[Holly Golightly's] muscles hardened, the touch of her was like a stone warmed by the sun. "Everybody has to feel superior to somebody," she said. "But it's customary to present a little proof before you take the privilege." -- on page 62

I feel superior, I guess . . . or any number of other things. Although widely acknowledged as a classic novella, I did not get any real joy or even basic reading nourishment from Capote's signature fiction piece Breakfast at Tiffany's. Exhibit A would be protagonist Holly Golightly. It has been quite awhile since a main character ruptured the flow of a narrative for me, but Ms. Golightly is guilty in the 1st degree of taking that slice of cake. While I haven't yet seen the 1961 movie version - with Audrey Hepburn in one of her signature roles - the print version of the same character is annoying and/or charmless, and I don't understand how every man in her orbit seems incapable of not catering to her every whim and request. It was sort of a well-written story - save for a handful of racist terms that were apparently much more acceptable 65 years ago - but not particularly enjoyable for me.

I'll admit the truth that this is the first "classic" I have read, and right now the only. I'm truly not a person that can read anything, so the fact that I finished this novella proves it is something worth reading. The actual story of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" I read from beginning to end in one sitting, sipping on my bottomless cup of coffee. This is not an amazing feat due to it's skimpy 103 page-span, but the way the story captured me amazes me still since as i mentioned, most cannot. As soon as I was introduced to Holly Golightly I was fascinated. Much like Warhol's fascination with the world, I wish i could spend a lifetime studying Holly's every move. A beautiful young girl, with a mysterious past, an elegant present, yet a seemingly empty future. Holly just wanted to find a place where she was constantly happy, and at peace with herself, like she is within Tiffany's. Holly stumbles through life in a 1950's New York setting with her unnamed companion which is a tiger striped feline. She lives in a scarce and unmanaged apartment, directly underneath her friend, nicknamed "Fred" (who seems may be one of the only 3 people who truly care for Holly.) When I borrowed this title from the local library I hadn't noticed that it also contained 3 short stories. I didn't even know I had finished Breakfast at Tiffany's, thinking House of Flowers was only a title for Part 2. Upon realization that I wouldn't ever hear or read anything more about Holly Golightly, or know weather or not she had traveled to Africa or married, I was horribly disappointed. I now find myself yearning for more of this Holly Golightly character, although I know I will never find it.
This is a must read and honestly the only book I've read to date that leaves me pleading for more.

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/

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.

My dear Holly,

Now, I don't want you to take it the wrong way when I say this, but I much prefer Sally Bowles. You two were cut practically from the same cloth, as they say. I know it sounds terrible, but she's the original, isn't she, having been published twenty years before you ever made your debut? It's true, she'll always be twenty years older than you, if that's any consolation. Please don't be offended.

Regards,

JL

P.S. Do you think your creator ever read Isherwood? Had he known Isherwood? No, it's not because they're both gay, but let me tell you now that you wouldn't be you and Sally wouldn't be Sally had they both not been gay. Just my humble opinion.

Those final weeks, spanning end of summer and the beginning of another autumn, are blurred in memory, perhaps because our understanding of each other had reached that sweet depth where two people communicate more often in silence than in words: an affectionate quietness replaces the tensions, the unrelaxed chatter and chasing about that produce a friendship's more showy, more, in the surface sense, dramatic moments.

So. This is going to be a hard one to review.

For one thing, the MC is not in love with Holly nor pining after her nor wanting her as his wife/girlfriend. In fact, he is (IMO) a stand-in for Capote, who certainly had no interest in fucking women. Holly seems to see MC as a safe-space, someone she can trust because he is gay, and he reminds her of her brother (safe, brother) who is off at war. MC is unnamed in the book, but Holly insists on calling him "Fred," her brother's name - another way of establishing he is no threat and that they are of no sexual interest to each other. It's not only canceling out his own autonomy but it is a way for Capote to insert himself into the novel. Nameless MCs were/are very in vogue and considered an exciting literary technique in some circles.

Very few authors, especially the unpublished, can resist an invitation to read aloud.

An author who lives upstairs and has no interest in fucking Holly. Capote stand-in.

Holiday Golightly is a woman who hangs around older, rich men and takes money from them to 'go to the powder room' and 'take a cab home.' She's 'trained herself' to 'only be excited by men over 42.'

So, she's a prostitute.

CARMEN: *sighs* *sips coffee*

I mean,... sure. I feel like slapping a label on this is just another way of tearing people down and shaming them, but sure. She has sex with older, rich men for money, she cashes in on her looks and sexuality, and these are men she is not physically attracted to. I personally wouldn't call her a prostitute, because I'm not about that female-hate life, and also because she's not in a situation where she has a pimp or takes on all comers or does stuff she doesn't want to do. Instead, she realizes that her looks and personality are her currency and uses them to her best advantage to get men to give her money. She's tricking.

