Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories

This iconic book by Truman Capote, whose other work I have loved, was such a disappointment. The characters were not fully developed, Holly was a one trick wonder, and the plot line just dwindled into a strange ending that was completely unsatisfying. How sad that this movie character became one of Audrey Hepburn's trademark roles.

horrible. didn't even finish it and I always finish a book I start. Couldn't figure out context as far as location or time. author didn't make me care about any characters, hell I couldn't figure out who was the main character was. waste of time and money. Mark Anderson's wife Lee Anderson M.D.

This was one of the worst books I have ever read. I have never seen the famous movie, but have heard about it. I can't imagine why it's famous if it even half resembles this book. A very disjointed story about an abused girl who walks around half naked in front of people she barely knows. She thinks she's hot stuff and that every one should bow down, and do her bidding. It's just plain stupid, that's why I didn't like it. And in my Kindle version, I had several other books by Truman Capote. I started reading the second short story thinking it was a continuation of Breakfast at Tiffany's. There was one story in which he wrote about a Christmas long ago, and that story was great!

My review is for the Audible version, read skillfully by Michael C. Hall. What surprised most about this short novel is how different it is from the movie version made famous by Audrey Hepburn in one of her most memorable roles. Her role in the movie as Holly Golightly, a sweet and charming gamine, ignored the scrappy and less glamorous side of her personality which was developed so well by Capote in the novel. Holly (short for Holiday) Golightly, which of course isn't her real name, had some unsavory secrets in her past which her neighbor, the young writer who was so thoroughly smitten with her, suspected. She survived by accompanying men on the town, surviving on the "powder room" tips that they showered on her and the meals and drinks they provided. Her apartment was meager and her possessions few, except for her wardrobe which was carefully curated to portray her as a young socialite, rather than the uneducated girl from the sticks.

Holly's moods veers from buoyant to despondent, as she strives desperately to survive and snag a prosperous man to provide her with a happy ending. Some of the plot lines are just too cliché to believe; she befriends "Sal" while he is in Sing Sing Prison and carries coded messages back and forth from him to his consigliere so that he can maintain his business interests while in prison. But she believes she is just providing a nice old man with a little company and conversation, for her fee of $50 per week!

Nevertheless, in spite of her slightly sordid past and occupation, she maintains a sprightly joie de vivre; and when she gets a little down in the dumps, she strolls past the windows of Tiffany's after a long night out, and her spirits are lifted by the bright baubles on display.

I'm sure Hollywood felt it necessary to sanitize some of the more unconventional aspects of Holly's lifestyle in order to satisfy and censors and ensure success of the film in 1961; but they didn't lose the bright spirit of her vivid character.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Other Stories by Truman Capote 140 pages

It’s been decades since I last read the title novella in this short book. I kept in on my shelf as I had never gotten around to reading the other three stories. That is why I chose this title to read as my June selection in my 2018 reading resolution. I’ve seen, and loved, the movie of the same name at least a dozen times.

Now that I have re-read the second of Capote’s masterpieces, I was majorly disappointed. Set in New York City during the 1940s, the irreverent Holly Golightly adores the good life. She dates older men, stays out all night, and has little regard for her new best friend, the new guy in her building, a writer. Still, by the time I got to the end I was bored with Holly. She just seemed to do the thing over and over in each scene.

But let’s talk about the other stories. First is “House of Flowers.” It is an odd little story that I really didn’t care for. Set in Haiti, Ottilie is a prostitute, a customer favorite. The bordello’s madam does her best to keep Ottilie happy by giving her things the other girls must do without. She must decide whether to remain at the house or become the wife of Royal Bonaparte, a man from the mountains. I didn’t care for the ending at all.

Second is “A Diamond Guitar.” Set in a prison in Alabama, the two main characters are both convicts. Mr. Schaeffer is serving a 99-year sentence for murder and Tico the new guy on the block, serving a two-year sentence for stabbing two men. They attempt to breakout, with the ultimate goal of obtaining aa prized guitar.

The third story was my personal favorite and catapulted this review to three stars (up until then, it was going to get one. In “A Christmas Memory,” narrator Buddy is looking back the last Christmas he spent with this much-older cousin in rural Alabama. Every Christmas season they spend four days making thirty-one fruitcakes, evening going as far as sending one to President Franklin Roosevelt. It’s a fun, yet sad story that often rings of Capote’s own childhood.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Other Stories” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Like many reviewers and other readers, I picked up Breakfast at Tiffany's because of the Audrey Hepburn movie. Holly Golightly lives in the moment. She doesn't mean to use people, but she does it anyway. She's fond of people and when she truly loves someone, as she loves her brother, she does so with her heart and soul. But she can't be held down by anyone. She lives without taking responsibility, letting the rest of the world swirl around her. Consequences of her actions mean nothing to her. The narrator understands this in a way. He's a true and faithful friend, even though he knows she doesn't love him. He knows she needs protecting – not always, but sometimes. She isn't, as one reviewer stated, what every housewife wants to be. Her freewheeling life is frightening, without goals or bounds.

I also would have liked to have some of the questions answered about Holly and what happened to her. To the people who knew her, their fondness for her stayed with them.

The remaining 3 stories in this small collection were interesting, but not up to BAT's. The writing is wonderful in all 4 works. The stories lack solidity. "A Christmas Memory" is poignant, and although sad, is well worth the few moments to read it.

This is my choice for the 20th century classic category of the 2018 Back to the Classics Challenge.

It's set in a New York apartment block during the second World War. A young aspiring writer finds himself falling for a mystery girl who lives on the floor above his. But the charismatic Holly Golightly has secrets, two of which are brought to light during the course of the novel. And they are clearly intended to make the reader say, 'Whoa!'

Holly is THE character around which the book revolves. Others love or hate her, but nobody is indifferent. She's the sort of person who will impose on somebody, then get prickly when he shows a subsequent interest in her background. Others may resent that, but our smitten young narrator simply takes it as a challenge. To me,Truman Capote's writing style seems more noteworthy than the story itself. His sparing prose has plenty of clever imagery, and a skillful way of making us sense things that aren't stated outright.

For example, Holly is all about colour and movement. We deduce this from the way she dresses, her apartment's 'fly-by-night' look, and simply what she's written on her card, 'Holiday Golightly, travelling.' It all gives the impression that she's not static, but fluid verging on restless. And it's reinforced by a number of casual references all through, such as her avoidance of the zoo because she hates to see creatures caged. Capote pulls this off with a minimum of words, because the whole story is over in just 100 pages.

Some of the minor characters are summed up in one or two revealing sentences, or even just a phrase. Rusty Trawler, her paunchy, wealthy middle-aged admirer, is a 'preserved infant.' The Brazilian Jose seems as out of place in their company as 'a violin in a jazz band.' And Mag Wildwood is a 'triumph over ugliness' since she accentuates her supposed defects rather than hiding them. It's easy to admire the way Capote saves space on descriptions, yet still makes his point.

The title may be a bit misleading. I think there's something alluring about the mention of food on a cover. Maybe it gives the impression there'll be some homely warmth. Yet nobody in the novel has a meal at Tiffany's Department Store. Holly simply mentions it in passing as one of her aspirations.

But even that turns out to be one of Capote's quick, subtle hints about the flip sides of her character, especially when snippets of her background are revealed. Holly is a girl who has the drive to leave an undesirable situation in search of something better, and the simple opulence of a department store during the war, with luxuries she can't afford, is enough to be her guiding star. I think we're meant to think that she has plenty of drive and gumption, but also naive idealism.

It's one of those stories where the movie possibly surpasses the fame of the book, because the lead role is well cast. I've never even seen it, but it's hard not to picture Audrey Hepburn's pixie face and little black dress as I read, just through taking on the hype over the years. It sounds like Hepburn must have nailed the dual sides of Holly's character; coming across both determined and delicate just by being herself. Holly Golightly could be a hardened criminal, yet she might simply be an innocent girl, dragged into something over her head. I'm sure Hepburn's is the name that springs instantly to most people's minds when someone says, 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' even more than the author's. I put it to the test, and my family had never heard of Truman Capote.

Overall, I wasn't crazy about the plot. My favourite stories are usually longer, not so up-in-the-air, and not focused on just one character. 'Fred' reveals nothing about himself at all. Although he keeps repeating that it's not really about him, it might have been nice to at least know his name. As for Holly, well meh, I didn't get fond enough of the mystery girl to care much what happened to her when she made her secret disappearance. She's always condescending to the narrator, which grated on me. I wonder if I'm in the minority when I say I found the book pretty forgettable on the whole. The shortness is all that saved it from two stars, since it was too short to put aside. Sure, Capote's clever writing was good, but since he didn't intrigue me with his characters, then so what? If you want to give it a try, at least it'll be over quickly if you don't like it. I think the best character is the orange cat.

Capote's stories are deeply moving and sentimental. All the stories are characterized by separation or loss. In 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' it is the struggling writer's object of unrequited love who moves away to Brazil, having been denied herself,dreams of leading a married life with the only man she thinks she loves. 'House of Flowers' finds a former 'lady of the evening' deciding to part company with two of her female friends from her days at the call house in favor of continuing her domesticated life with her husband. In 'A Diamond Guitar' an elderly prison inmate misses the company of his much younger colleague who not only lights up the prison ambience but also brings warmth and cheer to his other wise hopeless existence. Finally, in 'A Christmas Memory' a man has sweet memories on a December morning of a distant cousin, old enough to be his grandma.

I will not go into a summary of the book as has been done very adequately in previous reviews. I purchased the audio version of this book because I’m a fan of borh Mr. Hall and Capote. I’ve seen the movie as well as having read the book (MANY years ago). However, hearing the book read was a bit of a revelation. The movie was somewhat different because back in the 60s, when it was made “required” several changes according to studio heads. All of the gay references were removed. If I’m not mistaken, Paul was even gay in the book. In any event, the time period in which the book is set is the 40s so the reader is.saddled with some racial perjoratives. Small criticism since those were quite “appropriate” for the time period. As indicated above, I was most impressed with MCH’s narration. The voices he used for different characters were excellent. I honestly thought they had a female narrating Holly’s voice for about the first quarter of the book. Is there anything MCH can’t do? I won’t explain here why I gave it four stars instead of five as that might be considered a spoiler.
Recommended.

First, the short stories. House of Flowers and A Diamond Guitar are both so forgettable that I can't recall a thing about them, or want to. A Christmas Memory, however, is lovely. It's a recollection of a time when a little boy and his old female cousin were constant companions. The woman is never referred to by name; instead the narrator tenderly calls her "my friend." One is too young, and the other too simple-minded to be of significance to the more powerful members of the family. Left to their own devices, they engage in small adventures in their small world. But there is nothing small about the genuine joy and love they experience in each other's company. The march of time brings about a heartbreakingly poignant ending that will bring tears to your eyes. Now for Breakfast at Tiffany's. I can't tell you how many times I read and re-read this novella trying to figure Holly Golightly out. Actually, it's less a story than an in-depth character sketch. Or, to be more precise, character sketches, for Holly contains multitudes. She's a composite portrait of the gold-diggers Capote has known and been fascinated by (including his own mother). The problem is that he throws both successful and unsuccessful ones in the mix. The two sides of that particular coin contradict one another, and Capote seems unwilling to give up any of those personality and character traits. He tries to have it both ways with Holly and ends up with a mishmash character without believable motives. She comes across as an almost mythological fantasy figure. Capote's Holly gets credit for being a romantic, idealistic lost soul concerned with hanging onto her authenticity. She has such a rarified, peculiar sense of honor that she paints herself into a corner and seems certain to meet a tragic end. At the same time she's a born survivor: a hard-boiled, street-smart con artist who's cagey enough to shake down men for a living, edgy enough to mix nonchalantly with Mafia types, and nervy enough to jump bail and flee the country. One minute she's a whore with a heart of gold, and the next she's a nice girl with a heart of brass. Which one is it? WHO IS SHE? Interestingly, Capote takes off his rose-colored glasses to give us the unvarnished truth about who Holly is in the character of Mag Wildwood. Like Holly, Mag is a hillbilly who reinvents herself in the big city. Like Holly, Mag is a chic cafe society girl looking to bag a rich husband. And, like Holly, Mag has a vocal tic that adds to her charm. Mag s-s-stutters, making the most ordinary th-th-things sound c-c-cute. Holly sprinkles her conversation with Miss Piggy French ("QUEL rat"), and rich-bit** word emphasis ("Oh DARLING, I AM so sorry"). Even though they're two of a kind, the difference is that, in their calling, Mag is a success and Holly a failure. Capote is insistent, however, that Mag is a true whore, while Holly is a romantic. Going by her actions, I fail to see the difference. I can't picture Holly bagging a rich husband and living in luxury, or settling down in the suburbs, or going crazy, or committing suicide. I don't think Capote could, either. All those different women Holly represents came to different, contradictory ends. To choose just one of those fates would make Holly seem either banal or tragic. He has nowhere to go, so he basically throws up his hands suggests a vague, wistful, ride into the sunset. There is no end for Holly because she was just meant to be Capote's attempt to preserve in amber all of those women he knew-captured forever at the height of their allure and power. Holly's sole function is to be an object of beauty, like the African woodcarver's sculpture. She's a myth. Holly's former agent, O.J. Berman, uses a succint phrase to describe her crazy ideas. I think it also applies to the entire Holly Golightly character Capote serves up: "Horses*** on a platter."

I decided to read Breakfast at Tiffany’s after watching some bits of the movie on TV. I knew that it was the source of inspiration for several contemporary romance novels and that its protagonist was seen as a symbol of incredible elegance, so I was quite shocked when I found out that Holly Golightly was a prostitute, pardon an escort!

The novel written by Truman Capote was published in 1958, but it’s mainly set during World War II. Holly Golightly, whose real name is Lula Mae Barnes, is an almost nineteen-year-old girl who moved to New York hoping to find a rich husband. She had a sad childhood, but being poor shouldn’t justify such an immoral behavior. She could have found an honest job as a cleaning lady, a waitress or in a factory, but no… Holly’s so tremendously frivolous and ambitious. She admits that she only likes men who are at least forty-two and that she trained herself to like older men. Holly is fond of horses and baseball is only part of her effort to please men. That’s appalling!

Fortunately, she gets what she deserves: the attractive Brazilian José changes his mind and goes back to his country alone when he finds out about Holly’s involvement with the criminal Sally Tomato. Holly decides to flee to Rio, taking advantage of the flight José had bought for her and she asks the narrator (who is a writer like the author himself) to get her “a list of the fifty richest men in Brazil, regardless of race or color”.

Holly finds a rich lover in South America. He’s married. After Brazil she visits Buenos Aires. The years go by and in 1956 the photographer Yunioshi, a Californian man of Japanese descent, sees a wooden sculpture that resembles Holly in Africa. The woodcarver tells him that in the spring of that year a woman and two white men arrived in the village…

I admired Capote’s writing style because he was able to convey empathy even for hideous characters like Holly Golightly. Well, hideous for me. I’m sure he found her adorable, like every other man in the world, even if he wasn’t attracted by women.

The 50th anniversary edition of Breakfast at Tiffany’s contains also other three stories from the same author: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar and A Christmas Memory.

I read House of Flowers while I was lying in bed at night and it gave me the creeps! This time the setting is Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Ottilie is a seventeen-year-old prostitute with light skin and almost blue eyes. Her mother is dead and her father is a planter who has gone back to France. She believes in many Gods and one day she falls in love with a beautiful ginger-skinned boy. Royal’s house is like a house of flowers, but he lives with his grandmother and there is only a room. The old woman is known as a maker of spells. Five months after the marriage, Royal begins staying out at night as he had done before. He thinks that a man has to have his pleasures. But Royal’s grandmother is Ottilie’s real torment. The old woman tries to cast a spell putting dead animals in Ottilie’s sewing basket, but the young woman reacts using them as ingredients for the old woman’s food. When Ottilie tells her the truth, the old woman dies, but Ottilie soon realizes that Old Bonaparte is dead but not gone…

A Diamond Guitar is the story that I found the least interesting. A prison in the forest. There are two sleep houses: the white men occupy one and the black men and the only Chinese the other. Mr. Schaeffer is one of the important men. He has reddish, silvering hair. Some winters before, the fifty-year-old Mr. Schaeffer became best friend with an eighteen-year-old Cuban boy. He had a guitar with jewels (glass diamonds). The blue-eyed and golden-haired Tico Feo convinced him to escape together, but Mr. Schaeffer failed while Tico Feo left the country.

A Christmas Memory was instead a pleasant surprise, despite the slow start. In this autobiographical tale, we can find the friendship between a seven-year-old boy (the author) and a woman in her sixties. The boy and the old woman are distant cousins and they live in a house with several relatives. Capote’s parents divorced when he was four and he indeed spent the following four-five years with his mother’s relatives. He had a horrible childhood because of his unloving parents, but in this tale he recalls some nice moments like helping his distant cousin to make more than thirty fruitcakes or going to the woods to cut a tree for Christmas.

It’s wonderful how such different topics can become interesting thanks to Capote’s writing genius!

Yes, as much as I love Truman Capote and have read him and studied him for the past decade and a half, ever since I was in college, I have not read Breakfast at Tiffany’s until now. And even now, I listened to it on audio, but more about that later.

