard to judge her cruelly. I didn’t hate this story but didn’t love it either, but I can see why it made an impression.

من اینو دوبار خوندم اما بار اول حواسم پرت بود. کتاب الکترونیک حواس منو فقط پرت می‌کنه یا برا شما هم همین‌طوره؟ :/

دفعه دوم برا اینکه حواسم پرت نشه، کندتر خوندم و سعی کردم بعد از هر باری که گذاشتمش کنار، توی ذهنم دوره‌ش کنم. شخصیت هالی رو دوست داشتم. ینی هم گذشتۀ جالبی داشت و هم نویسنده به‌نحو مطلوبی گذشته‌شو ساخته بود و رسونده بودش به هالیِ الانش. حواشی این شخصیت هم جذاب بود حتی. اون یارو شوهرش، بچه‌هاش، عشق شهرت و زندگی پرزرق و برقی که می‌خواست... راوی کارکردش فقط راوی بود. با اینکه اول شخص بود اما از یه زاویۀ دیگه. ازین نظر موافقم با بقیه که می‌گن مثل گتسبی بزرگ بود. اونجا هم راوی کارکردش برا شخصیت مقابلش بود. همچنین شخصیت مقابل هم جذابیت کافی رو واسه اینکه مرکز قرار بگیره، داشت. و خصوصیات مشترک هم داشتن. گتسبی و هالی.

اما به‌نظرم صبحانه در تیفانی خیلی قوی‌تر از گتسبی بزرگ بود. یادمه گتسبی بزرگ یه جاهاییش کند می‌شد یا حس می‌کردم زیادیه و حجمش هم بیشتر بود. صبحانه در تیفانی خیلی خلاصه، فشرده، موجز و جمع و جور بود. درنتیجه نقاط قوتش بیشتر به چشم می‌آد. داستانش هم بیشتر دوست داشتم. گتسبی بزرگ یه سری روابط آشفته بود که من اصن نمی‌تونستم درک‌شون کنم. اما اینجا نویسنده فقط روی یک شخصیت سرمایه‌گذاری کرده و تونسته ابعاد خوبی رو ازش بیرون بکشه. نحوۀ افشاسازی و کشفش هم قشنگ بود. جایی‌که عکس‌های نوجوونیِ هالی رو می‌بینه، بچه‌هاشو می‌بینه، یا اونجایی که شوهرش برمی‌گرده دنبال هالی و از زندگی‌شون برا راوی می‌گه. چقدر این تیکه معرکه بود. توی ذهن آدم می‌مونه.

هنوز فیلم رو ندیدم و انگار فیلم بهتره. ازون‌جایی که سخت‌ترین بخش داستان پایان‌بندیه، به‌نظرم پایان صبحانه در تیفانی یکی از قوی‌ترین پایان‌بندی‌هایی بود که تا حالا خونده بودم. خیلی وقت‌ها یک کاری قویه اما پایان‌بندی صرفاً در جهت تموم شدنشه. یا به‌هرحال می‌تونست بهتر باشه. چیزی که در خداحافظ گاری کوپر اتفاق افتاد به‌نظرم. اما اینجا ما یه پایان‌بندی عمیق داریم. بعد از دستگیری و بعد آزاد شدن هالی و دوباره از سر گرفتن رؤیاهای دیوانه‌وارش، راوی گربه‌شو پیدا می‌کنه و طوری توصیفش می‌کنه، انگار گربۀ هالی تجلی خود هالیه. راوی‌ای که هیچ‌وقت از گربه خوشش نمی‌اومد، حالا وقتی به گربه تشخص می‌ده و سیر زندگی‌شو درک می‌کنه و همانندسازی با هالی می‌کنه، احساسش تغییر می‌کنه. پایان فقط این نیست که هالی می‌ره دنبال دیوونه‌بازیاش. ما انتظار اینم داشتیم، با اینکه دستگیر هم شده بود. اما می‌دونستیم بالاخره که می‌آد بیرون. اگه همون‌طور می‌موند که پایان خیلی ضعیف بود. اما جریان بیرون اومدن و برزیل رفتنش هم جالب بود و نویسنده فقط خوب بهش فکر کرده بود. بعد هم گربه. این تغییر حس و تغییر مرکزیت کوچیک و نهایی رو خیلی دوست داشتم. برا پایان‌بندی می‌خوام پنج ستاره بدم.

+ هالی ازونجور شخصیت‌هایی که حین خوندن می‌گفتم دلم می‌خواد از نزدیک ببینمش.