I don't have a problem with this, just as I said in my review of Bunny Tales, I don't have a problem with women who are tricking nor do I have a problem with women who ruthlessly use their looks and sexuality to get what they want. Life is hard. *shrug* I am not pro-prostitution, I think being a prostitute is soul-crushing and soul-destroying, moreso when you have a pimp or madam to please, but even if you work for yourself. I'm a romantic. However, I'm a realist enough to know that life happens and it's absolutely against my nature to hate women or shame them for using their beauty or body to get ahead. I'm also not stupid enough to think that prostitution (in any of its forms) is going to magically disappear from society.

The good thing about Holly is that she has no pimp, she answers to no one, and she doesn't have to fuck anyone she doesn't want to fuck and she doesn't have to engage in any sexual acts she doesn't want to engage in. Occasionally she runs into trouble, like the time she takes a man home and he bites her while in bed with her, she flees to (safe) "Fred's" place and sleeps in his bed. Again, because he has no sexual interest in her and is one of the few men in the novel who don't feel like they can own her, claim her, and control her.

Holly has a deep, deep fear of and problem with being 'caged' - a running theme in the novel. She avoids the zoo. She gifts the MC with a beautiful birdcage he'd been lusting after but makes him promise he'll never put a living thing in it. She flees the country when faced with prison.  She'll never attach to one man or one place. She can't even commit to owning a cat, actually, the idea of pet ownership disgusts her. If an animal and a human choose to journey through life together, that's one thing, but she doesn't believe in owning animals.

This is so shocking and revolutionary in a 1958 book, it's amazing how Capote has captured Holly and all her feelings in this way. While you are reading it it becomes clear exactly who Holly is and why, and her worldview is so exquisitely crafted by Capote that it's frankly genius.

Holly's problem is that because she's so beautiful and charming, men want to possess her. Not just for one night, they want to marry her or claim her in some permanent way which would allow them to tell her what she can and cannot do and that is the anti-Holly. She'll go to great lengths to avoid this fate.

Capote really illustrates this with teasing glimpses of her past, and we get an idea of where Holly came from and where she's going and why. It's brilliant and subtle on Capote's part.

Another main highlight of the book and a reason to read it is the deep, philosophical conversations all the characters have with each other constantly and at the drop of a hat. Capote really unrealistically has people go on long, philosophical soliloquies which drop truth and explain feelings very well. He is unrealistic, as well, with his almost hilarious tendency to have everyone and their brother go up to the MC and start telling him their life stories. Unintentionally hilarious as everyone MC meets starts telling him long monologues about their lives. :D Cracked me up.

RACISM
I have to say something about the racism in this book. It's fucking disgusting and it was very disturbing to me. N-word this, n-word that. Latinos. Japanese. Slurs, slurs, slurs. And don't give me any of this "It was 1958!" shit. I don't give a fuck. It was really gross, mean-spirited, and not able to be ignored by this reader. Really damaged my enjoyment of the book and it was SO unnecessary. Fuck this shit. Ugh. Take this into account before you read this. Fair warning.

WRITING
Capote actually writes the shit out of this book. I had never read anything by Capote before, and I was surprised to find out he can actually write. Capote, the man, is such a figure, people talk about him all the time. He's kind of like Hemingway in that regard. People almost talk about Hemingway as a man more than they talk about his actual books. He's become a larger-than-life figure. But, both Hemingway and Capote can actually write, so there's a plus. I hate when an author is very hyped and then I read his/her work and am like, "Meh." Or "That was terrible." No, Capote is a classic for a reason, apparently. He's skilled as an author in more ways than one, and the book kept surprising me with its cleverness. Very well-written.

THIS BOOK REMINDED ME OF:
The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures

Bunny Tales

The Catcher in the Rye. Actually, Capote reminded me of Salinger quite a bit.


TL;DR - I would say the biggest drawback of this book is the disgusting racism. Asking me to brush it aside is asking too much from me.

On the plus side: amazing writing. Classic. Capote doesn't shy away from deep meaning or exploring the depths of human psyche or life. I'm glad I read it.

READ WITH: Pantless Group. ;)

The sky was red Friday night, it thundered, and Saturday, departing day, the city swayed in a squall-like downpour. Sharks might have swum through the air, though it seemed improbable a plane could penetrate it.

1.5

حالا شماها هرچی دلتون خواست بگید اما من واقعا و واقعا از هالی گولایتلی بدم میومد! از اون آدمایی که چون خوشگلن دیگه نیازی به فکر کردن نمی‌بینن و حتی گمان می‌کنن کارهای احمقانشون باعث جذاب‌تر شدنشون می‌شه. در صورتی که بنظر من بیشتر شبیه یک لامپ نئون بزرگ می‌مونن که هر کار می‌کنن تا بیشتر دیده بشن. بیشتر دلبری کنن و از این طریق ارضا می‌شن. جای اون چیزی که توی وجودشون خالیه رو اینطوری پر می‌کنن خلاصه.

خود کتاب هم که بنظر من نه آنچنان در فضاسازی موفق بود نه در شخصیت پردازی. داستان بخصوصی هم که ابدا نداشت.

