With her tousled blond hair and upturned nose, dark glasses and chic black dresses, Holly Golightly is top notch in style and a sensation wherever she goes. Her brownstone apartment vibrates with martini-soaked parties as she plays hostess to millionaires and gangsters alike. Yet Holly never loses sight of her ultimate goal - to find a real life place like Tiffany's that makes her feel at home. Immortalized in a film starring Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is full of sharp wit and in its exuberant cast of characters vividly captures the restless, slightly madcap era of early 1940s New York.
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Book Description
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About the Author
Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1925. Leaving school at 15 he worked for the New Yorker - his first, and last, regular job. He is the author of many highly praised books, including A TREE OF NIGHT AND OTHER STORIES, THE GRASS HARP, IN COLD BLOOD, MUSIC FOR CHAMELEONS and ANSWERED PRAYERS. Truman Capote died in 1984.
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More About the Author
Truman Capote was born in New Orleans in 1925 and was raised in various parts of the south, his family spending winters in New Orleans and summers in Alabama and New Georgia. By the age of fourteen he had already started writing short stories, some of which were published. He left school when he was fifteen and subsequently worked for the New Yorker which provided his first - and last - regular job. Following his spell with the New Yorker, Capote spent two years on a Louisiana farm where he wrote Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948). He lived, at one time or another, in Greece, Italy, Africa and the West Indies, and travelled in Russia and the Orient. He is the author of many highly praised books, including A Tree of Night and Other Stories (1949), The Grass Harp (1951), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), In Cold Blood (1965), which immediately became the centre of a storm of controversy on its publication, Music for Chameleons (1980) and Answered Prayers (1986), all of which are published by Penguin. Truman Capote died in August 1984.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Small Jewel!,
By
This review is from: Breakfast at Tiffany's (Essential Penguin) (Paperback)
Just finished reading "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and let out a long sigh right after with a smile on my face. The ending may not necessarily be your typical happy-ending, nonetheless it is delightful. It was a re-read for me, for about like the 4th time and every time I have read it, I have found something different in it. While reading it this time I couldn't separate the movie from the book. Audrey and Peppard kept flashing in front of me as I was reading the book and it felt nice. As I type this so-called review I am listening to "Moon River" [instrumental] and watching Audrey in the opening credits. I love the book. According to me, no one can ever write a novella of such force [besides Marquez and Murakami] than that of Capote. As Norman Mailer said about it, "I wouldn't want to change any word of it. Its just perfect", that's exactly how I feel about it.Breakfast at Tiffany's - if you already do not know what its about, may be because you haven't read it - the plot is simple: It is about lost dreams, sometimes unrequited love and a whole lot of wit, profundity and the chance to go the whatever length in order to get what one wants. It is about Holiday Golightly [love the play of words] and her life or rather a fragment of her life, as seen through the eyes of the narrator Paul. Paul who loves Holly like all the other men in her life. Holly, who is also an escort/call girl. A girl who is all of twenty and possesses the wisdom of a thirty-year old without losing her naivety. Who believes that one mustn't betray friends, no matter what. Who jumps into a cab and visits "Tiffany & Co." when she gets the `mean reds'. Holly is everything and more. She is promiscuous. She is brazen. She does things like stealing masks and as Billy Joel would put it, "She's always a woman to me"... Breakfast at Tiffany's is a novella with many layers to it. Abandonment, loneliness, the need to belong and yet not be chained at the same time, the delight in the unorthodox and last but not the least about not loving a wild thing. As Holly says in the book, ""Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell...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" The book was written by Capote at the peak of his career. The somewhat "curious" title Breakfast at Tiffany's was inspired by a man from out-of-town that Capote heard about, who was "ignorant of New York". When the man was asked to pick from the best restaurants in New York where to eat breakfast, he replied: "Well, let's have breakfast at Tiffany's," which was the only place he knew of. Written in 1958, it portrays a world in which women were invariably best seen and not heard, and totally reliant on men for money and worldly comforts. And yet Capote has created a female character that is largely independent and emotionally strong, although she's vulnerable too (loneliness, depression and desperation are hinted at). While she might be having a lot of fun, she's also on the run from a past that is forever trying to catch up with her as she tries to find a place that makes her feel as happy as Tiffany's does. All in all, this short novella is a joy to read. Capote's writing is typically rich and lyrical. He describes this woman in such a way that you get the sense he has moulded her on someone that intrigued him, that held some allure or had an aura of mysticism that left a deep impression.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Writing,
This review is from: Breakfast at Tiffany's (Essential Penguin) (Paperback)
This is a short novella, and a page turner set in New York city in the 1950s or late 1940s.Truman Capote, 1924 to 1984, is a well know American writer. I have read a number of his works including his famous In Cold Blood, a book that I recommend highly. Also, I read some of his early work including Other Voices, Other Rooms, and many of his short stories. Generally, he is regarded as an excellent writer or a highly gifted writer. He ranks among the best of his time. In Cold Blood is probably his finest work and one of the better crime books of the twentieth century. There are some parallels between Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby and Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Both show an attempt by the writers to write a novel different from their prior works using clear and straightforward prose, and with relatively coherent plots. One could say these works were more commercially oriented. Perhaps they had the idea of novels as the basis of screenplays or a play. The work is less complex than most of Capote's prior works and it seems more polished. Capote called it the beginning of his second career where he thinned out the prose. It is the opposite of his obscure and creative Other Voices, Other Rooms. F. Scott Fitzgerald made similar comments in his diaries on the preparation of Gatsby. This is a short novel or novella. It involves the fictitious friend of the writer, Holly Golightly, and their mutual friend Joe Bell, a bar owner in Manhattan. She is a free spirit and a neighbour of the narrator living below him in an apartment. They share the telephone at Joe's bar, and Joe takes messages for them. We follow some of her escapades and the relationship between the narrator and Holly. We assume that the narrator is like Capote. In my own mind, it seems difficult to equate the woman in the story with Audrey Hepburn who appears in the movie version. The woman in the book seems younger, more sexual, and more manipulative. This is a very entertaining book which is hard to put down. It is among the best works of Capote Fine writing: 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!,
By Douglas P. Murphy "Author, The Griffon Trilog... (Charlottesville) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breakfast at Tiffany's (Essential Penguin) (Paperback)
This book is too much fun. The success of the book (it is, of course a tremendously successful piece of writing)depends on the central character, Holly Golightly who charms not only the characters in the book but the reader as well. All of the action occurs in New York City, and the setting just enhances the plot (hence the title). The theme centers around parties, relationships and romance in a frivolous, somewhat flighty atmosphere. Capote's capacity for dialogue borders on genius. I suspect his near perfect recall for conversation helped create this character.
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