Everything you read about Breakfast at Tiffany’s that’s been written since the movie came out in 1961 pretty much comes from a point of view based on the movie. It’s easy to read raving reviews of it on the store or Goodreads and distinguish between those whose opinions were probably somewhat persuaded by the movie and those who are writing strictly based on their perceptions of the book; some even mention the movie outright. And that’s exactly why I’m getting my review out before I see the movie for myself. The book is much darker that I would expect the movie to be.

In fact, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is an odd little novella told from the point of view of an unnamed narrator, a writer who lives downstairs from Holly Golightly in a Manhattan brownstone apartment in the early 1940s. Holly, 19, is a New York socialite, frequently mistaken as a prostitute. As the writer, who is nicknamed “Fred” by Holly, befriends her, the true life of Holly is slowly revealed. Like almost every lead character in Capote’s early writing, Holly has a sordid past that she has sought escape from.

Like her creator, Holly is full of sass and clever one-liners, some of Capote’s best writing, and no doubt Audrey Hepburn in that lead role is truly spectacular. But I didn’t have to dig deep to find the true underlying meaning of Tiffany’s. It was obvious to me that Capote based Golightly on his own mother. Before her name change, Nina Capote was Lillie Mae Faulk from Alabama before moving to New York and taking up acquaintances, and later marriage, with rich wealthy men. We learn Holly was once actually backwoods Texas girl Lulamae Barnes, obviously also escaping the clutches of Southern soil in search of something better.

“Fred” acts as a reporter and friend. Even when he confesses his love for Holly, we know it’s only a friendly gesture. The fact that he remains nameless also eludes to the fact that Capote didn’t want the narrator to be mistaken for anyone else. Holly also has a cat that has no name, claiming that no one has a right to give anything a name unless it belongs to them. And so, we assume the narrator must not “belong” to anyone either, a feeling that Capote must have had as a child when his mother abandoned him with his older cousins, before his step-father adopted him and changed his name.

There’s a beautiful scene where Golightly buys “Fred” a bird cage for Christmas and makes him promise not to ever keep anything in it. Caught in the middle of an argument, thrown in the trash, and later rescued by “Fred,” the birdcage is a beautiful symbol for what the book is really about, how we all yearn to escape who we are and become someone else, to get out of our cages and be free. As I said, it really is some of Capote’s best writing.

Listening to Michael C. Hall read it made it that much more enjoyable. He even does the voices! His southern accent was divine and made me smile. True backwoods “cherruns” will certainly relate. I don’t regret having not had Breakfast at Tiffany’s until now. Knowing all that I do about Capote and his life made it a deep and satisfying read that I’ll think about from time to time again.

I was somewhat underwhelmed by Truman Capote’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. I have heard it described as a modern American masterpiece. Indeed, it often appears on book lists such as “best of” etc. I am struggling to find a good reason why.

The slim book tells the story of Holly Golightly and her life in New York City. Holly is a patent light weight who goes through life without achieving anything of substance. She drifts along “like cotton fibres in the wind”. She seems to achieve little, works little and thinks little. In my mind, she is not an endearing character. It is this point that probably turned me against the book. Her character was simply not likable.

As to the writing itself, this does possess some charm. Who cannot be touched by such lines as: “A beautiful day with the buoyancy of a bird”? This is the real strength of Capote. He is a wonderful wordsmith. It is a great pity that his characters don’t have the charm of his well constructed narrative. So, points for construction but demerits for the unsympathetic characters.

Truman Capote's famous tale of Holiday 'Holly' Golightly ; pursued and adored by all who meet her. But she can't find the love she's after; the same bliss that comes to her when she has breakfast at Tiffany's....It's the fact that this story is so well known via the film that it doesn't come over as fresh (in your minds eye you can't escape Audrey Hepburn as Holly), but it is still wonderful writing.
The bonus here are the three additional short stories which emphasise how good a writer Capote was and have that air of freshness and new. 'House of Flowers' concerns a whore , 'The Diamond Guitar' a prison tale and the magical 'A Christmas Memory' which makes you recall the magic of childhood Christmases that ultimately fade into the past and can never be recaptured.
Capote deserves his place amongst the greats of American literature with everything here underlining why.

Although not as wordy as In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's is a pointless read about a vapid socialite who is no better than a 5 dollar hooker and has a thing for histrionics. After my first sight of her dialogue, the writing was already on the wall as I knew how the story will go down: a pathetic character sketch that's pretty much in the likes of Blanche DuBois. Anyway, I haven't seen the movie yet but plan to, and I highly doubt it will be anything like the novella which is basically unfilmable due to it being so plotless. All in all, nothing much really happens in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The other three short stories are a waste of my time. Compared to John Steinbeck, Truman Capote has no style and is clearly overrated although his reputation is somewhat salvaged for having written In Cold Blood.

In Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote the narrator recalls his story of Holly Golightly after hearing news that she has been sighted in a tiny village in Africa after vanishing to Brazil two years ago.

The narrator is a writer who moved into Holly's building just before her 18th birthday. Holly had run away at 14, first to California and then landing in New York. She's flighty, detached and 98% facade. She sees people merely as opportunities waiting to be exploited, only rarely committing acts of an unselfish nature. At times a broken, fragile, naive Holly appears, although these small glimpses of vulnerability may be carefully calculated artifice as well. At least for the most part. But none of this seems to matter as she winds up leaving every guy she meets completely intrigued and enthralled, even the ones who openly out her as being a phony and a fake.

In one sense I identified with Holly, always searching for that place that makes her feel like she's at Tiffany's. On the other hand Holly is a person I'd never want to hang out with. I could tolerate the fakeness, but I wouldn't want to have to worry that she'd spread rumors that I had the clap when I left to go to the bathroom or have to worry about her stealing my boyfriend! She's not a very nice person, and she has no genuine friends. Even the author who had such a nice time with her seems to have totally forgotten her after only two years.

Escorts, prostitutes, STDs, and openly talking about gays and 'dykes'? This must have been a bit of a shocking story for the time! Having seen the movie version, my jaw dropped when I heard that Holly Golightly was supposedly a prostitute. Now, I did see it when I was fairly young and they glossed over that part in the movie, so I have my excuses for not realizing. But what really astounded me is when I found out it was written by Truman Capote. I had previously read In Cold Blood, which I thought was the only thing he was famous for. What a drastic difference between the two stories! I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's much better! It was a quick read, it was fun and it's always nice to read something validating my choice to leave New York and that city of phonies behind!

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It took me fifty years to get around to reading this classic. I now look forward to rereading it. The prose is both dense and sparse. Each word is carefully chosen and strung together to form amazing passages. Here are a few favourites...

- "What I found does the most good is just to 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 those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets. 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."

- "She was a triumph over ugliness, so often more beguiling than real beauty, if only because it contains paradox. In this case, as opposed to the scrupulous method of plain good taste and scientific grooming, the trick had been worked by exaggerating defects; she'd made them ornamental by admitting them boldly."

- “I loved her enough to forget myself, my self pitying despairs, and be content that something she thought happy was going to happen.”

- "Reading dreams. That's what started her walking down the road. Every day she'd walk a little further: a mile, and come home. Two miles, and come home. One day she just kept on.”

The book is more direct and grittier than the impression formed by the movie which is such a dominant piece of (pop) culture. I believe Audrey Hepburn was miscast. Holly Golightly is an 'American Geisha' and like anyone who plies that trade tends to fool themselves about the profession while developing a hard, near jaded personality.

In Capote's own words, "Holly Golightly was not precisely a call girl. She had no job, but accompanied expense-account men to the best restaurants and night clubs, with the understanding that her escort was obligated to give her some sort of gift, perhaps jewelry or a check …if she felt like it, she might take her escort home for the night. So these girls are the authentic American geishas, and they're much more prevalent now than in 1943 or 1944, which was Holly's era."

Her character is on a quest to find a home that feels...well, like home, before it is too late. Holly's wandering spirit will either be rewarded or punished. It is up to each reader to decide the outcome. Lastly, it worth pointing out again the quality of writing. The novella's prose style prompted Norman Mailer to call Capote "the most perfect writer of my generation," adding that he "would not have changed two words in Breakfast at Tiffany's".

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Maybe I'm spoiled by the movie, or maybe I just don't like Capote? Either way I wasn't overly charmed with the book. Truly, I prefer protagonists I like, and Holly isn't terribly likeable... It's a classic, probably deservedly so, but it's not my cup of tea. 2 stars.

House of Flowers - I actually really enjoyed this one. The descriptions, the plot, characters, and just the general flow was lovely to read. I didn't like the last sentence one bit but I can overlook that. 5 stars

Diamond Guitar - I have no strong opinion on this story. Nice enough, but quite short. 3 stars

A Christmas Memory - 4 stars

Truman Capote Breakfast at Tiffany's

'A beautiful day with the buoyancy of a bird.'

With poetic sentences like this Truman Capote writes his most famous novel 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. Famous of course from the film which stars Audrey Hepburn as a most adorable Holly.
Capote's Holly is not less adorable but just a little darker than her Hollywood alter ego. It will be hard to imagine her settle ling down with the (homosexual – o sorry, Hollywood forgot that tiny detail ;-) writer 'Fred'.

Next to many other things the novel is also about writing. Let's listen what free spirit Holly – is it Capote speaking? – has to say about that. When Fred gets his first story published:

" 'I would not let them do it, not if they don't pay you'"
( … )
'Don't you want to make money?'
'I haven't planned that far.'
'That's how your stories sound. As though you'd written them without knowing the end. Well, I'll tell you: You'd better make money. You have an expensive imagination.' "

Is there more to be said. Yes, as far as I am concerned that Capote is a great novelist in a long line from Anton Tsjechov on, and fortunately still growing. Perhaps next to Breakfast best shown in the three short stories accompanying this volume.

Well just one more than to prove it: 'If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky.'

O, and just for the record. The design of this volumes cover jacket is from Methane Studios (www.methanestudios.com)

Truman Capote Breakfast at Tiffany's

Let’s face it, the film ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is iconic. Who doesn’t immediately picture the lovely and elegant Audrey Hepburn when someone mentions the name Holly Golightly in conversation? I pretty much grew up with this movie—and it is a good movie, though a little sentimental and tinged with studio conventions. And let’s not forget the rather embarrassing portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi by the talented Mickey Rooney, saddled with fake Asian eyes and buck teeth. Really, Hollywood?

Thankfully, the novella is not that. I had the pleasure of reading BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S recently and found it to be sweet, charming and a little heartbreaking. The Holly of this book is much younger—not quite nineteen, in fact. She’s not brunette either but blonde—or something resembling blonde with “tawny streaks.” Like the movie, though, she makes her way in New York generally by using men and acting educated. And she’s running—always running. Even her business card reads, “Miss Holiday Golightly, Traveling.” All I can say is, I wish someone would make THIS movie!

There’s a bonus in this 50th anniversary edition—a short story by Truman Capote entitled “A Christmas Memory.” I recall seeing the PBS production years ago, narrated by Capote. The story is evocative and sad, and it’s easily the best Christmas-themed story I’ve ever read.

This novella, written in 1958, still carries a theme of edginess. Holly Golightly is a social rapscallion who navigates her way to New York’s society pages with a casual wisp of ethical and moral remorse. She leaves a bevy of male suitors in her wake. Capote builds his narrative well. A flawed and unsympathetic character grows to become a heroine. The farewell-to-cat scene captures the story’s essence perfectly. Despite a few dated descriptors, the book merits its iconic status and delivers a clever and ageless commentary. The audio book offers a strong performance.

I was a novice when I read this. I have never seen the movie nor have I ever read anything by Capote before. My only reference to the story was Audrey Hepburn being very stylish in commercials and film bits. So, my idea of the main character was of a very stylish and hip young woman, richly dressed and shopping for jewelry.

The film bits are showing the wrong parts, I'm thinking. That's really why I didn't read the book before--I just didn't want to read about a socialite shopping or whatever socialites do and consider important. However, Holly Golightly is such a tragic character, a bit of a hussy and certainly a gold digger extraordinaire. Normally, I would also find such characters abhorrent, but Golightly is so very sad and broken and has dressed the whole thing over in Tiffany-esque style. Like one of those diamonds, she took the cracked rock of her life and shined it up to dazzle the world with brilliance. One really can't help but admire her. I am a bit like the poor blokes in the book who fell in love with her without knowing it, feel better for having met her and feel a bit sad she left my life so soon. What a delightful feeling!

I highly recommend the book and shall never, ever watch the movie. I do love Capote's character so much and never want to hear a tarnishment of such a classic.

It’s impossible not to think about Audrey Hepburn when you meet the real Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, by Truman Capote. It’s been awhile since I watched the movie, which stars Hepburn, George Peppard and Patricia Neal. George Axelrod wrote the screenplay and the movie was directed by Blake Edwards. It’s so easy to picture Hepburn in that apartment, to hear her voice and remember her sophisticated clothes. Oh to be able to carry yourself like that…

But after a few pages, despite an accurate dialogue, I realized that Capote’s Holly is a much different and younger character and that the movie glosses over some things, embellishes others, adds a plot line and changes the ending! I’ve always remembered loving the movie, but the book is much better.

This novella, a little over one hundred pages, is really a character sketch of Holly. The narrator is Holly’s neighbor, unnamed in the book, a writer who befriends her and a few years later, tries to guess what has become of her.

And she is a girl, nineteen years old, a run-away from a sad past, who makes her money entertaining men. And she makes more money on the side visiting a Mafia boss in prison and delivering coded messages that help run a drug cartel.

I remember the movie being rather light and romantic and thinking that Holly has it all together, despite her crazy life. Her source of income is barely explained in the movie, and although Holly jokes in the book about being paid for her “trips to the powder room,” there’s a deeper sadness in her and a roughness just below the surface that makes a much more complex character.

The narrator has a platonic relationship with Holly and Capote raises the question of all the characters’ sexuality throughout the story. Other characters remind me a little bit of aimless members of an earlier lost generation: Mag Wildwood, Rusty Trawler, and José Jbarra-Jaegar are examples of people who come into Holly's life, become seemingly entrenched, and then disappear.
The themes of ownership, belonging and loss also run through the story. People connect and disconnect and Holly seems to not care, but suffers the most. She copes by developing superficial relationships and laying down shallow roots. Holly’s empty apartment and an unnamed cat are good examples of a life that is only semi-permanent. And when Doc Golightly shows up, she tries to explain away her childhood marriage and what their relationship means. “Doc really loves me, you know. And I love him. He may have looked old and tacky to you. But you don’t know the sweetness of him, the confidence he can give to birds and brats and fragile things like that. Anyone who ever gave you confidence, you owe them a lot.”

Everything changes when Holly learns about her brother, Fred, and we realize that Fred is the one person Holly has been clinging to the most. And when her business arrangement with Sally Tomato at Sing Sing falls apart, Capote leaves us wondering what Holly will do, or what will happen to her.

If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book, I’ll keep the ending out of my review. But I do think the different ending in the book is much better, and truer to Holly’s character.

On a minor note, I was glad to see that Mr. Yunioshi, Holly’s Japanese neighbor, is not the crazy and inappropriate character portrayed by Mickey Rooney in the movie, a definite cringe-worthy moment. Rooney once insisted that his portrayal received positive reviews, including Chinese and Japanese fans who told him he was hilarious. But he later admitted his shame and regret in his autobiography, Life Is Too Short. There are also moments in the book, however, that reveal the racial prejudices of the times, something that jumps out when you read fiction from an earlier time.

For the record, Truman Capote was not happy with the movie version. He wanted Marilyn Monroe to play the part of Holly, and was dissatisfied with all aspects of the film. After the film was released, Capote commented, “Holly Golightly was real-a tough character, not an Audrey Hepburn type at all. The film became a mawkish valentine to New York City and Holly, and, as a result, was thin and pretty, whereas it should have been rich and ugly. It bore as much resemblance to my work as the Rockettes do to Ulanova." (http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/156635|0/Trivia.html)

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a novella that takes place during the World War II Era. It is written by Truman Capote. It is about a woman named Holly Golightly and a man she refers to as Fred living life in New York and looking for love. Holly is young and adventurous and constantly seeks fun and excitement. Fred is a shy writer who has grown highly fond by Holly and her adventurous nature.

I really loved this little story. It was cute. It was scandalous. It was beautiful. It's really and truly a classic. I have to be honest though. I watched the movie before I read this book. Both were great though. It may just be a silly story to many people, but not to me. It's really cute and adorable.

I feel that this story flows very nicely. The characters were developed properly. The conversations flowed properly. My only issue is that it wasn't long enough. That's my issue for all short stories and novellas though. I am the type of person that just enjoys the longer stories. I still read short stories and novellas though.

I wouldn't say that Breakfast at Tiffany's is a must read, but I'd definitely recommend it. It's more targeted to the female audience, but I'm sure that there will be guys out there who will take enjoyment out of the book too. My best advice to anybody would be give it a shot. That's my advice with all books though.