حقیقتش خیلی چیزها می‌خواستم راجع به هالی گولایتلی و این قماش آدما بگم ولی دیدم اصلا ارزشش رو هم نداره. بی‌خیال. به جاش، و برای اینکه تنوعی هم شده باشه دعوت می‌کنم همگی به فرازهایی چند از "زد-بازی" گوش بدیم که بعضی وقتا حواسشون نبود آهنگاشون قشنگ می‌شد:

{ریتم آهنگ اگر رو بلد نیستید می‌تونید اینجا گوش کنید}

چشما نیمه باز، سر با ریتم به آهستگی بالا پایین لطفا
می‌فرماید :

ماها تحریم نیستیم همگی سوخت میدیم
نمیدونیم باهم سرچی دوست میشیم
دیگه شده مسخره برام
اینجا بس کمه سواد،
از تفریح،
گذشته،
مصرف مواد
تهران شیک و پیک بود دیگه شیک نیست
رستوران بود و شده پیک نیک
تهران، کارتونی بود ولی گرگه
بردش
خوردش
میگ میگ!ا
دیگه دیگه رینگ بکس شد
چشم نذاشته میان میگن سُک سُک
دافاش خشنن و زاخارش فشنن
ولی بازم حال میکنیم باهاش مگه نه؟!ا
یه موقعی معیار خوب و ساده بود
تحصیلات و خونواده بود
قبل از این که پول و مایه بود
ولی الان دیگه
دخترا قشنگ میدونن باکی بخوابن
دختر چیه اینا ماشین حسابن
با این حال این جا عالیه
فکرا خالیه
تو جیرینگا مالیه
...

Delicioso!!! Una historia maravillosa!!!! De cinco, seis, siete, ocho estrellas... En cuanto a los tres relatos que acompañan está novela: Una casa de flores... 3 pasable; Una guitarra de diamantes: 3.5 mejor; Un recuerdo navideño: 3 triste.

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!

i am very sorry, truman capote, that the movie adaptation of your story is both way more famous and way better than the source material. you could not compete with audrey hepburn, and no one expects you to be able to.

even though the love interest in the movie is a snooze. even though holly golightly has touches of manic pixie dream girl in spite of predating that term by half a century. even though i honestly figure there should be a few more croissants eaten in front of jewelry stores considering the title.

there's just no fighting it! nobody's got the charm in the whole of their masterwork that audrey hepburn has in her ballet flats / little black dress / pixie cut / short pants / what have you.

in cold blood was good though. and as far as i know ms hepburn got nowhere near it.

part of a project i'm doing where i read books i read a long time ago, and yes this one was an out of character choice for high school me, what of it.

This is the story of a hot mess.
And that hot mess is named Holly Golightly.

And it's also the story of a young writer, named Paul Varjek who keeps giving and giving to the hot mess throughout the whole entire book. Paul obviously doesn't have a backbone!

If I had to rate the plot of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I would rate this around 3 to 3.5 stars.
Narration for the audiobook, I’m going with 5 stars.
Michael C. Hall was brilliant as a narrator and I would love to listen to more audiobooks by him!
Overall, I’ll go with 4 stars for this collaboration.

Trust me, you won’t like any of the characters in this book but oddly, you’ll still be interested and enjoy watching the house fire.



Holly Golightly is a schemer, a liar, a user and a survivor all rolled up in a pretty package wearing red lipstick, high heels and looking vogue. She’s interesting, detestable and glamorous.

The Holly Golightly in the book doesn’t seem like the character that Audrey Hepburn plays in the movie. I haven’t seen the movie so I'm not sure if my impression is correct.
I would like to see how they translate the character of Holly from the book to the big screen.

I can see how Holly Golightly became one of Truman Capote's best-known creations. He does write an interesting and complex character that’s not boring at all. You might want to punch her in the face but at least she’s not bland.

n  

I wondered what his name was, for I was certain he had one now, certain he'd arrived somewhere he belonged. African hut or whatever, I hope Holly has, too.

n
Ostensibly about Holly's unnamed and abandoned cat, this surely is also a comment on our unnamed narrator, the outsider who briefly found an emotional home in his friendship with Holly, who is equally abandoned by her though, maybe, for his own good?

For all its wit and charm, this is actually a dark and melancholy story set against NY during WW2. There's a tangible sense of yearning, and it's haunted by absence: Holly's own childhood, her family, her brother; her own absence from the people who still miss her.

At times this reminded me of a bleaker Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with a shade of Fitzgerald. The world can be a cold, scary and lonely place especially for young women without education, resources, friends or home, and it's no wonder that Holly is haunted by both the 'mean reds' and the 'fat lady'.

Capote's prose is stellar, not least in the way radiant, enchanting, joyful Holly also contains mean, jealous, amoral, damaged survivor Holly. For economy of writing, for style and stylishness, for melding the bright and the brutal, it's hard to imagine a more poignant 80 pages.