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

The Book Report: Miss Holiday Golightly, Traveling, meets a nameless man in her WWII-era brownstone, ignores and then abuses him, and never truly sees him (or anyone else, unless she has her prescription sunglasses on) as she pursues her life of errrmmm uhhh enthusiastic debauchery around the man-starved confines of Manhattan. Unsaid but completely obvious is the narrator's gayness: No man under 50 who wasn't in a sensitive occupation would be undrafted at the time he narrates unless he was 4F or queer. He never say anything, so we know which it was. In the end, Holly's crazy antics make it necessary for her to flee New York, and the narrator never sees her again; until, that is, a moment in 1957, when he sees a photo of a carving done in a small African village that is Holly to the life. He remembers it all, and he writes this tiny jewel of a story to free himself of Holly's long-buried hold on his mind and heart.

My Review: A breathtakingly beautiful story, told perfectly, with dialogue that (having rewatched the movie last night) stands out from the dross that surrounds it in the film like the Hope Diamond stands out from those Diamonique things in Kmart.

Oh how I wish the realities of films in 1960-1 had allowed for the *real* story, complete with its chilly, sociological eye for a certain class of striver that the USA produces, attracts, and celebrates in a dark, negative way with all kinds of judgments and exclusions, intact! How much more beautiful would Audrey Hepburn have been in an unsanitized Holly's Mainbocher dresses! And George Peppard (a dead ringer, only taller, for the youthful Capote) without the silly name and tacked-on "mistress" (played with stunning cruelty by gorgeous Patricia Neal), could have been a *huge* star on the back of that role.

But things were not as they could not be. And things never are, which is one of the messages Capote presents with a shade too much force for five-star perfection, and his of-the-time reticences and prejudices haven't worn well at all. But oh God, how happy I am this story is in our world, and how much I hope each of y'all will read it. Find your inner Holly. 'Tis the season, after all.

n  n
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

As someone who grew up in the 90s, this was in my head the whole time I read this:



I have never seen the movie (update: I finally did see the movie shortly after reading the book), so the only idea I had in my mind is this iconic image of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly:



But, what I actually got was this:



Holly is crass and obnoxious with really no redeeming qualities. She is rude to her enemies, and even worse to her friends. She smokes to excess, drinks to excess, is promiscuous to excess - she is just wild, crazy, and destructive.

Reading this was like watching a train wreck - but I kind of liked it. I couldn't look away!

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.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐:) 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

کوتاه، روان و تا حدی تلخ. تلخه چون زندگیه به صورت کلی. یعنی داستانِ لحظه‌ها هم هست ولی نوع روایت سرعت گذشت زمان رو کاملاً ملموس میکنه.

داستان در مورد دختریه به نام هالی و البته رابطه‌ی سایر موجودات از آدم و گربه گرفته تا لباس و اتاق با هالی. هالی به تعریف نویسنده و از زبان خود شخصیت "یک موجود وحشیه" و سایر موجودات حاضر در داستان ظاهراً در این دسته‌بندی نمی‌گنجند. این شاید در دنیای داستان و واقعیت اولین برخورد من با شخصیت "موجود وحشی" نباشه. من ترجیحاً اسم‌شون رو میذارم free bird یا پرنده‌ی آزاد. در مورد این پرنده که نویسنده با رسم شکل توضیح داده ولی در مورد موجودات در تماس با اون (شاید بشه گفت قربانیان‌شون) فکر می‌کنم این چند خط از متن به اندازه‌ی کافی گویا باشه:

"هالی بهش توصیه کرد:《هیچ‌وقت عاشق یک موجود وحشی نشو، آقای بل. اشتباه دکتر همین بود. همیشه با خودش موجودات وحشی به خانه می‌آورد. یک شاهین با بال آسیب‌دیده. یک بار یک گربه‌ی دُم‌کوتاه گنده آورده بود که پایش شکسته بود. اما شما ��می‌توانید به یک موجود وحشی دل ببندید. هرچه بیش‌تر دل ببندید، آن موجود قوی‌تر می‌شود. خلاصه آن‌قدر قوی می‌شود که به جنگل فرار می‌کند. یا می‌پرد روی شاخه‌ی درخت. بعد درختی بلند‌تر. بعد هم آسمان. آخر و عاقبتت این خواهد بود آقای بل. اگر به خودت اجازه بدهی عاشق یک موجود وحشی بشوی، سرنوشتت این است که به آسمان چشم بدوزی.》"

"هالی مارتینی‌اش را بلند کرد و گفت:《به سلامتی دکتر.》و لیوانش را به لیوان من زد.《به سلامتی تو، دکتر عزیزم، باور کن خیره‌شدن به آسمان بهتر از زندگی کردن در آن است. فضایی خالی، فضایی مبهم، کشوری که فقط در آن رعد و برق می‌زند و اشیا ناپدید می‌شوند.》"


پ.ن۱: از ترکیب انگلیسی free bird استفاده کردم چون این مفهوم برای اولین بار در بستر انگلیسی برای من شکل گرفت.