Set in New York in 1943, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S illuminates the contrast between the good-time life of Holly Golightly and the mundane world surrounding her from which she yearns to escape. Truman Capote's novella is much more hard-edged than George Axelrod's film screenplay; there is an element of desperation about Holly's lifestyle that is completely foreign to Audrey Hepburn's star persona. In the novella, she certainly has her fair share of acerbic one-liners, but there is a clear sense that she is searching for something - the only snag being that she just does not know what that "something" is. She speaks incessantly, but as the narrator observes, she will only volunteer a certain amount of information; any attempts to penetrate the facade she has built around herself are met with silence or a willful change of subject. For a novel first published in the mid-Fifties, the subject-matter is surprisingly explicit: Capote spares us little in his depiction of Holly's existence and the various lovers (most of them middle-aged men) she has experienced. At the same time he sympathizes both with Holly and with the narrator: although taking a paternal interest in Holly's life, the narrator can never escape the emotional prison that prevents him from disclosing his true feelings. He remains an observer, in love with Holly but doomed to remain "just good friends" with her. There is a moment in the novella when Holly buys the narrator a birdcage; this is a fitting metaphor both for his existence as well as her own. They are free spirits doomed to experience continual frustrations. Like a bird, Holly keeps flying off to different places in the hope of discovering that "something" - but she can never find it. The other three stories in this collection are equally memorable, returning once again t the theme of self-discovery. "House of Flowers" is set in Haiti, where a young woman moves from a brothel to a house in a village and discovers something about herself, even though treated rather off-handedly by her spouse; "A Diamond Guitar" centers on a daring escape from a high-security prison; while "A Christmas Memory" evokes a prelapsarian world where a middle-aged spinster lives with a seven-year-old boy; each November they make Christmas cakes which they distribute to all and sundry. The act of cake-making - and the strain involved in trying to gather sufficient finances to pay for the ingredients - brings the two protagonists together in a celebration of the moment that is quite absent from "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Although this moment of pleasure is only a transient one, as the boy is eventually sent away to another school, it lingers in the mind throughout the rest of his life. Throughout the book there is a sense that Capote is showing how people search for something; if they find it, even for a moment, they should celebrate the experience.

When I saw this book free to download through my local library, I was surprised. I didn’t even know it was originally a novella. I’ve read “A Christmas Memory,” but that was the extent of my experience with Capote. I’ve heard about Breakfast at Tiffany’s my whole life, but only in the cinematic context. It was probably best that I hadn't seen the iconic film until after reading this novella.

In the first few chapters, I wondered why on earth Holly Golightly has become such an important character in our culture. To me, she seemed a complete twit—at first.

Throughout the story, I began to see her as a broken, complex, tragic character. I sympathized with her. Maybe I grew to love her a bit. Although the narrator is telling about her, I feel it’s really her story. He shows us more about her than himself or anything (or anyone) else in the novella. In a way, it’s a love story, too. Every man who knows Holly loves her, but she’s unable to reciprocate and commit in the way that humans do.

Themes throughout this novella reminded me a bit of The Great Gatsby. What I got out of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is that life doesn’t work out the way you plan. Adulthood is a grim disappointment for most of us. Where Breakfast at Tiffany’s departs from this conclusion is Holly’s mysterious “end.” The story doesn’t really end. We don’t know exactly what happens with Holly, but we hear exotic, exciting rumors through the narrator and the bartender. I feel this is a cautiously hopeful conclusion to the work. I’d much rather know this free spirit is still out there rolling around like a tumbleweed than see her settled down by the end of the story.

It seems presumptuous to review anything written by Truman Capote. People familiar with his writing love him. People who only remember the Capote of the 70's talk show circuit find him ridiculous, or uncomfortable at best. I admit that my initial reactions to Capote were initially based on the latter. That squeaky, effeminate, overweight man made me cringe. He was so stereotypical of what people assumed all homosexuals must be.

And then I got over my bad self and read his books.

Capote was one of those very rare writers who leave the reader feeling like they've just experienced a gorgeous piece of music. (Virginia Woolf is the other writer that I experience in this manner.) His best work, (and Breakfast at Tiffany's is truly among his best!), will live and haunt the reader forever. Even his lesser work was still damn good. Reading Capote is like falling in love, and we lucky readers get to share in this experience over and over again.

I'd always seen the commercial highlights/trailer for the movie version of "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and the phrase is even iconic of that era and place. Yet, I'd never seen the movie or read the book--until now. I didn't know what to expect besides basically the description on the audible version of the book - the basic storyline. So I know if I say too much here in the review of the couple of twists and the ending, I'll be spoiling the enjoyment of this audio for another listener.

With that in mind, Truman Capote's masterful short novel displays this young lady's complexities of character underlying the shallow facade. Some can rise above the admixture of nature and nurture and dream so much they will follow it to the ends of the earth. Holly Golightly was a dreamer extraordinaire or as Capote put it, a "lopsided romantic" whose trait of personality would never change.

A poignant line which I think captures a major theme of the novel is Holly's observation that:
"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."

I've read somewhere that Capote ran in the same circles as Marilyn Monroe and parts of Holly Golightly are loosely based on Norma Jean's personality and her early years. I don't know if that's true, but it sounds right, based on what I know.

I must add my thoughts that an outcast sissy-boy from Monroeville, Alabama at the time (and even today) was likely extremely sensitive and keenly observant of his environment in the Big Apple and the fact that he was also a gay man from down South up in the big city probably served to further enhance his remarkable attention to details in that society at that time. The difficulties he endured in those years likely integrated into his makeup as an artist who could and would so vividly paint a masterstroke of the outsider trying to fit in.

I have never watched the movie all the way through, but I wanted to know the story, so I bought the book. This book pulled me in immediately, and I read this all in one night - it's not a particularly thick book. It was darkly funny, in a way that felt a little sarcastic at times, and the book, from what I saw, has a lot more to it than the movie, despite the book being pretty short.

I really loved this book and would recommend it!

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories” is a wonderful example of how stunningly talented a writer Truman Capote was. This short text, only 178 pages long, captures everything that was good about Capote as a writer. Although the four pieces in this book are unrelated, there is a consistent theme that runs through all of them. The inescapability of loneliness and the human desire for companionship is a theme that permeates each of these four selections. It is a universal and powerful connection that every reader can relate with.
The text starts out with the wonderful novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. The first half of this story is some of the best character writing I have ever encountered. The character of Holly Golightly leaps off of the page, as do even relatively minor characters like Joe Bell the bartender. This novella is filled with real living breathing people, and its power is found in that fact. Rarely have I been drawn to a character as much as I was to Holly Golightly. Ironically she is a person who I don’t admire, but she is infused with that indomitable human spirit, and won my heart in the end. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is also strengthened by how much Capote leaves unsaid. Nothing is ever bluntly stated in this novella, rather it relies on gaps which create intrigue that further pulls the reader into the world of the story.
The second piece in this text is the story “House of Flowers”. It is unlike any Capote I have ever read. It is set in Haiti and although it is a fine story, and well written, I found it to be the weak link in the book. Mind you that being the weak link in this collection means it is still an excellent piece of fiction.
“A Diamond Guitar” is a powerful story, and one that I was unfamiliar with. It is a rather unconventional story dealing with love and loneliness. It takes place in a southern prison farm and anyone who has been used by another person, yet still can’t shake their love for the person that hurt them, will identify with this piece. Some of the most abstract human emotions are artfully, and realistically, rendered in this selection.
The text ends with the sentimental, and one of the best short stories ever written, “A Christmas Memory”. The economy of the prose, the power of the language, and the simplicity of the emotional life of the story make me teary eyed every time I read it. It is simply beautiful.
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Stories” is a quintessential text, by one of the best American writers of the twentieth century. It deserves a place on your bookshelf!

Truman Capote has intrigued me for a long while, but never enough to pry my eyes from the literature that I love that was written circa 1920-1950. Rather than read the prose of the "beats", I invested my time in the early twentieth century legends that inspired them. But on a whim, I finally picked up 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' (the edition with three short stories in the back) and read it in a few hours. It was excellent!!! Dramatic, tense, sexual, humorous, emotional. This novella had it all, and I can see the crystallization of another favorite writer for me. The characters are so well-written that I empathized with each and every one of them. And the short stories in the back of the book were fantastic. 'A Christmas Memory' made me catch my breath and wipe tears by its conclusion. I'll be investing myself in Capote's literature more often now.

Reading a novel after watching the film is not always a "ruined" experience. This is a book which I read decades after watching the film, and years after watching the film for the umpteenth time.

If the book is not interesting, the previous learning from film permits the reader to skim. But, that is not the case with this novel.

And, it is not the same as the movie. Many of the situations are more racy, or less racy. First, Holly is not the girl to "have it with" and live happily ever after with. Oh, no. She ends this book as the movie commenced - a treasure-troving fortune hunting gal who is no deeper a personality than Anna Nicole Smith. Maybe, she says more interesting things, but each has the same ultimate goal - a marriage to someone who will forever pay their bills.

Secondly, this book reflects signs of the times. Dropping the "N" word freely depicts something about her rural past when she had to escape via a marriage at 14 years of age to a veterinarian. In today's world, that may be editorialized as the white urbanite's use of the "N" word is not the same as the black rural person's.

Thirdly, the book deals lightly with lesbianism and bisexuality. The movie does not. Think of how America would have reacted had its adoring child, Audrey Hepburn, discussed her idolatry for a relationship with Greta Garbo and why bisexuality is a superior alternative to the heterosexual lifestyle she had led using men to obtain freedom from foster homes, or obtain money for a New York brownstone's rent.

Lastly, the main character - called Fred in the book as opposed to Paul in the movie - is sexually ambiguous. Capote stated he was gay. The movie made him a paid man who used a benefactress's wealth to pay for his wares while he pecked at the keyboard attempting to write the great American novel or novella.

So, the book is not identical - most importantly it differs on the sexual context. Things are freer and more open in the publication world, where censors were less stringent in the middle 20th century.

But, the real reason to read this novel, and most importantly any novel, is to experience the richness of the writing of the author. "Suddenly, she was blind. And, since gin to artifice bears the same relation as tears to mascara, her attractions at once dissembled. She took it out on everyone."

It is a quick and pithy read. Well worth the few hours it takes to read.

A young aspiring writer moves to an appartment in an old building on Upper East Side, NY, where he meets a very young neighbor, the eccentric Holy Golightly. She carries a reckless life, and her appartment hosts constant wild parties - with lots of guys and few girls - and seems to make a living on the presents she gets from friends and admirers from the show business, although she also makes a few bucks for weekly visits to a Mafia boss in Sing-Sing prison. Through several incidents, the writer and Holy develop a bumpy friendship, and in between crazy episodes he learns about Holy's past life, a sordid affair which she seems to have overcome with an amazing self-assuredeness and a good nature which captivates many people's affection, in spite of her absolute irresponsiblity and lack of scruples. This brief novel is written as a reminiscence, begun as the narrator steps in a tavern he used to frequent with Holy, many years ago, when the barman tells him a strange story which might imply that Holy has left her indelible footprint in Africa. It is truly a remarkable piece of literature, in which there shines an unforgettable character. Raw innocence, understood as the ignorance of social rules and the processing of emotions as they come, with total liberty, is the essence of Holy. It is an endearing tale worth every word, and suitable for re-reading.

The volume is completed by three other, and also excellent, tales: "House of Flowers", about an orphaned Haitian prostitute; "A Diamond Guitar", about an old convict in Alabama who falls in love with a young Cuban guitar player and who, for a moment, is able to enjoy freedom and love; and "A Christmas Memory", a masterwork about the remembrances of a man who grew up, orphan and shy, in a farm, with the only friendship of an aunt, a charming woman-child with whom he spends his only good moments. Although less famous than "Breakfast...", it is as unforgettable as that one.

I grew up with Audrey Hepburn's film interpretation of Holly Golightly, a rather sanitized version of the heroine in the book. I never read Capote's short story because I have a long, painful experience of disappointment in literature-translated-to-the-silver-screen. It's always so sloppily done, and most of the times, the original story is butchered so badly (for reasons that Hollywood always fails to make convincing) it barely has anything to do with the film version.

However, short stories fare better and this is an example. The storyline is the same: lovely amoral country girl of poor beginnings runs away to New York City and turns into (sort of) glamour girl-about-town. One can recognize the beautiful, sweet, unprincipled, and troubled girl from the book in Hepburn's sensitive portrayal of her. Most of the secondary characters make it to the film version, though slightly edited.

I'm not a critic or a psychiatrist so I'm not going to go into sheets of psychobabble about what Holly feels and thinks, and why, and how Capote's story contributes to society, if at all. I see others here have already undertaken that chore, so I'll leave the rest to rely on their word. I simply describe how stories I read impress me. Unlike the film, with it's all's-well-that-ends-well ending, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", short story version, left a bitterer-than-sweet taste in my mouth. Holly Golightly is most definitely an original character. I find her amorality a good deal more pathetic and pitiful than censurable. She's only 20 by the end of the story, and at that age we all think that we can do anything and nothing bad is ever going to happen to us. Life's uncertainty takes on a more romantic aspect, especially in literature. However, with the pragmatism of a woman past 50, I cannot help wondering with sadness what must have become of Holly once she lost the charms of youth and with that the ability to earn $50 "to go to the powder room." When middle-age, with its usual problems, health-related and otherwise, set in,(if she lived that long). Nevertheless, it's an interesting story, and I do recommend people to read it. But, as someone else advised, watch the film first.

As for the famous "money for the powder room" that intrigues people, I think I understand what Capote refers to. Way back in time, ladies' restrooms were known as "powder rooms." Powder rooms in restaurants and bars, etc., especially the posher kind, used to have "helpers." (I cannot, of course, vouch for the gentlemen's version). These were employees who would provide customers with towels, safety pins, tissues, and other similar needs. Customer would leave "tips." I suspect that when girls like Holly would ask their gentlemen friends for "money for the powder room" they were given $30 or $50, of which they would give maybe one as tip to the helpers and keep the rest. Call it a "fee." I could be wrong, but I think that is the gist of it.

Unlike "In Cold Blood," which leaves you feeling devastated, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" leaves you with hope for life despite the ambiguous ending. This is definitely not the Audrey Hepburn-George Peppard film version (a Hollywood hatchet job - a sweet confection if you like that stuff), and the unresolved conflicts, dreams chased and dreams deferred, strangely had an uplifting effect on me. Life is not a Hollywood movie, and this book reminds you of that. If you're twenty-something and trying to make sense of life, whether you live in a metropolis or not, this book will give you courage to face tomorrow. Salutary stuff.

Who is not in love with Audrey Hepburn? I came to Truman Capote through, and because of her.

The story is interesting, and fun, and smart, and very sad. The other three stories are quite different than "Breakfast" and each good in their own way. The inclusion of other works with Breakfast will be really appreciated by the reader, I think. I will probably never read another of this author's books, but now, rather than just the author of Breakfast, I will think of Capote as a broader writer of emotion; connections.

Capote is blending real life with fiction here, and it is memorable.

Overall the book is a quick read, frivolous and serious, and you will be happy you picked it up.

This famous, popular novella was made into the famous movie but is better than the movie. The central character, the wild centerpiece of the book, is an uninhibited, humorously amoral, histrionic woman living downstairs from the narrator, a reflective Capote like figure, in wartime New York City. Exuding hauteur, she lives poor but with a certain bohemian glamor in the urban bouloubaisse of artists, lost souls, criminals, and various colorful but rather alienated souls. She works at an ambiguous but somewhat seedy occupation--not a call girl but more as a high class persona who sells her enchanting personality as much as her body, to the various men she captures, captivates, then often discards. Actually she is a rustic from Arkansas--in the tradiation of the lost graviating to New York, and Capote takes a certain glee in her superficial attractiveness and indifferent manipulativeness. The story can be seen as humorous, or as a sort of romantic comedy, or a madcap description of Bohemian life. But it is best seen as a kind of documentary of a rootless soul, at the moment captivating, but eventually tragic, and the ascendency of appearances over substance--a kind of precious but painful aesthetic seen in the posturings of gay literature of culture before more accepted mainstream. The story may be modeled on Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories--which is a little less romanticized in tone. But like Berlin Stories it involves non-conventional life on the brim of destruction, described by a narrator who is gay and self-supprssed because of the times. Capote's narrator is a bit less detached than Isherwoods, the story more sensational, the book frillier and less seriousminded, and probably easier to read. The book is also a protest--conveying a world where relationships are evanescent, where style triumphs over day to day matters, and where morals are intrinsically motivated rather than dictated by straight society, and life is lived in the moment.

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.

I have never truly forgiven Capote for his caustic remarks about Kerouac's "On The Road" - "it's typing, not writing". I can remember the first time I read that quote and my response was something to the effect of 'where did that girlish, haughty, little gnome get off on ripping apart a classic like that?!' Nothing I had ever read about Capote and the way he has been portrayed on the big screen has ever really drawn me to him as a person or as a writer. But being a huge Audrey Hepburn fan and liking the cutesy film a lot (except for Mickey Rooney's role), I decided, what the hell, the novella isn't very long and I can't really judge the man as an artist until I actually read some of his work. And while I definitely have "In Cold Blood" on my list of must-reads, I thought I would give this one a stab before diving into the more weighty stuff.