پ.ن۲: من پرنده‌ی آزاد رو برای آسیب رسوندن به دیگران سرزنش نمی‌کنم.
نیش عقرب از نه از ره کین است
اقتضای طبیعتش این است
(عقرب الزاماً شبیه هیولایی نفرت‌انگیز نیست.)

#MarchOfTheModerns

‘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.’

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” é uma novela tão charmosa e triste como sempre julguei que fosse, sem ter visto ainda o filme. Holly Golightly, como o próprio nome parece indicar, encara a vida com leveza e até alguma leviandade, mas é a máscara que escolheu depois de uma infância miserável, aquilo que esconde por trás dos seus inseparáveis óculos escuros.

The instant she saw the letter she squinted her eyes and bent her lips in a tough tiny smile that advanced her age immeasurably. ‘Darling’, she instructed me, ‘would you reach in the drawer there and give me my purse. A girl doesn’t read this sort of thing without her lipstick.’

Holly é provocadora, divertida e desbocada, um pouco como o próprio Truman Capote, que é dos autores que mais dá de si às suas personagens, todas essencialmente solitárias e inadaptadas.

‘You’re wrong. She is a phony. But on the other hand you’re right. She isn’t phony because she’s a real phony. She believes all this crap she believes. You can’t talk her out of it.’

Tendo apenas 19 anos e morando num apartamento cheio de caixotes e malas, Holly é um espírito livre que vive de expedientes e por sair com homens ricos enquanto um deles não se decide a casar com ela. Holly é uma sedutora por quem todos se apaixonam, incluindo o vizinho escritor que conta a história da breve mas intensa amizade que surge entre eles.

‘Look in the bedroom. There’s a present for you.’
I had one for her, too: a small package in my pocket that felt even smaller when I saw, square on the bed and wrapped with a red ribbon, the beautiful bird cage.
‘But, Holly! It’s dreadful!’
‘I couldn’t agree more; but I thought you wanted it.’
‘The money! 350 dollars!’
She shrugged. ‘A few extra trips to the powder room. Promise me, though. Promise you’ll never put a living thing in it.’

I’ve just spent the afternoon in the company of one Ms. Holiday Golightly, and I don’t know what to make of it. Holly has taken me on a whirlwind of a journey. Though our acquaintance was short, I feel I got to know her in a short amount of time. I am exhausted, puzzled and more than an eeny bit sad. It came left of centre, but the ending made me cry. I hope she made it to her happy place.

This is an absolute classic which had been sitting on one of my bookshelves for longer than I care to remember. The pages yellow spotted with age. A few months back I read Ian’s review (which I really enjoyed) and it made me wonder why I’d not read it yet.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

As I always say, timing is everything, and today was the right time. A gorgeous Autumn afternoon in Sydney. The sun slowly sinking in the sky and the afternoon getting cooler. The pages got less and less, and before I knew it, done. Tears streaming. I did not expect this.

”Suitcases and unpacked crates were the only furniture. The crates served as tables. One supported the mixings of a martini; another a lamp, a Libertyphone, Holly’s red cat and a bowl of yellow roses. Bookcases covering one wall, boasted a half shelf of literature, I warmed to the room at once. I liked its fly-by-night look.”

Of course I’ve seen the movie - umpteen times, it’s a favourite - and I’m always loathe to compare a written work to a film (though the movie is gorgeous). Yet I couldn’t help but have snippets of the movie playing on a reel in my head. But the writing... Now I understand. In exactly 100 pages, this snack sized novella conveys so much. The atmosphere of 1940s New York. A young girl inventing and re-inventing herself to find the family and love that she’d lost. Always searching for a place to call home. Breaking lots of hearts in the process, including her own.

And now I know the term for it, the mean reds, where you don’t know why, but you’re afraid. Brandy won’t help you. Nor aspirin or marijuana. The only thing that makes the angst settle is:

”What I’ve found does the most good is to just get into a taxi and go to Tiffany’s. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with their kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets.”

And what’s not to get all emotional about with a story having a No-name cat? Enough said.

”Mille tendresses.”