"It's better to look at the sky than to live there. Such an empty place; so vague. Just a country where the thunder goes, and things disappear."
Truman C. "Breakfast @ Tiffs"

Definitely a novel that is much different than the film, to call it loosely based, is an understatement. The main protagonist, Holly Golightly, is not the same Golightly girl that sweet Aubrey played in the film. Not even close. And since old Tru had no problemo selling his soul...err screenplay to Paramount, only furthers to affirm just how different of an artist Capote was from Mr. Kerouac. That's capitalism after all, so who can blame him. Bottom line, don't expect it to be like the movie. Speaking of the movie though, as great as Aubrey was in it, the only other person I could even possibly imagine in that role is Marilyn Monroe. So Tru (who wanted Monroe for the part) and I are definitely on the same page there.

This novelette is for the most part a character study of a rather bleak existence. Holly is a sexy little siren w/ the street smarts of a pimp and the wit and acumen of a seasoned huckster. Yet despite her gifts, she is a young woman who has been seriously wounded by the past, leaving those unenviable scars that no amount of make-up or fancy dresses can ever conceal. Truman never lets us in to her past, maybe because Holly has none. In fact, the only thing that really keeps Holly just a wee bit anchored is the only thing that links her to the past - her beloved brother Fred. It is also the only person or thing in this world she truly loves, the only person she has an attachment to. But make no mistake about it folks, as independent and free as she strives to be, deep down inside she's hungering for love and connection. And that is the real tragedy.

Perhaps I was expecting this to be much better than it was for me. There are a lot of good things about this book, and why I would still recommend it to others. After all, if you end up disliking it, at least it's not "War & Peace", for it will probably take you less than a day (some people less than a couple of hours) to finish it. I do dig for the most part Capote's simple, yet compassionate and gentle prose. I thought it would be more ornate and elegant, so I was actually quite surpised by his terse, fluent flow of storytelling. I also really enjoyed Holly, she is by far and away the best thing about this story. For me, none of the other minor characters were memorable at all. We have all known gals like Holly in our day. People who flew into our lives like a tornado and left the same way, only to be long forgotten... Because no matter how fun and flamboyant and furtive and fervent they were, no matter how much we all enjoyed the enigma at the time, there was nothing really sincere and sustaining about their soul to make us really miss them. But remember them we shall! And always with smiles on our faces while scratching our heads in wonderment...

I expected more overall. Capote didn't unearth enough of his oblique creation (Holly) for me personally. It left me hungering for way more than I was given. If she is so damn complex, tell me more?! But then again, perhaps that was his intent - to have us all scratching our heads thinking about her, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together even though many of the pieces were missing or didn't seem to fit. Who knows? And in that sense, art truly does imitate life.

I forgive you now Tru, well, almost. Again, overall, I would have to recommend this short, easy to read story about a very complex woman. I didn't dislike it by a long shot; it just wasn't as good as I hoped. And in my humble opinion, I'll still take Kerouac any day. Then again, I can't judge a man by one novella, and a pretty decent one at that. So the juries still out until I read "In Cold Blood".

Thanks for reading this, I hope it helps. Again, just one simple man's simple opinion...

I'm planning to read Sam Wasson's new book Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. To get there, I first read Truman Capote's original story. Next up, viewing of Blake Edwards' 1961 film. Then, on to Wasson's book.

The three additional stories here are of little weight and value - it's 'Breakfast' that is Capote's slim masterpiece. Its 119 small, generously spaced pages can be easily gulped down in a single setting.

Like 'Catcher in the Rye,' the reader is left amazed that these words were conceived and written 50+ years ago (original publication date: 1958) so vibrant do they feel. Capote's original incarnation makes much plainer than the book the nature of Holly's true vocation. And, contrary to Audrey Hepburn's gauzy, iconographic screen beauty, Capote's Ms. Golightly is, while lithe, of coarser and tougher stock. When my wife asked me my opinion after finishing it, my immediate reaction was that it was sadder and darker than I expected.

Capote's writing is a marvel. As Norman Mailer's cover blurb notes: Capote was - at one point - seen as the best writer of his generation. It's hard not to read these pages and think of his blazing start as a young writer and juxtapose that against the parody he'd become later in life. He abused and wasted his talent through prodigious consumption of drugs and alcohol, not to mention a well-honed talent for blowing up important friendships with his thinly disguised literary send-ups.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1958) was a novella I read when it first came out, and this is my first rereading in low these many years. It has aged fairly well. The style is simple, straightforward, almost Hemingwayish. As objects of mirth, outlandish, eccentric, iconoclastic, bigger-than-life characters like Holly Golightly, My Sister Eileen, and Auntie Mame may have gone out of style and off the radar, or did they become clichés and stereotypes?
Holly has her dark glasses, her booze, her guitar, her cat, her messy apartment, and her love for Tiffany's, the famous jewelry store.
It's a fast-paced story about the screwy young woman from downstairs who befriends the lonely writer living in the apartment above her. She calls him Fred after her brother. She is a "lopsided romantic" who likes older men, doesn't like being pinned down, and lives like a wild creature. Every Thursday she gets paid to visit mobster Sally Tomato in Sing Sing. Men give her fifty dollars for the powder room or a cab, and she has a slew of admirers, like Rusty Trawler or the dwarfish O.J. Berman who could have gotten her in the movies. She has her own innate integrity and honesty, even though she occasionally shoplifts.
When the husband she deserted shows up to claim his child-bride and is rejected, she says, "Never love a wild thing." Light-hearted Holly gets knocked around; friends desert her, she has a serious accident, a miscarriage, and gets arrested as part of a dope ring. She refers to death as "the fat woman." For a time she takes in an equally nutty roommate, Mag Wildwood.
It's a book of great originality with a breezy style, about life in Manhattan in the forties during World War II.
It's somewhat dated but not seriously so. It's a light weight story but one with a flicker of genius, a jigger of wit, and a pinch of literary larceny.
Hollyisms:
"I don't want to own anything until I know I've found the place where me and things belong together."
She puts down Fred and his writing by saying, "Everybody has to feel superior to somebody. But it's customary to present a little proof before you take the privilege."
"I'd rather have cancer than a dishonest heart."
"I may be rotten to the core, but: testify against a friend I will not."

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.

Those who know Truman Capote's alternately poignant and comic 1958 novella only through the memorable 1961 Audrey Hepburn film directed by Blake Edwards may be surprised to find that Holly Golightly, in her original incarnation, is recalled in a flashback as a nineteen-year old Manhattan "party girl" during WWII. The still provocative story is really a memory piece fifteen years later by the narrator, a struggling writer with no name except the one given to him by Holly - "Fred" - after her beloved brother. The rest of the elements will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie, though Capote is more forthright in describing Holly's hedonistic behavior than film censors could allow in the early sixties. Revealed gradually is her background as Lulumae Barnes, a hillbilly child-bride to Doc Golightly, written with more comedy than pathos here, as well as her erratic, amoral journey to Hollywood as a starlet and then as a "companion" to wealthy men in New York who give her cash for the powder room.

Eccentric characters fill in the corners like Mr. Yunioshi, the Japanese fashion photographer who lives upstairs, and Sally Tomato, the gangster who passes messages to Holly while serving time in Sing Sing. Capote has less affinity for the romantic conventions found in the movie as he more comfortably explores the tale of two emotionally stunted people who find momentary support from one another. The melancholy ending is testament to that, and as such, the book is well worth reading for Capote's gift for illustrative prose. Three very brief stories from Capote are also included with the book, all with their charms - "The House of Flowers", the fanciful tale of two warring bordellos in the West Indies; "A Diamond Guitar", a tender story of a prison inmate who attempts to use his glass-diamonded guitar as a means to escape; and "A Christmas Memory", a childhood remembrance of his distant cousin embodied by the elderly Sook.

I always wanted to read this book. I liked it a bit better than the movie as there was more details. Holly Golightly is one of the most charming and memorable characters ever written and she seems to define an era as a World War II New York City Party girl. Truman Capote could write in first person with a skill that few author's master. It's a fun yet somewhat sad and even haunting read. Having seen the film several times, I'm so glad I finally read the book.

Truman Capote was a naturally gifted writer, his prose effortless and poetic, straightforward and metaphorical. With his novella "Breakfast at Tiffany's" he created a quintessential American character in Holly Golightly, a persona who lives on beyond the reach of his words. While most readers may come to this piece based upon the movie and have its characters and outcomes ingrained in their minds, the story Capote weaves in just over a hundred pages is more vibrant and more real.

The novella begins with an unnamed narrator recollecting his times with Holly Golightly, a strange neighbor in his cheap New York apartment building. He inadvertently shares in her joys and misfortunes, falling in love with her at the same time, as most men who come in contact with her do. As Capote paints her, Holly is much harsher and more real character than the one famously depicted on screen. Yet the same essence is there in characters who are forever searching for who they are and where they belong. This novella is capped off by three short stories: "House of Flowers", "A Diamond Guitar", and "A Christmas Memory".

"House of Flowers" is the story of a prostitute in Port-au-Prince who searches for and finds true love, only to have her past revisit her. It is a quaint, richly woven story with some humorous elements. "A Diamond Guitar" is the story of two inmates and an ill-fated escape effort, and is perhaps the weakest link in this collection. The touchstone is the last story, "A Christmas Memory", the story of seven-year-old Buddy and his sixty-something cousin who are the best of friends. He recounts their tradition of making fruitcakes and rounding up the Christmas tree and the presents they made for each other because they had no money and no one but each other. It is a story that will leave you smiling and broken-hearted, offering perhaps one of the most bittersweet and perfect endings in all of literature. In just over twenty pages it showcases the genius of Truman Capote.

A young lady's hectic life in New York in the 1940's. A beautiful, unpredictable 19 year-old living life to the fullest, from one party to the next, breaking hearts here & there, in short, quite a tease. A strong character indeed, with a hidden fragility coming from an obscure past, a past that she does not want to share with anyone. Meet Holly Golightly, Travelling. She is here depicted by one of her previous neighbours, a young writer with whom she shared quite a few adventures and a strong bond. Holly doesn't seem to have peace, she is forever on her way out, dazzling, attractive. A young woman of the world, well known by New York socialites and not only. Some of her connections are questionable and will they get her into trouble? That is for you to find out.

I loved the narrative. My first book by Truman Capote, better late than never (I had seen the film but could not remember it) and a real discovery. Simple, elegant, to the point, funny and sad simultaneously, conveying Holly's character in a perfect way. I was expecting a heart-breaking love story but this was not it. It was more than that. Strong, fragile Holly (probably still travelling) is a very likeable personage. The other characters including the narrator, mostly in the background, also find a perfect niche to complement the novel.

It was an interesting choice by the author that she was depicted in an era when most ladies' place was at home. Independent, not caring a bit about being "judged". Looking for love? Looking for "something"? Is that why she is forever running around? Well, as long as she can relax with breakfast at Tiffany's, all is ok.

Read this book, a few delightful pages (it's very short) that will leave you hanging in there for an answer.

Those who know Truman Capote's alternately poignant and comic 1958 novella only through the memorable 1961 Audrey Hepburn film directed by Blake Edwards may be surprised to find that Holly Golightly, in her original incarnation, is recalled in a flashback as a nineteen-year old Manhattan "party girl" during WWII. The still provocative story is really a memory piece fifteen years later by the narrator, a struggling writer with no name except the one given to him by Holly - "Fred" - after her beloved brother. The rest of the elements will be familiar to anyone who has seen the movie, though Capote is more forthright in describing Holly's hedonistic behavior than film censors could allow in the early sixties. Revealed gradually is her background as Lulumae Barnes, a hillbilly child-bride to Doc Golightly, written with more comedy than pathos here, as well as her erratic, amoral journey to Hollywood as a starlet and then as a "companion" to wealthy men in New York who give her cash for the powder room.

Eccentric characters fill in the corners like Mr. Yunioshi, the Japanese fashion photographer who lives upstairs, and Sally Tomato, the gangster who passes messages to Holly while serving time in Sing Sing. Capote has less affinity for the romantic conventions found in the movie as he more comfortably explores the tale of two emotionally stunted people who find momentary support from one another. The melancholy ending is testament to that, and as such, the book is well worth reading for Capote's gift for illustrative prose. Three very brief stories from Capote are also included with the book, all with their charms - "The House of Flowers", the fanciful tale of two warring bordellos in the West Indies; "A Diamond Guitar", a tender story of a prison inmate who attempts to use his glass-diamonded guitar as a means to escape; and "A Christmas Memory", a childhood remembrance of his distant cousin embodied by the elderly Sook.

Holiday Golightly. She's quirky, comical, and glamorous. She's fashionable, in-the-know, and in-the-now. She's lonely, lost, and waiting to be rescued. You couldn't resist her charm if you tried, and you can't help but fall in love with her.

Well, at least in the Hollywood film version. Capote's original novella paints a darker portrait of Miss Golightly. Unlike Audrey Hepburn's adorable Holly, who needs a knight in slightly-rusted armor to save her, Capote's girl is a "wild thing" who cannot be caged, trained, or rescued.

I can't deny that the film is a classic and is one of my favorites. Audrey Hepburn may be the epitome of glamour and beauty, and Hollywood's Holly can't help but absorb Audrey's charm. By the end of the film you find yourself rooting for "Fred" to save her from the nonsense of high society, reunite her with the cat, and wipe away her case of "the mean reds" forever. That is Hollywood, after all, and we would expect nothing less.

But the real Holly, Capote's Holly, can never be caged by convention. It would be hard to imagine her ever settling down and being content with Fred (regardless of the fact that he is an implied homosexual in the book. Hollywood seemed to have "overlooked" that).

Don't get me wrong, it's not that the book's Holly is a Bad Person; she's just more layered and real. Think about it - how many people have you come across who create a new persona for themselves, based on what they perceive others to desire? People who feign interest in the popular styles/entertainment/notable people of the day, just to seem like a Very Important Person and garner adoration, fame, and possibly fortune. I could name a few.

But we get to go deeper than Holly's exterior and see the scared and lonely girl at the core. She is terrified of being a caged animal, but also tired of being alone. She wants to seem as though she's making a holiday out of life, but struggles with the need for stability and the desire for freedom.

The book I read also included three of Capote's most famous stories, and I'd be remiss not to mention them as well: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory. The three short stories are amazingly intimate and touching, illuminating different sides of human emotion. I have not read Capote's magnum opus, In Cold Blood, but after witnessing his detailed descriptions and haunting perceptions of human nature in these shorter forms, I have added his novel to my "to-read" list.

REVIEW: Another landmark in Capote's career. "BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S" introduced one of the most unforgettable female protagonists in all of literature: Miss Holiday Golightly (nee Lulamae Barnes). She is part country bumpkin, part actress, and all party girl who revels in the nighttime atmosphere of New York; and who is constantly looking for the peace and security and contentment that she only occasionally feels (particularly when she relaxes at Tiffany's). Her search for love and happiness is chronicled by her upstairs neighbor who observes the various lives she touches with her perky and unpredictable behavior. She is an amazing creation. Capote's superb novella is joined here with three other masterpieces of short fiction: the oddly-paced "House Of Flowers" (about a young Haitian prostitute's happy marriage that is nearly destroyed by her husband's voodoo-practicing grandmother), the wonderfully etched "A Diamond Guitar" (which incorporates some of the author's best writing: detailing the arrival and subsequent jailbreak of a young Cuban prisoner who breathes life and hope into the lives of his fellow inmates), and the celebrated "A Christmas Memory" (a moving, biographical account of Truman's elderly cousin whom he lived with until he was ten years old; and which was made into a popular T.V. movie starring Geraldine Page and narrated by Capote himself). "BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S" is a classic work of art that helped to cement Truman Capote's name as, arguably, the single greatest writer that America has ever produced.

The name Holi Golightly stands as a paramount in the XX Century culture. As a character, she define fashion, charm and desired, and she has lived in our imagination since when the movie was released. But before the movie there was the book. Written by Truman Capote, `Breakfast at Tiffany's' is one of the best novellas ever written in English. The charm, the style, the passion, all is there.
This is more or less the book that defines the glamorous New Your in our mind. The city is virtually a character, as important as Holi's cat, so to speak. Its urbarn landscape is pictured in our minds as a happy place, where one can help but having fun whenever one wants. At least this is what we get from the protagonist's behaviour.
Capote's style is full of charm and passion, and the length of the story makes it precise and almost flawless. Maybe we wouldn't have succeded had he written a long novel about Holi. Things and people pops up in her life and a few pages later they are gone and forgotten. Lucy are the ones who had the luch to meet her.
The other three stories in this book are quite good not, although not as nearly as famous as `Breakfast'. `House of Flowers' tells a story about love and how much we sometimes give up in order to be with the one we like. It is a story of a girl who is trying to find her place in the world, but all she finds is not so many good people. Those people are not bad, they just aren't good. `Diamond guitar' is about two convicts who become friends and how important this friendship is for them in order to survive the difficulties of jair. But, of course, something will came up and may --or may not-- set them appart. The last story `A Christmas Memory' is a little jew that should be saved for Christmas time. It is about the unexpected friendship about an old woman and a seven-year-old boy.
To sum up, the four stories in this edition deal with misfits, that are trying to survive in a wild society that does not accept too much poetry and sweetness. This book is a high achievment for world wide literature. And later, with `Breakfast at Tiffany's' an achievment for the cinema.

I have never read Truman Capote's books and didn't realize he wrote the novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's. The Skimm (online news service I highly recommend) said it was a good read so I borrowed the Kindle version from my local library. WOW! Truman Capote is a master storyteller. The only reason why I didn't give it five stars is because it ended abruptly and went into a different story altogether (which led to another two short stories - all weirder still). I thought it was a bit jarring because I wanted to know what happened, but I'm still satisfied with the overall read. Seriously, this guy had an ear for dialogue that was uncanny. Very fun and highly recommend.

* a re-read from--A LONG LONG LONG time ago*

__truman capote___aka truman streckfus persons-
1924 to 1984--59 years___artist--writer-BREAKFAST
AT TIFFANYS-1958___a SEDUCTIVE MASTER PIECE__
about/HOLLY GOLIGHTLY__

_classic--not a traditional comedy--has a shadow in it-
she has a past--re inventing her self--fake pearls-ebony
cig holder-jeweled tara-sUn glases-black dress-.

fascinating-poor-Not a hard nosed hooker--nervous style
--party girl....lop sided ROMANTIC.

A B O U T----how people live their--lives .. !!!!

very very...G O O D !...u can NOT 4GET--MOON RIVER !

bp okc 64

*** NOTE
HOLLY was based on trumans
friend--DORIAN LEIGH PARKER.

Like many others here, I was inspired to read Truman Capote's work for the first time after seeing the movie Capote. I thought that starting with In Cold Blood would be too dark, so I chose Breakfast at Tiffany's instead. Surprisingly, this orginal work is not nearly as light and cavalier as the famed film version. Although the movie stuck fairly closely to the actual plot, Holly is a much deeper character than her excellent portrayal by Aubrey Hepburn would suggest. There are nuances to her story that are completely left out of the on-screen version, including a poignant conclusion that is nowhere near a Hollywood ending. Overall, however, Breakfast at Tiffany's is an excellent read, at it alone is deserving of a 5-star rating.

While Breakfast at Tiffany's is more of a novella, the other tales in this book are simply short stories, and I found them to be much less compelling. House of Flowers is a sort of off-beat romance, some of which I found to be disturbing and with an ending that I found to be unsatisfying. A Diamond Guitar was more moving yet quite depressing. Finally, A Christmas Memory, the best of the three, was a sweet tale of a young boy's special bond with a much older relative.

If you are looking for an entry point to Truman Capote's work, this book would be a good place to start familiarizing yourself with this talented, important writer.

Aww! I already listed another book as officially the greatest book of all time. I guess if I said that about this it really would be hyperbole but it's tempting. What a great book! What a great character is Holly Golightly! She's so real, so unpredictable, so sad in many ways. I think of her stealing chickens to feed herself and her brother as a child in the backwoods. And certainly this book was done to perfection in movie form with the absolute pitch choice of Audrey Hepburn to play Holly.Breakfast at Tiffany's
Do readers know this today? How great this movie and book is? I sometimes feel it is my duty to tell them, because after all this book was written a while ago, and all anyone ever talks about when it comes to Capote was that gruesome work he did called "In Cold Blood." Trust me, this book is nothing like that depressing tour of morbidity. http://www.the store.com/Anthea-Carson/e/B002CE0WAU/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Many, maybe most, readers know Truman Capote as a celebrity writer, a public character, a talk show guest, a multiple biopic subject, and the author of books that were made into other things. Reading this book is the perfect way to meet Truman Capote, the writer, and to read and appreciate how and what he actually wrote. It will be a revelation. This slim volume is sad, optimistic and filled with generous and big-hearted truths that will confirm that Capote was a master at his craft.

Wish I could give this ebook a good review - but it just doesn't hold up. I love Truman Capote - but it strays so far from what I remember the story to be. Love "In Cold Blood" but not Breakfast at Tiffany's.

The novella is of a woman of much experience though only 20 who the narrator meets in his New York apartment house. She is Holly Golightly, who was married at 14 but says that does not count since whe was so young. The narrator, who seems like Capote himself, is attracted to her as she lives her wild extravagant life, wih many men friends, and her escape at the end. A Pretty entertaining wild story. Of the three short stories, the most appreciated was "A Christmas Memory" which tells of a 7-year-old boy and his 60 year old cousin preparing for Christmas, making 30 fruitcakes, including one for President Roosevelt, finding a Christmas tree, and making gifts for each other. I found it poignant and memorable.

This story is extremely well written. His language is refreshingly unique, intriguing and original. I've never read anything with quite the same amount of quirkiness as this short novella. The character Holiday Golightly is this strange mix of sad, optimistic, tragic and sound. She enchants everyone she comes into contact with, and she will forever be a character that you will go back to. This story isn't exactly the love story the movie makes it out to be, but on the other hand, it is! The narrarator observes Holly as she goes through her life and admits that she has a certain charm and that he may be a little in love with her, but he isn't sure if love is what he is feeling. Holly Golightly is written and described as something like vapor. You can see her, hear her, feel her presence in the room but you cannot hold her. She is unobtainable and that is why she has lived for so long as this tantalizing creature. In the movie she is tamed, but here in her original story she is as wild as ever and never conquored by love or belongings and possesions, even though she harbours a secret desire to be.

This book is well worth the read. 4/5 stars.

I loved this novel for several reasons. The character depictions, especially that of Holly Golightly, are quite vivid and colorful. I enjoyed relating to both Holly and the narrator in different ways, as Capote's distinct style of creating such vivid personalities and genuine interactions makes this possible. Every twist, turn, memory, moment, and encounter is painted in such a lovely way and it is quite captivating. The narrative imprinted such a specific image in my mind, I'm scared to watch the movie simply because it will alter my view of the story. I admire that level of detail.
Though I must say, the book set my expectations so high that I was not completely satisfied with the ending (plot wise), maybe because it was too far out and sudden- somewhat spontaneous. It took a twist that was more off-putting than engaging, and the plot trickled off from there. Yet this even adds to the value of the story's underlying commentary on the imperfections and fluidity of life, along the lines of life being unpredictable and not taking the expected path, and the disappointment that stems from it. This aside, the story finished off in a very poignant way, and overall, I considered it a very thought-provoking, culturally rich, colorful classic. I would highly recommend to the intellectually curious as well as the bold romantics.

I found "Breakfast at Tiffany's" a desultory story with un-engaging characters. The whole thing - plot, character interaction, atmosphere - all seemed rather flat in my opinion. Perhaps it was the bohemian nature of the story - it just didn't do anything to me. I finished it because it was short, only over a hundred pages in my edition. Longer would have been prohibitive!

However, there were three other short stories added. These were wonderful! They were "House of Flowers", A Diamond Guitar" and "A Christmas Memory" where you can taste the food! These had feeling, emotion and tension, altogether lacking in "Breakfast at Tiffany's". (These three short stories brought my rating up to four stars.)

I really just loved this book. This addition has BAT and three other wonderful Capote stories The House of Flowers, A Cristmas Memory, and The Diamond Guitar.
I like these stories because each shows that there is prices to be paid in life and that there are some both negative and postive conquences to almost any relationship.
BAT is a story is so unique it is about a girl that everyone wants to save, but who really never needs it. Holly Golightly is a woman with an unknown past and a less known future. Everyone she meets seems to think she is a fake but for the fact that she is genuinly not trying to convince anyone she isn't. It is the story of a woman who wants freedom and love, but in a masculine way is willing to part with love that has to high a price. There is only one Holly Golightly in the relm of literature.
The House of Flowers is about a poor Hatian girl who goes from being a well paid prostitute in Porto Prince to a wife of a honest man. The story shows that she has to indure hardships in Marriage as well as in her first profession. It also shows that often we only have to look back a little bit to see value of the present.
The Diamond Guitar is a story of two men in prision who are best friends and the conflict they have when one man wants to escape. It has to deal with friendship, loss , freedom and memory. It is comic and tragdic.
The christmas memory is just too hard to explain, but it shows the life of a person who never can grows up and her experinece with a young boy who has no choice but to grow up.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1959), Truman Capote's classic novella, is a story of innocence, love and sadness in the person of an enigmatic young woman, Holly Golightly. Set in the years of WW II, in New York City, tne story is told in the words of a nameless male narrator and an aspiring writer whom Holly refers to as "Fred" after her soldier brother. Both Holly, going on 19, and the narrator reside in a brownstone apartment building on the East side of Manhattan and live bohemian lives. A third primary character of the story is Joe Bell, a stoic, Tums-chewing bachelor bartender on Lexington Avenue who is a common friend of Holly and Fred.

For all its brevity, "Breakfast at Tiffany" is full of detail and subtle characterizations of its protagonists and its secondary characters. The story is beautifully structured, as it begins with the chronological end of the events it relates and only gradually unfold's Holly's story and character. Capote's language is precise and highly rhythmic. Not a word is wasted. Norman Mailer described Capote as "the best writer of my generation" based upon this little book.

Holly is a girl of uncertain background when she and the narrator befriend each other. She dreams of finding love, wealth, and a true home. She receives money from wealthy male admirers, and she also becomes emeshed with a gangster named Sally whom she visits in Sing Sing once a week. Holly carries enigmatic, coded messages from Sally to one of his associates. Ultimately, she is arrested as an accomplice to Sally and is forced to flee.

Holly is a mix of vulnerablility, innocence and wildness. "Never love a wild thing", she says at a key point of the story in explaining why she declines to become pinned down. Wildness and freedom receive great play in the story. At an earlier point, the narrator admires an expensive antique bird cage large enough for several parotts. Holly buys it as a surprise Christmas present while she makes the narrator promise never to put a bird in it. Holly too flys away at the end. Search and freedom are not ends as Holly looks for a love that perhaps she never finds.

Although Capote writes in a terse, fast-paced style with little introspective commentary, his portrayal of Holly Golightly reminded me of Henry James's portraits of American women. The styles of the two writers are markedly different. Yet both James and Capote in this book share a certain view of American women in their innocence, independence, and surface toughness. For her apparently footlose, sensual lifestyle, Holly values love above all. She shares her favors liberally and is rewarded, but she disaproves of prostitution because it is not an honest expression of feeling. The story expresses something archtypically American. At one point, Holly tells the narrator:

"I've thrown away my horoscopes. I must have spent a dollar on every goddamn star in the goddamn planetarium. It's a bore, but the answer is good things happen to you only if your'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."

"Breakfast at Tiffany'" can be read quickly, but it is a book that will repay several close rereadings. I wanted to read this book for a long time but never did, possibly because I was put off by what I knew of Capote himself. It was my loss. So too, I regret not seeing the famous movie with Audrey Hepburn loosely based upon Capote's story. Some things are best experienced when young.

This is a masterful book with a lead character, Holly, who has deservedly become an American icon.

Robin Friedman

As a huge Audrey Hepburn fan, I have seen this movie countless times. I love the movie...so I was surprised with how different yet similar the book was to the movie. Holly Golightly is a blonde with short hair in the book!! She's supposed to be Audrey Hepburn with her beautiful dark brunette french twist! The movie version is set in the 1960′s whereas the book is set in the 1950′s!

I liked the book. I can see why Capote is on so many must-read lists but I don't think I can say that this will go down as one of my favorite books. I can imagine that it must have been scandalous when it was first published in the 1950′s. It's kind of one of those books that I am glad I can now say I've read and put it behind me. I may have enjoyed the book more if I didn't have the film version so deeply ingrained in my mind, though.

The late novelist John Gardner said that an ideal fictional story invokes in the reader an unbroken, fictional dream. I like this way of thinking about reading a novel or short story. If you keep "waking up" during the reading, then the author isn't doing his job very well.

I just read Breakfast at Tiffany's--not 30 minutes ago--and I'm still not sure I'm fully "awake." Holly Golightly, the focal character here, seems so real to me, I can hardly believe she isn't in New York, this moment, missing her door key. Very few novels have affected me this way, this strongly. A Catcher in the Rye--that one did it. Jane Eyre, a few others. If you read, as I do, primarily for company, to share the company of fascinating "people," I think you'll love this little book.

Truman Capote was one of America's most gifted writers, and in this story, he not only brings his characters to life, he brings this New York City neighborhood, in the 1950s, to life as well.

A magical, unforgettable read.

What a charming and eccentric character Holly Golightly is! Capote manages to cram a decent amount of her history and characterization in such a slim novella. It's breathtaking, sucking you in and not letting go until the last word.
Indeed, all the short stories in this collection breathe with the life of the characters. The settings are wide and varied and described in a way that gives you a real picture in your head; not easy to do with a short story!
After reading this, I become more interested in Capote himself. What kind of upbringing must he have had to write on the topics of prostitutes in Haiti with the same aplomb as he does an impoverished little boy and his elderly friend?
This is the first book by Capote I've read, though I've seen "In Cold Blood" the movie and have intended to read that book for a while. I am now more likely to pick it up to read sooner, and also to get a hold of his other work.

Arguably the greatest writer of the 20th century, the only misfortune of Capote's work is that there is not more of it. In this somewhat peculiar collection of stories, Capote demonstrates his command of the written word. While one tale gives the book its title, another story shines even brighter in this collection.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a legendary work in the cinema, though fewer Americans every year realize it is based on a novel. While certainly more crude at times, the written version adds another intended dimension to the tale. In reality, Audrey Hepburn's potrayal was far too sanitized. "House of Flowers" is an odd story of a wife that never had the approval of her mother-in-law. "A Diamond Guitar" is a tale of prison friendship in which one character almost seems to be the adolescent male version of Holly Golightly.

"A Christmas Memory" is a story that some may find too sweet for their taste much like a Christmas fruitcake. But even better than the other tales in the collection, it symbolizes a friendship that ends far too premature for the characters. The youthful recollection is engaging enough to make readers recall elders, that have left this world before them, in yearning gaze.

Though this collection is tied together with a loose theme, it is a sample of Capote's command over language. With vivid details and command of plot, the knowledgeable reader will not be disappointed in Capote.

Next to Truman Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood, is his wildly famous and absolutely delightful novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's. The book's fame has been catapulted by the classic film with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. While the movie follows the novella fairly closely, there are some significant differences between the two works. I will not reveal them here.
In Holly Golightly, Tiffany's central character, Truman Capote has created his self-stated favorite character, a charming yet flighty high-class call girl. The book follows Holly's nights of debauchery with days of conversations and activities with a writer (narrator as well). Some plot elements involving mobsters, a person from Holly's past, a Latin playboy and a few other minor characters tie the story together into an entertaining tale. But the true joy with this book is the time the reader will spend with Holly. Despite her different station in life, readers will identify with her fears, hopes and desires for comfort (the source of the book's title). Furthermore, Capote's leisurely style of writing makes the work far more engaging.
If you have some brief free time, this brilliant work will be a lovely way to spend a quiet afternoon.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" was introduced to me initially via Audrey Hepburn - ie. the backwards way. Once I proceeded to fall in love with the character, I decided I needed to meet Truman Capote's Holly Golightly.

A novella and three short stories later, I'm so glad I did. This was my first foray into Capote's writing, and it hooked me from the moment the narrator began speaking of brownstones and Joe Bell. The characters somehow leap off the page to the point where I began to feel like I was in the middle of all the action. It's rare to find a story that so completely submerges one into its world that it was a pleasure to come across one that was so innately familiar to me, and yet so bewilderingly foreign.

Capote manages to hint at Holly's profession without ever outright declaring it. Likewise, his characters rightfully call Holly naive and a phony, as she has this extreme tendency to avoid responsibility at any cost, even in the most humorous of ways. Her use of French phrases serve only to disguise her rural upbringing, which finds itself out midway through the story when her husband comes calling. In short, everything she does somehow contradicts herself, and yet she makes it work.

What struck me as so intriguing is though the entire story revolves around Holly, I found myself drawn to the narrator. Of course, there was the humor and shock that Holly's character brings, but the narrator (or Fred, as Holly chooses to name him) manages to bring a sense of "Well...I suppose this really could happen," even when the acts are so incredulous, one can't help but laugh. He also infuses the entire novella with a much needed dose of reality.

At the end of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" however, I couldn't stop thinking about Holly's pronounced declarations of "Everyone's a rat and a phony." In one way, I leave feeling as though she's the biggest phony of them all - putting on airs and living a life that she fashioned in a way by using other people to her benefit. Yet at the same time, her shrewd observations of secondary characters make it clear just how much she understands people and what motivates them, even if it's to her own detriment.

Of course, Capote's writing deserves credit, as he has this incredible ability to lay out a scene with few words. The way he is able to create characters that transcend the page speaks to his talent and encourages me to read more of his longer works - "In Cold Blood" is on my list of books to read. My immediate response to finishing "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was to wish I had had the opportunity to take a literature course focusing on only Capote's work, because they seem rich for discussion.

Between the dark moments, the comedy, the hints of scandal, and the pure outrageousness of Holly Golightly, I was completely enamored with "Breakfast at Tiffany's." It is most certainly a novella I will return to time and time again.

Note: Five stars for Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I was disappointed with the three short stories in the collection.

I loved Breakfast at Tiffany's. Great story, characters; well written.
Other Voices, Other Rooms is another story (pun intended) altogether. Time after time, when I was almost bored, he would begin writing so well it would make me remember why I love books. But something happened while reading that has never happened to me before . . . I couldn't finish the last 6 pages. I gave up. Only 6 pages left . . . Reading the last 20 pages of the book was like reading something that somebody had written in a drugged out stupor about a disturbing dream he had.
As it is, so many books, so little time to finish this one . . . even 6 pages.

This review is based on the first story in this anthology - Breakfast at Tiffany's. After reading this short story I had a lot of questions about Truman Capote. I will admit, I know nothing about him. I've never read any of his other works and I've never seen the movie, "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

The reason I want to know more about Capote is this - I feel this story is not great. It's a mad dash of thoughts, an essay and outline of sorts about an extreme character - Holiday Golightly. We read about her, saw bits and pieces of her adventures through the narrator's eyes - but in my opinion, never felt her. I wasn't convinced.

Writers often hear the phrase - show, don't tell. To me this story was a lot of telling. I was drawn to and believed the downstairs neighbor, Madame Spanella. I felt her - I got the emotion of her character. Capote showed us who she was. The others, not so much.

So it made me wonder about Truman Capote. Was he an unknown? Did he have high profile friends at the time of this writing? Was he a socialite who wined and dined with Norman Mailer, and others similar to him? Was his fame the reason for the success of Breakfast at Tiffany's or did his success come after?

This story was a letdown for me. I feel its success may have been due to factors other than the writing and that is kind of bothersome.

As a long time fan of the movie version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, I was wary of reading the book. I knew the book and movie versions were quite different and I wasn't sure I could put aside the image of Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly long enough to appreciate the book on its own. But I shouldn't have worried. The book is such a gem that it's easy to separate it from the movie and appreciate each on its merits. Capote's writing is mesmerizing. As the quote on the back from Norman Mailer puts it, "He writes the best sentences word for word..." and it is so easy to lose yourself in the worlds Capote creates. The other stories in this volume were a little hit or miss for me. I didn't really get "House of Flowers" but "A Diamond Guitar" was poignant and "A Christmas Memory" was heartbreakingly beautiful.

What more can I say that hasn't been said about Truman Capote's tight, lyrical prose style, concise and illuminating descriptions, brilliant metaphors, crisp and insightful characterization, and biting humor? So I'll just focus on the marquee character of the story, Holly Golightly.

Golightly is an archetype for the female "orphan hick from the sticks" who escapes a dim agrarian existence in search of opportunity in the city using what resources she has--looks, charm, sexuality and guile.

Holly, based roughly on Capote's mother, highlights the struggle of a category of American women rarely addressed in our literature. Poor and unskilled women of this post-World War II era who lacked education had few options but to perform housework or become a homemaker. Holly wanted more. Rags to riches was her chosen path with sex appeal as her chief means of transport. The horse in the book is a strong metaphor; she was an accomplished "equestrian."

A perfect example of what Holly was aiming for, to marry well, was accomplished by a Polish immigrant, Barbara Piasecka Johnson. Barbara died at age 76 in April, 2013, capturing headlines just as she had when she married a consumer products tycoon who dumped his wife of 30+ years and left Babs the bulk of his substantial fortune. Barbara was a non-English-speaking immigrant example of Holly when she arrived at Ellis Island--poor, attractive, uneducated. And wily. Barbara was more successful than Holly, but then Holly was still in the hunt.

Here's a link to an article describing Barbara:[...]
I readily recognized Holly because she is very much like my mother, one of a precious few things Truman and I share in common.

Capote made Holly even more intriguing by giving her an existential dilemma; she prized freedom as much as she did wealth and was caught in a guilded cage of her own making in the pursuit of wealth through marriage.

There's a little bit of Holly in more than a few women today. Most of them want to marry well, and they use their looks, charm, sexuality and guile to get them there. Holly is as fascinating to them as she is to men, perhaps more--a "classic" example.

I found this to be a masterpiece of economical storytelling. It communicates to me on an emotional level. To my way of thinking Holly is but a character in the story, while Capote is the protagonist. He is the narrator. Almost all of his fiction is autobiographical, and "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is no exception [the narrator even says his birthday is September 30 - which is Capote's birthday; and Capote is Buddy in "A Christmas Memory," Joel in "Other Voices, Other Rooms" and Collin in "The Grass Harp"]. Both my heart and head responded to the way he talks of his desire to be a professional writer and the pride and sense of achievement at his having his own apartment:

"I am always drawn back to places where I have lived, the houses and their neighborhoods. For instance, there is a brownstone in the East Seventies where, during the early years of the war, I had my first New York apartment. It was one room crowded with attic furniture, a sofa and fat chairs upholstered in that itchy, particular red velvet that one associates with hot days on a tram. The walls were stucco, and a color rather like tobacco-spit. Everywhere, in the bathroom too, there were prints of Roman ruins freckled brown with age. The single window looked out on a fire escape. Even so, my spirits heightened whenever I felt in my pocket the key to this apartment; with all its gloom, it still was a place of my own, the first, and my books were there, and jars of pencils to sharpen, everything I needed, so I felt, to become the writer I wanted to be."

As for Holly, she is one of the wild things she speaks of in Joe Bell's bar - just another wild wounded, creature Doc Golightly brought home:

"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."

She was pure ambition. She ran to Hollywood and allowed Mr. Berman to pay for finishing school and acting classes - they smoothed her edges and got rid of her accent and provided her with a vocabulary.

"I knew damn well I would never be a movie star. It's too hard; and if you are intelligent, it's too embarrassing. My complexes aren't inferior enough: being a movie star and having a big fat ego are supposed to go hand-in-hand; actually, it's essential not to have any ego at all. I don't mean I'd mind being rich and famous. That's very much on my schedule, and someday I'll try and get around to it; but if it happens, I'd like to have my ego, tagging along. I want to still be me when I wake up one fine morning and have breakfast at Tiffany's."

She ran to NYC because knew she wasn't cut out for Hollywood or stardom, she needed more freedom. She uses her god given talents to pay for her independence. She had an untethered heart.

I loved the way the story unfolded, his relationship with Holly - her being a free spirit. I felt the scenes with Doc were poignant, and Holly's reactions to a death in her family is quite moving; or when she explains the 'mean reds'; and felt for her when she lost Rusty, then the Brazilian and finally the baby. This character was based on several women friends of Capote [Gloria Vanderbilt, Carol Marcus], his mother and even himself - especially the lying and self-absorption. This was written in 1958, but it was set ten or twelve years before, when Truman was very young. Capote being famous when he wrote this; he had been publishing for ten years - acclaimed works like "Other Voice, Other Rooms," "The Grass Harp," and "The Muses Are Heard," award winning short stories, a play of "The Grass Harp," a musical of "House of Flowers" and the screenplay for John Huston's "Beat the Devil." Still, it was this work that brought him into the front rank of American writers. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was acclaimed as a great work of art and was an instant bestseller.

Breakfast At Tiffany's by Truman Capote ***

Breakfast At Tiffany's is an American literary classic, which spawned not only a hit movie, but a horrible number one hit song as well in the early 1990's. Tiffany's is a story of love, a story of loss, and a story of finding yourself, as well as staying true to yourself. We follow a man who is in love with the woman would is ultimately his best friend, though he does not realize that he is in fact in love with her until almost the end of the story, though to the reader it will become quite clear almost instantly, as the main character seems to be completely obsessed and infatuated with this women, but will not admit this to his self. That is basically the jest of the story. The girl can not find a place where she is happy living, and really is only happy in Tiffany's department store, where she believes that no one and nothing bad can happen to you there. Along the way criminals and drug charges are thrown in, but these just delay her search for happiness which she will not compromise for anyone.

In the end the plot seems to run thin and is in my opinion very, very long winded. Even for such a short story as this is I feel it could have been shorter. Capotes writing style is fantastic and it is clear why he went on to become such a legend, but honestly I do not understand the hype behind Breakfast At Tiffany's, I think Capote had plenty of better material.

In a way it's hard to believe this short story is what inspired the iconic movie. Especially, since Tiffany's plays even a smaller part here than the movie. It was hard to get Audrey Hepburn out of mind while reading this, because this book takes place twenty years earlier-during the WWII. All material written in that time was always so serious (The greatest generation-they say.) that it was hard to picture such a flighty and worldly personalty for that time. Though I have no doubt that it must be true. It just takes an adjustment. Overall, it's a good story. I wish I could say the same for the three additional stories in this book. To me those, House of Flowers, Diamond Guitar and a Christmas Memory were a waste of time and a disappointment. But this book is still worth the purchase price for Breakfast at Tiffany's alone.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is my favorite movie so I decided to pick up the book one day to see what it was like. Truman Capote is a wonderful author. His character development is immaculate and descriptions - meticulous. I found that the theme of this book is Holly Golightly. Her ambition, her fear, her ways of hiding her true self so that she can be who everyone wants her to be. I believe that Truman Capote was trying to tell us that we all have a Holly inside of us. The cat was also very symbolic. It had no name, therefore it did not really know who it was. Even though Holly had a name, she did not know who she was because of others around her trying to make her someone else. When cat and Holly were together, they had a sense of who they were. But only to each other. I thought that this was as touching and heartfelt as the movie. Everyone should buy this book!

It is worthwhile if you are only familiar with Holly Golightly from the Audrey Hepburn movie to read the original novella that introduced this famous character. Holly is a creature that never quite fits into her world, all at once naive and worldly, self-involved and compassionate, emotionless and passionate. Her paradoxes are what make her fascinating, both to us and to the men who come in contact with her. Holly's fate in the novella is not a happy one as in the movie, but is rather much more nebulous--it is left to the reader to judge, and that is somehow more satisfying. This volume also contains three of Capote's most famous short stories, including "A Christmas Memory," which seems a lot sadder to me now than when I first read it in high school.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a perfect novel. It should be studied by creative writing classes in order to observe the best ways to use humor, wit, tragedy, and freedom in their work. This is the story of Holly Golightly, a young 19 year old who is simply searching for a place that feels like home which she has never discovered. So she is always moving, always kinetically charged for the next big love affair, the next big happening in her life. Surrounded by men who fawn all over her, it is amazing to witness the kindness she exhibits to them. Capote does a marvelous job of showing that it is Holly who is being exploited in her relationships, even though her only income is from the men she picks up. She encounters a young writer named Fred who develops a platonic relationship with her and it is he who narrates the novel. She is looking for shelter and the only place she finds that is at Tiffany's. Something in the ambience of the place makes her feel secure and that nothing bad could happen. So she's always looking for that place. The novel is about her search. Along the way, the truth about her past is revealed and you admire her even more. She's probably one of the most memorable female characters I've ever encountered. The only complaint I have about it is that it was too short. At the end you feel like you were left hanging and that it should have continued.
Also in this edition there are 3 short stories and the quality of them decreases in the order of their inclusion. The first story, "House of Flowers", is great. It's about a Port-au-Prince prostitute searching for true love and finding it. Don't worry, it's not Pretty Woman. This story carries a very dark humor involving voodoo and a haunting from beyond the grave. "A Diamond Guitar" is about a prison camp and the relationship between an old con and a new arrival who dreams only of escape. "A Christmas Memory" is a boring and slight story involving childhood memories and is not even worth reading.
I loved this book. I cannot sing the praise of Breakfast enough. If you want a novel to be efficent, precise, funny, and beautiful, read this work.

So after years of trying to avoid most of the modern classics I decided to break down and read this one. I spotted it by chance a week ago and picked it up figuring that with it being so short it would be a quick read. Plus I'm trying to branch out and try some books that I might not usually give a chance.

Sadly I hoped that this book would be much better than it was, yet it never achieved anything more than mediocrity in my eyes. While I did find Holly Golightly to be amusing I just could not get into his writing. To me it was dull and slow. But it seems like the majority of people who have read it do enjoy it. This may be a case of it being a book that just isn't for me.

I did enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's more than I did his short stories which I found to be dreary and poorly written. I did not like how here was a lack of fluidity but then again I am not a fan of short stories in general and I don't think that I will be reading anything else by him in the near future, perhaps in 10 years or so when I'm older I'll give this one another shot.
I do hope that despite my review while very short and not very favourable that you give this book a try for yourselves. Far be it for me to hinder people from reading when I think people should be reading more.

Capote's stories read like a collection of personalized fairy tales. Different stories for different moods expressing the same need for inner connection. The iconic "Breakfast at Tiffany's" expresses the essential loneliness of a human being despite her brash, faddish living. However, the pure sincerity and emotional depth of "Christmas Memory" outshines them all. To me, this is the true classic.

Michael C. Hall delivers in the audible version.

This story delights, saddens, surprises, creates dramatic "OH" 's and wraps up like a good meal. After reading you'll have enjoyed it mostly, feel a little full, with a tiny desire for a bit more dessert, but you won't order seconds.

I saw the movie in a theater when it first came out. I was a teenager and, although I believed it to be primarily a girl's movie, I did enjoy it. I've seen it several times since then, and it still has not lost its charm. When I finally did read the book, I was disappointed that the movie didn't follow it more closely. To me, these are two different stories. The Holly in the movie is likeable; the novella's Holly is a harpie who cares for no one or nothing else. (When my wife saw the movie, she remarked that Holly was, "an idiot.") However, the book's storyline is more interesting...more haunting, and the book's ending is more intriguing. The movie ends as a love story. The book is much more. And, oh yes, whatever you may think of Capote as an individual, the guy was a damn good writer.

A more profound offering than I had originally expected. The details are so richly expressed, and the characters and the events taking place are so intricately woven together, that by the end, everything is neatly wrapped up, which the reader can enjoy very much.
A short novel, one in which I finished in one day (a few hours-I suppose I might identify with some of the characters more than other readers, but I was thoroughly engrossed.), is the story of a man who remembers a girl whose path he had crossed. He fell in love with her, and she was a traveler. Many adventures later (and a lot of philosophical musings), the 111-page story comes to an end, and I found myself genuinely caring about the respective destinies of the characters. This is something that I'd like to read and re-read again and again, might go on my top ten list.

Like many readers, my first encounter with Breakfast At Tiffany's the book came after seeing the movie. The two have so much in common that it's difficult to separate them in my mind; the movie benefits from having Audrey Hepburn on the screen a lot in some nice costumes, but suffers from Blake Edwards' typical racial stereotyping, with its transformation of Mr Yunioshi into a bad joke.
But then, Audrey was in the story when I read it, too, so closely did her portrayal match the written character. It's rather difficult to believe that Capote favoured Marilyn Monroe for the part (as he is reported to have done) -- Hepburn even looks like the character described in the story, while Monroe doesn't.
Despite the similarities, there are some interesting differences too, which I won't list here, as discovering them will be part of the fun of the book for anyone who's seen the movie.
The story is of the narrator's relationship with his neighbour Holly Golightly, proceeding from glimpses on the stairs, to passing acquaintance, to volatile friendship, and finally to unrequited love, and loss. But the real subject of the book is the unfolding of Holly's character and past.
The book comes alive when Holly is in the room; she is one of the great memorable characters of modern fiction, and most readers will probably fall in love with her a little.
Also included in the edition I read (and most editions, so far as I can tell) are three short stories by Capote: 'House of Flowers', about a Haitian prostitute; 'A Diamond Guitar', set in a Southern prison; and 'A Christmas Memory', the narrator's (possibly Capote's own) reminiscences of a childhood friend. I wonder how many readers stop when they finish Breakfast? The other three stories are good enough, but lack the greatness of Breakfast. But then, so do most things.

This story of a single young woman beset with ambition, beauty, questionable judgment, and an impecunious past is crafted with imagination and attention to detail. In a big city, Holly Golightly bounces through the very short (~110 small pages) novel among a surprisingly realistic cast of larger-than-life supporting characters.

There's no excuse for not reading this classic.

Three short stories round out the volume. The first two short stories weren't anything special, but the third was very good, a touching tale of an orphaned 7-year-old living with only his elderly handicapped-since-childhood aunt as a friend.

I have watched Breakfast at Tiffany's countless times and always intended to read this book, now I finally have. Like other reviewers stated - it is hard not to visualize the actors and characters from the movie especially when you read familiar lines and scenes. Holly is one of the most intriguing characters in American Literature - one that you are thinking about long after the book is finished.

While most people have picked up this book for the short novel "Breakfast at Tiffany's", they would do well to continue reading. "Breakfast" is a powerful and fabulously constructed story, rich with characterization. As a reader, you can't help but fall under her spell, not unlike the supporting characters in the novel.
While the middle stories are well written, they don't have the punch and pizzaz of "Breakfast" or the other story which bookends the novel, "A Christmas Memory". As strong as "Breakfast" is, it's power is like that of a cool breeze in comparison to the hurricane that is "Memory". It's a life changing story, one that is guaranteed to reduce to tears even the hardest cynic. The story of a young boy and his elderly cousin, demonstrates the inherent power of love and family.

This is a great little story that I read in two short sittings. Truman Capote's poetic use of words is wonderful. His writing is descriptive and poetic, but never stodgy or long winded. He also has a humor to his writing in this story which I like a lot. Holly Golightly is a wonderful character, she is very hard to figure out, for he reader and the narrator, but that is part of her character. Being a male, its especially interesting how Capote can write a young woman like Holly so well.

Even though this book was written over 50 years ago, the writing is fresh, has a great flow to it, and is timeless.

Breakfast at Tiffany's, by Truman Capote is a novel that every college student can compare to. Capote does a wonderful job of characterization, especially in Holly Golightly, and the message that each character is meant to convey. I love this story for many reasons but one is simply the character Holly Golightly. Being a current college student and a female, there is a lot to be comparable to Holly. She has major issues of the need to be independent, never truly feeling safe to rely on someone and the how difficult it is for her to talk about personal things. `Her cheek came to rest against my shoulder, a warm damp weight. "Why are you crying?" She sprang back, sat up. "Oh, for God's sake," she said, starting for the window and the fire escape, "I hate snoops." This book also has fantastic symbols that strengthen the novel. Capote has Holly wearing sunglasses most of the time. This again strengthens the idea that she dislikes people getting close to her and seeing who she truly is and her past. The novel is classified as a classic for a reason. Breakfast at Tiffany's is a must read for everyone of any age. Anyone going through a time in their life of making decisions, finding who you truly are or have general issues of trusting people and getting close to them, this read is perfect.

I was introduced to the writings of Truman Capote my freshman year of college. In Cold Blood was the title and the book was captivating. A few months ago I came across the fact that Capote also wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's. I don't know how I missed this considering the fact that I have watched the movie several times. Having read In Cold Blood, I just couldn't imagine Capote writing Breakfast at Tiffany's. Needless to say my interest was sparked and I made a trip to the library to pick it up.

My excitement was down to a fizzle after the first few pages. The main character is Holly Golightly. She goes down anything but lightly. She was hard to swallow. Holly is aloof, insensitive, and lived in a fantasy land. It was a few times I just wanted to shake her and say, "What planet are you on?" As you can tell I get wrapped up in these books. The narrator who is a young writer Holly affectionately refers to as Fred lives in the same apartment complex with Holly and is soon caught in her web. Most of the men that surround Holly are completely absorbed with her presence. Even though they know she is living a total lie they still find themselves in awe of her. I would even go as far as to say that Holly borders on some type of mental illness. She simply cannot deal with reality. This book is full of eccentric characters that are quite flawed. The storyline was so jumbled that a couple of times I just gave the pages a blank stare.

This book was quite a letdown for me. Capote's writing style was simple but a few times throughout the novel it was just senseless babble. We all know that Capote was an open homosexual with a very outgoing and flamboyant personality which leads me to believe that Holly Golightly was his alter ego.

I loved the wandering, Impromptu prose! Breakfast at Tiffany's is a romp through a vapid party; advice on what to do when you've gone from blue to red; secrets in the past that appear and stand on the street corner outside your apartment; and finally, a pathetic act of cat dumping. What impressed me most were the three short stories that followed Breakfast at Tiffany's. "A House of Flowers," read like a short story influenced by Garcia Marquez or Borges. And "The Diamond Guitar," sketches out memorable characters with an impressive scaracity of pages that only a master writer could make a story thrive in such a short word economy.

After watching "Capote", I felt it was time to finally read some of his novels.

Now I am not sure why I waited this long. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is an

excellent afternoon read. Perhaps the fact that it is not nearly as shocking

as it must have been when first published, makes the true qualities

of the book stand out. I also have to say that Audrey Hepburn's

and Capote's Holly are two very different women. Both are adrift in

the world, but while the Holly of the movie is airy, there is more of a

serious undercurrent that can be felt in the book.

I've seen and loved the film and in reading the book I feel forced to choose favorites. I believe the changes the movie made to the plot sure did make it entertaining. The book, by which I mean the first story-Breakfast at Tiffany's-delves a bit deeper into the person that is Holly Golightly. I enjoyed this read and I was surprised to enjoy the other three stories by Truman Capote that are included in this book.

Breakfast at Tiffany's. I'd seen the movie. I've read two other Capote books and was wowed by them. Breakfast at Tiffany's is equally wonderful. The juxtaposition of our narrator and Holly Golightly makes the book. Holly would probably be called manic-depressive today when she was hospitalized but to the narrator and her other admirers she has that rare zest for life that is to wonderous to behold. Others, more thoughtful observers, would also see in Holly the devastation she left in her wake.

No.

2 (MAYbe 2.5) stars: It's really tough after reading the short stories of a brilliant writer like Flannery O'Connor, to then try and make a meal out of these little truffles from a similar era. I just can't take them seriously as Literature-with-a-big-L.

Certainly there is a degree of heart wrenching pleasure to be had here (and his first novel is unquestionably brilliant), but to whomever it was that once said "Capote is Southern Gothic lite": I couldn't agree more.

[It's a shame that an author who could pump out a brilliant tome like "In Cold Blood" would then denature into a drunken, foppish rum novelist spewing invectives against far more influential writers of his age, like Kerouac...youth and talent were wasted on this guy.]

Well written and cathartic. Be warned, don't go in expecting the movie; the characters are there, as is a simlar story, but the ending is different, and what was skeletal in the film is fleshed out into greater depth here. If you want an equivalent experience in film (though without one of the most strikingly romantic paragraph-long passages you'll find written in this language), try "Almost Famous," which essentially has the same characters and plot points as this book.

A touching rumination on wanting something that you know you can't have and shouldn't want, almost but not quite getting it, and come to terms with everything that means.

In my opinion, whenever a book is written in the first person, it allows the reader to feel like they are a part of the story. So in that aspect I liked Breakfast at Tiffany's. However, I felt that the ending of the book was too abrupt. I would've preferred if the author had written more to this story. Like what happened to Holly and why she never contacted the main character again after that one postcard. The author did do a wonderful job in crafting a forward thinking, independent, and free spirited woman. Capote explained each of the characters so well, that I was truly able to visualize each of them and think of them as real live people.

I had no idea that Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote was going to be so easy to read and enjoyable, but I guess I should have known! The movie is fantastic, so of course the book is better.

This novella follows Holly Golightly, a gorgeous, troubled, captivating, flighty woman who yearns for beauty, success, and to find herself. She throws parties, dates many men, and has a few secrets. For instance, Holly Golightly visits a mafia boss in jail on a weekly basis and passes on the "weather report."

If you are in need of a short, light classic to read, Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great one to pick up. It's witty, charming, and you might not be able to stop yourself from falling in love with Holly Golightly.

Who else has the song in their head?

Thanks for reading,

Rebecca @ Love at First Book

I loved the effortless diction and the complex character choices in this book. The way the character, Holly Gohlightly, is crafted is flawless; her destructive and spontaneous personality makes you want to be her and yell at her at the same time. The author creates a fluorescent world in the small space of an apartment building. The story shows an unconventional friendship with an unconventional woman and that makes this book a classic. The plot is unpredictable although it is seen through the eyes of someone that is seemingly predictable. This book was a stupendous story and I would definitely recommend it.

Funny, engaging... even better than the movie? Well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, and it's a great read. It's easy to see why Capote objected to the script changes—stories don't need to end happily ever after to be satisfying.

The novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is quite possibly one of the most tedious books I have ever read in my life. The protagonist, Holly Golightly, is indeed as shallow and petty as she appears on the surface. She is only concerned about her self-appearance, how others perceive her, and living a good wealthy life without having to work for it. She accomplishes these objectives by exploiting men for money and then promptly dumping them once they no longer have anything new and exciting to offer her. There is no depth to the character of Holly Golightly. She acts exactly how she appears on the surface. I found it hard to sympathize with the main character because she seemed utterly disconnected from the realities of life, especially during World War II when the United States was in a state of chaos from fighting.

Holly Golightly is not the only character in the novella who lacks complexity. In addition to Holly Golightly, the narrator is another man who has similar attributes and what you see on the surface is what you get. The narrator can be described as weak, spineless, and pathetic as he allows Holly to walk all over him like a doormat. Holly manipulates the narrator to cater to her every whim by running her errands, taking car of her apartment and cat, and finally forcing him to help pay for her lavish lifestyle.

Even though this novella is a fiction, I felt as if I read a drab biography about a prostitute who has no sense of reality and acts recklessly. It seemed to me that the book had no true story line, but instead was just a long-winded lecture about a wealthy, unappreciative New York hooker. The book was a large jumble of words and fragments that simply could not be turned into comprehensible sentences. Moreover, I felt the author left out large details that kept the story from seeming complete. In the beginning of the book, the narrator and a bar tender talked about Holly riding an elephant in Africa, yet Truman Capote never comes around to answer why this was important or relevant to the story. It left me wondering why it was put there in the first place.

This publication is a great introduction to Truman Capote and an easy read. Breakfast at Tiffany's is of course a classic, with a great cast of eccentric characters. The three short stories are interesting but the stand out is definitely A Christmas Memory which is poignant, nostalgic, and heartfelt. It made me thankful for the great Christmases I've had in the past.

The well-known short novel, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and three of Truman Capote's most famous short stories make for a continually fresh and exciting look at how human beings successfully connect with one another. No matter how many times you read these stories, you will be moved by Mr. Capote's marvelous sense of and appreciation for the specialness of each life and the ways we belong to each other. Having not read Breakfast at Tiffany's for about 30 years, I came away much more impressed with the novel than I was the last time I read it. Perhaps you will have the same reaction upon rereading it as well. If you are reading it for the first time, you have a very nice surprise ahead of you!
Breakfast at Tiffany's revolves around Holly Golightly, the former starlet and cafe society item, who floats lightly through life (like cotton fibers in the wind) looking for where she belongs. Ms. Golightly is and will remain one of the most original and intriguing characters in American fiction. Like a magician, she is both more and less than she seems. But she has an appreciation for people and animals that goes to the core of her soul that will touch you (if you are like me), especially in her desire that they and she be free.
The novel has a harder edge and is more revealing about human nature than the movie is. Of the two, I suggest you start with the novel and graduate to the movie. You will appreciate the portrayal by Audrey Hepburn of the inner Holly more that way. The same humor is in both the novel and the movie, as well as the innocent look at life for what it can be, believing in the potential of things to work out for the best.
Despite that upbeat note, her weakness is that for all of her ability to understand what motivates other people she does not understand herself well enough to know when she does belong with and to others. This is symbolized by her abandonment of her unnamed cat, and quick realization that they do belong together. As for the friends she leaves behind, she never seems to appreciate how much they love her and want to be with her. As a result, she abandons them as well . . . leaving them with memories to warm their winter nights.
Mr. Capote is now realized to have been a more autobiographical writer than was appreciated when he first published his fiction. Your understanding of Breakfast at Tiffany's will grow if you keep in mind that it was modeled in part on his friendship with Marilyn Monroe. If you do not know her history, you will find that it closely paralleled Holly's through age 18.
The same is true of his short story, "A Christmas Memory." I suggest that you read about Mr. Capote's childhood in the recent book, A Southern Haunting of Truman Capote, to fully appreciate the magic of this story. His "friend" in the story was based on a beloved figure in his young life, who endowed him with a special sense of being loved and appreciated that formed an important foundation for his character and his skill as a writer. The beautiful devotion that she showed to him is reflected in the loving descriptions he makes of their experiences during their last Christmas together before he was shipped off to military boarding schools at age 8.
"A Diamond Guitar" is about the Platonic love of an older man for a younger one in prison. Like all unrequited love, the older man eventually finds himself embarrassed and exposed. But the experience remains a touchstone to tender feelings in his heart, and he keeps his young friend's glass-diamond-studded guitar under his bed . . . even though it doesn't sound good when others play it and is becoming shabby with age.
"House of Flowers" is a hard look at the vast differences in the ways that women and men view their relationships with one another. Even when loving, the message seems to be that the men will always take advantage of the women. The women, however, acquire soulful beauty in their ability to overcome that needy exploitation and appreciate belonging to one another and to the men.
This story tells the tale of a young woman who works in a house of ill fame in Haiti, and is charmed into "marrying" a young, poor hill man who is dominated by his spell-casting grandmother. Together, the young couple overcome the challenge, and build on their love for one another.
Budding novelists are sometimes encouraged to study nature closely to draw inspiration. Although I do not know if Mr. Capote ever received or followed that advice, it is very clear that he retained a childlike ability to see the world as fresh and new every time. No detail, no nuance, no quirk was too small or unimportant to pass by him or to fail to cast its charm upon him. Kindly and gently, Mr. Capote takes the reader by the hand and shows what makes these elements so interesting to him. In this way, the reader's world is expanded, enlightened, and improved.
These four stories reverbrate against one another, like the continuing vibrations after a large bell after pealing four times, and create a combined effect beyond what any single story can provide.
After you have finished enjoying these stories and the movie, I suggest that you makes some notes about where you belong, who you belong with and to, and what that says about you. In this way, you can notice important connections that mean a lot to you and others that you may be slighting. Honor those tendrils in the way that Mr. Capote would if he were writing a story about your life.
Notice and touch life intimately and lovingly to find truth and beauty!

Breakfast At Tiffany's, a book by Truman Capote, is a short novel that is very well-written. The book consists of four short stories, and although the plot of the four stories have nothing in common with one another, they are tied together by a central theme. Capote also demonstrates superb use of symbolism throughout his book.

The main idea of each short story revolves around the loss of someone or something loved. The first story, "Breakfast at Tiffany's," is about two close friends, but after a series of dramatic events are forced to leave each other forever. "House of Flowers" tells of Ottilie, a girl who chooses to leave her rich, easy life and marries to a poor boy who works in the fields. In "A Diamond Guitar," one friend betrays the other, leaving Mr. Schaeffer watching "the face of his friend, suspended above him...it was so distant, judging." And finally, "A Christmas Memory," is perhaps the saddest of all four stories. Here, two lifelong friends who have spent every Christmas together, eventually grow apart due to a sudden change in lifestyles. Capote says that loss is something all must endure, and the only way to deal with a loss is to grow from it.

The author relies on symbolism to bring more life to his stories, and no doubt he uses this element well. For example, the Houngan in "House of Flowers" explains to Ottilie that if she catches a wild bee and it "does not sting, then [she] will know [she has] found love." The bee represents Ottilie's heart, something wild and free. Yet if she allows herself to be tamed, then she will find true love. It is instances like this that make Capote's stories timeless.

Capote engages the reader's attention in each story. His language is simple, and the reader never becomes bored with what he has to tell. But perhaps what brings his book together is the message he communicates: loss of love is unavoidable, and by overcoming it comes learning and knowledge that love will come again.

After recently seeing the award-winning film Capote, I made a conscious decision that I simply needed to read more of Capote's work. Philip Seymour Hoffman was absolutely brilliant as the tortured writer, and he made me realise that there was a lot more to Capote than In Cold Blood.

I read ICB in high school at a time when I was full of teenage conspiracy theories and thrived on books like Helter Skelter. Needless to say I was absolutely fascinated by Capote's investigation and obsession of a rural multiple murder that rocked America. However, after reading Capote's 'one great book,' I failed to read anything else by him.

Published in 1958, eight years before ICB, Breakfast at Tiffany's: A Short Novel and Three Stories is comprised of the main work as well as the less famous shorts "House of Flowers," "A Diamond Guitar" and "A Christmas Memory." Ashamedly, I have never seen the film version with Audrey Hepburn playing the lead role of Holly Golighty but, due to the sheer infamy of the film, as well as Hepburn's face adorning the front cover of the book, I couldn't have pictured the protagonist as anyone else.

Set in 1940s New York City, the book is narrated by an unnamed male writer (whom Golighty nicknames Fred after her estranged brother) who forges a friendship with society gal Holly Golighty whilst they are living in the same brownstone. As he descibes her antics, the narrator's naïveity is quickly erased by Golighty's bold, brazen lifestyle of men, martinis and money. The social attitudes that Capote expresses in the novel are way ahead of their time. In fact, certain details and ideas that must have been scandalous then still manage to maintain their shock factor 50 years on.

Although the writer's character in the film (played by George Peppard) is named Paul 'Fred' Varjak, the narration has an autobiographical feel to it. I drew many parallels between the narrator of the book and Capote himself (his childlike innocence, his escape to the big city, etc.) which caused me to envision Capote beside Hepburn's Golighty.

Although just over 100 pages, Breakfast at Tiffany's feels like an epic in terms of the strength and vividness of the main character. Holly Golighty literally jumps off the page. Like Scarlett O'Hara, she is a literary heroine of the 20th century and Capote's ability to bring her story full-circle in so few pages is truly amazing.

The shorts are very strong, as well, particularly "House of Flowers," which is set in Haiti and proves that Capote is just as comfortable writing in a relatively foreign setting as he is in his natural habitat.

To read more reviews like this, please visit my blog 'The Book Wormhole' at [...]

I found this book rather irritating. I have never seen the movie and I think I would be bored with it.

Yes it is well written and quite a smart story however Holly Golightly is an irritating, self centered immature girl. Certainly not a young woman even if she thinks she is.

I don't quite get what the gushing over the movie is other than the sex appeal of Holly and the fantasy she depicts.

Breakfast At Tiffany's, a book by Truman Capote, is a short novel that is very well-written. The book consists of four short stories, and although the plot of the four stories have nothing in common with one another, they are tied together by a central theme. Capote also demonstrates superb use of symbolism throughout his book.

The main idea of each short story revolves around the loss of someone or something loved. The first story, "Breakfast at Tiffany's," is about two close friends, but after a series of dramatic events are forced to leave each other forever. "House of Flowers" tells of Ottilie, a girl who chooses to leave her rich, easy life and marries to a poor boy who works in the fields. In "A Diamond Guitar," one friend betrays the other, leaving Mr. Schaeffer watching "the face of his friend, suspended above him...it was so distant, judging." And finally, "A Christmas Memory," is perhaps the saddest of all four stories. Here, two lifelong friends who have spent every Christmas together, eventually grow apart due to a sudden change in lifestyles. Capote says that loss is something all must endure, and the only way to deal with a loss is to grow from it.

The author relies on symbolism to bring more life to his stories, and no doubt he uses this element well. For example, the Houngan in "House of Flowers" explains to Ottilie that if she catches a wild bee and it "does not sting, then [she] will know [she has] found love." The bee represents Ottilie's heart, something wild and free. Yet if she allows herself to be tamed, then she will find true love. It is instances like this that make Capote's stories timeless.

Capote engages the reader's attention in each story. His language is simple, and the reader never becomes bored with what he has to tell. But perhaps what brings his book together is the message he communicates: loss of love is unavoidable, and by overcoming it comes learning and knowledge that love will come again.

I read this book because I absolutely LOVE the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn. The book is excellent and there are distinct differences between the book and the movie, of course, but neither the book or the movie is harmed by these differences. Audrey Hepburn was a brilliant Holly Golightly! The story, Breakfast at Tiffany's is very interesting and very well written. (of course, Hollywood had to change the ending!!)
Also in this book are three short stories that are very interesting and a bonus to the reader.
I highly recommend this book. It is excellent!

Truman Capote has a great imagination. Every story I have read by him has held my interest. I am anxious to read his other novels. Although this novel is a short read, it held my attention very well. Breakfast At Tiffany�s is a novel filled with a love interest, a little suspense, and scandalous affairs; it�s a little racy for the time this story takes place.
Lulamae Barnes wanted to re-invent herself. She picks a new name, Holly Golightly. I feel she has picked this new name to reflect the persona she wants to project; someone who was always on the go-someone not too easily tied down. She is a little gullible, a little naïve, and also outspoken. Holly Golightly is someone you love intensely for the short while she is in your life and someone you long for long after she has exited. I also feel that everyone could relate to her at some point in her life (all the way from the pain in her childhood, when she felt like she never belonged anywhere or to anyone, to the time she lost her brother, Fred).
Holly was a young woman who had quite a few gentleman callers. She seems to fall for the older men in her life. Holly suffers from this �father complex.�
My favorite character is the narrator of the story. He is an older gentleman as well. He is in his sixties and a writer. As they developed their friendship, he also developed a fascination with Holly. He reminds her of Fred, so she asks if she can call him Fred, and he graciously accepts. As the two interact as friends, �Fred� quietly falls in love with her.
I was most disappointed that Holly never quite knew of his love for her. I think that if she had known then maybe she could have had a better life with him.
I rated this novel with five stars because I could not put this story down until I had finished it. I am not an avid reader so that is saying a lot for this story. If I can�t wait to finish a book, then I feel the author had captured my heart for the length of time it took me to put it down. It is almost like getting a kiss from a long lost lover.

We've all seen the movie, but very few of us have read the book. I finally read it, and, boy, am I glad I did. It is so good.
People always say that the book is better than the movie--no matter what the book or movie is. I generally say that they are two different mediums and cannot be compared: apples and oranges.
In the case of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, the two (the book and the movie) are actually very close, but the book will give you insight that the movie won't. Read it. Enjoy it.

Having never read anything by Capote, I decided to remedy that fault this summer. I read Breakfast at Tiffany's after In Cold Blood, and I was equally impressed with both. Unfortunately, I saw the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's before I read the book. While I liked both, they were quite different, and I preferred Capote's version. Holly Golightly is much more likable when portrayed by Capote because she's a deeper character.

Perhaps my favorite part of this book, however, was the short story "A Christmas Memory". Though some could consider it sappy, I loved the way Capote wrote it. He reveals so much about the characters and the setting in subtle ways. He has beautifully captured the way friendship affects people's lives, even if that friendship is cut short.

This collection is well worth the short amount of time it will take to read it. You won't be disappointed!

Through the narrations of a young man, we learn about the life of a wildly popular socialite named Holly Golighty in Truman Capote's story, Breakfast at Tiffany's. He tells us of Holly's trouble with life and encounters with past husbands and sneaky drug lords. While on the streets of New York City, we become captivated by the realistic sense of the whole book, which pulls us in further to keep on reading and leaves us wanting more at the end.

Holly Golighty isn't just another shallow playgirl. She is well created, another great aspect of this book, and is well evolved. She begins her life as Lulumae, a young, hillbilly girl found rummaging through an older man's garbage, who later becomes her dearly beloved. She learns that she doesn't want a country lifestyle and moves on, to New York City, and becomes very popular. While in the city, she also learns that she doesn't like to hang around when things begin to dull or if there is a pause in the action. A major theme I found in Breakfast at Tiffany's is how Holly's character changes. Starting as Lulumae, she progresses to become Holly, and then moves out of the country, to begin a new life as a new person. Although Holly was a great character, I didn't like how she would leave her problems behind her, without trying to fix them first. For instance, once she was falsely accused of helping a drug lord communicate instructions from jail, she decided to leave the country instead of proving her innocence and telling the truth. I found this to be childish but it does add to the character, so it didn't bother me too much.

Because Breakfast at Tiffany's is an easy read, I found it to be even more enjoyable than it already is. I thoroughly liked reading this book.

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.

ive read a few of the bad reviews out of curiosity, and let me start off with the simplest, it wouldnt have chapter's becasue its not a novel, its a short story! as well as the other 3.(house of flower/diamond guitar/christmas story) and secondly, if your a teenager, the ususal placid moronic kind you wouldnt see a point.And men with egos probably wouldnt get it either.

I being a 25 year old girl was wistful about the book. its not a feel good read but an important one none the less. I for one can relate to holiday golightly, sometimes when life is rough you have to go on. theres a great british quote, familiarized during the blitz on london"keep calm, and cary on"- well thats holly. And yes its not hugely different from the movie, there really alot of humor and wit, but its much more melancoly. Its not sugary sweet. And most of capotes work is told from his personal view. I imagine he knew a ms.golightly of some kind- and its not a love/love romance. he even says "loved her, as one loves there grandmother, or the postmad that let me tag along his route, even a whole family named(cant recall the name)"- its one of the best things ive read, if you like catcher in the rye youd like this. Capote was amazing

I made the unfortunate mistake of watching Edward Blake's classic film adaptation before reading Truman Capote's novella BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. However, I was glad to have gotten a chance to buy/read the story of Holly Golightly and her life's endeavors in New York City and beyond as written from the perspective of one of her many male followers.

Capote allows the reader to create their own image of Golightly, although I had serious problems getting Ms. Audrey Hepburn's image of Holly out of my head. The brilliance behind Capote's work is his focus on the character of Holly and continually giving her an air of something almost like immorality. She is a beautiful soul, and Capote lets her get away with just about anything. It's because she is the ultimate dreamer, and regardless of the common sense men and women alike try to shove into her face, she ignores it. Her life and how she wants it to be per her mind's eye is just too important to ignore.

I would recommend this novella and its collection of other short stories as well. Capote is a force to be reckoned with, and he doesn't apologize for anything he includes on paper. This is too good to pass over.

Almost everyone has seen or at least heard of the movie, Breakfast at Tiffany's, but how many have read the original story? This book is a classic almost fairytale type story of a girl who is struggling with her past and trying to make herself, as well as accept, an identity. Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's is an enchanting story, but is much darker than the movie version that the beautiful Audrey Hepburn graces the television screen in. Much of the slightly disturbing details were left out of the movie, keeping it light and airy and masking Holly's true role, whereas the novel holds a deeper interest, giving specific ups and downs in the life of the fairly subtley depicted call-girl, Holly Golightly. Happiness, pain, and a final finding herself ties the story together in a beautiful way. Also, at the end of the book, there is a sweet suprise, with three short stories also written by Truman Capote. Such a good read that I couldn't put it down, and finished all four stories within 24 hours.

In every book their is a moral. Something the reader continues to think about long after the novel is read. This book deals with one specific issue we all face today. Trying to find one's self is the moral in Breakfast at Tiffany's. The main character, Holly Golightly, a bright, charming woman, was trying to do just that.
With the title in tact, Holly thought nothing bad could ever happen to her at Tiffany's. She would eat breakfast there, while staring at the fine jewlery. Shorty into the book she got to know her neighbor (the narrator). They instanly became friends. Holly would always be with different men and she loved having parties in her apartment. One day she got a telegram saying her brother had died overseas. She became depressed and her appearance started changing. Later on an article came out about her being involved with a drug smuggling case. She never talked about it with anyone. She was going to marry a man named Rusty although he married her good friend. With nothing going for her, she leaves for Brazil in search of a new life.
This book was very easy to understand. I loved how modern it was and the way it described Holly's appearance, feelings, moods, and actions. It was great how it dealt with something everyone faces sooner or later; fitting in and finding your place.
I didn't like how sometimes there was nothing going on in the book. I found it somewhat boring to just read the narrator and Holly's conversations, in which some had no point. Other than that, it was a great story!
I believe this book is great for adolescent and twenty year old women. They can really relate to a lot of issues discussed within it. Men could even enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's because Holly deals with everyday issues. It should be read when someone is feeling down and know they are not alone with stresses they have in their life.
There is one quote that sticks out in my mind. This took place when Holly was describing her love for Tiffany's. "...get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's...nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets." This just shows how empty Holly's life seems because a jewlery store can give her the most pleasure.
Go out and buy this book today!!

Although Breakfast at Tiffany's is arguably one of Truman Capote's most known literary creations, I can not see why. The novella starts out with the protagonist, who seems to have no name, getting a call from Joe Bell about the infamous character Holly Golightly, who is their mutual friend. So far I'm intrigued, for the first chapter gives off the impression that Holly, a monumental character, changed the protagonist's life drastically. Further along in the story, Ms. Golightly, in my perspective, is portrayed as a shallow, ignorant, and selfish character who in reality just causes trouble for those who have a place in her life. Throughout the novel she constantly says insensitive things impulsively as if they don't mean anything, and although honest many times, it seems like she has no regard for anyone else but herself. Her life is in total disarray, and even though Capote portrays her as ambitious, she walks around aimlessly with no purpose, upsetting those who dedicate themselves to her. Everyone adores and follows her, always wondering when she'll pay them any mind, but she never reciprocates that back. She shows total disinterest in other people, which is shown when the protagonist first meets her. Holly names him Fred, her brothers name, without even bothering asking what his real name is. Golightly has no profession, yet she acts as though she is too busy to be concerned with other people's problems. A few times she is given the opportunity to develop and redeem her character, but she doesn't know how to handle it. When her brother died, she became devastated, but she picks herself right up and pretends as if nothing happened. Instead of dealing with the situation head on, she runs away from it, and carries on with her life; this occurs multiple times. She suffers a miscarriage, a broken engagement, and a criminal charge, and rather than facing it and dealing with the consequences she literally runs away, and her problems seem to vanish. Holly's character has so much potential to be something extraordinary, but she never develops because she lives in a utopia where she is untouchable, and this causes her to be static and one-dimensional. I find it difficult to understand how this is Truman Capote's favorite character, but I have to recognize that he wrote this character in a time period where joy and carefreeness was hard to find, and that Holly brought light to the darkness that surrounded her and many others.

I didn't know it was possible to love reading until I found this book my senior year of high school. My assignment was to do a research paper on one American author, and I chose Capote knowing very little about him. Over the semester, I learned a lot about Capote, but it would be Breakfast at Tiffany's that kept me coming back for more. I chose to focus on this novella and his short stories as well as his personal life for my paper. The book supposedly based off his relationship with a certain Hollywood starlet reminds you that sometimes none of us know where our home is, and we are able to seek solace in the fact that Holly makes it seem not so bad sometimes. Yet, we know that she is a very lonely woman. Breakfast at Tiffany's opened my eyes to a whole new world, and I couldn't ask for anything more from any form of writing.

I re-read this book and was pleased to find that I wasn't wrong about it the other million times I read it. Truman Capote is one of my favorite authors and Breakfast at Tiffany's is my all-time favorite American classic. I don't read about Holly Golightly, I absorb this unique, eccentric character. The message Mr. Capote conveys in this novel is one of poignancy and charm. Holly, like her nameless cat, is a free spirit, a young woman whose quirks and unconventional lifestyle endear everyone, including the ambiguous narrator. This book overwhelms me with sadness every time I read it. Ms. Golightly's elusiveness touches me every time. I also love the film version of this novel. But the story gets lost somewhere amid the chemistry between Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard. Peppard plays the narrator, and his character loses the mystery and ambiguity that is evident in the book. And even though I love the film's ending, the novel's conclusion is unforgettable. There are various differences between the book and the film, but they're both classics in their unique way. If you've seen the movie but haven't read the book, I strongly suggest you pick it up. Truman Capote is a brilliant writer, and he outdid himself with this timeless gem.

I loved this story. The characters and descriptions were so vivid. Truman Capote's talent at describing people (flaws and all) makes him a legend in my mind. So much is packed into a small space in this story. Truly amazing.

Truman Capote created a character that is as endearing as she is captivating. Holly Golightly leaps from the pages of this masterpiece. You want to condemn her but for some reason there's an underlying innocence that makes you like and care for her.

I had never read any of Capote's works, but after I saw the movie, "Capote", I realized I had a big gap in my survey of American fiction and I knew I had to experience the writing of this interesting and tormented person.

Other reviewers have gone into detail about the stories themselves and I don't find that very interesting anyway, so I'll leave you to explore that for yourself. I will tell you that if you like Hemmingway or Fitzgerald, then Capote's observations and will strike a cord with you. His writing - clear, emotionally invoking and efficient in word is perhaps not as poetic as these two, but is their equal in impact.

The stories are rather short and I found myself wishing they were longer if only to prolong exposure to his work. If you have little experience with Capote, you will not be disappointed.

Breakfast At Tiffany's is a shining example of the genius that is Truman Capote. In all writings it seems you're always bound to fall in love with the characters and world he has creates. Recent films like Infamous and Capote have tried to show the world what Truman was like, but in truth the only way to get inside his head is to read his works and understand that this short, encentric,and always flamboyant man had wisdom and values that he fed us though his books and today contiuly define American culture.

Breakfast At Tiffany's is a truly one of a kind novel, not to mention a major pop culture phenomenon. It truly mirrors the changes that occurred to American society after World War II. The novel gives a glimpse to the reader what it was like for woman and how their roles in society changed. It's a great tale of human nature as well as overcoming adversity.

One becomes enthralled and entranced by the infamous character, Holly Golightly. She, without a doubt, is defining of a cultured woman of the American 1950's, a contemporary debutant, carefree and aloof. This former starlit actress moves into the narrator's (or "Fred" as Holly refers to him as) apartment building, just a floor down from his apartment. After Holly climbs threw his fire escape to avoid a man who is biting her, they become instant friends seemingly over night. Holly is not a perfect person, but because her flaws are bared for all to see, she is a much more identifiable and loveable character.

Her wild like qualities make her irresistible to every man she comes in contact with, which doesn't omit "Fred", either. Over the course of the story, he falls madly in love with the fiercely independent Holly. Definitely a quintessential case of misguided love.

In addition to Breakfast at Tiffany's, there are three short stories that go along with the motif of human nature. House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar, and A Christmas Memory play off of each other, as well as Breakfast At Tiffany's. Each short story relates to how people communicate their emotions with one another.

A Review of the Characters in Breakfast at Tiffany's

The novel suggests that the different characters were all searching for something that they did not possess at the beginning of the story. They were unsure of exactly what they wanted, but they knew that what they were looking for was out in the world somewhere just waiting to be discovered. It is a difficult to discuss the different elements that Capote used in his novel due to the fact that each element was suggested more than once in the different stories given in the novel, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Some examples of the questions are presented and then answered in two of the stories in the novel are listed proceeding. "The Houngan gave her this message: You must catch a wild bee, he said, and hold it in your closed hand... if the bee does not sting, then you will know you have found love." The ending brings the sting of the bee back into play with the sentence, "...tie me in the yard just like I was when you came. That way no bee is ever going to sting me." This is from the second short story presented in Capote's novel. The first story also has a good example of this concept of a search and a discovery. "But there were moments when she played songs that made you wonder where she learned them, where indeed she came from." The answer to that question is given at the end of the short story and is given as follows, " ...I had found him... he was seated in the window of a warm-looking room...certain that he'd arrived somewhere he belonged. African hut or whatever, I hope holly has, too."

First I recommend that you read the story before watching the movie. I did and I'm glad.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a great story, plus you get another 3 in this edition - I enjoyed them all, especially "A Christmas Memory". "House of Flowers" and "A Diamond Guitar" are nicely written too. I easily read all four stories in one day.

I recommend this collection...along with In Cold Blood, also by Capote.

Truman Capote's career began and ended before I even learned to read. Somewhat of a new discovery for me even though I grew up with my own dvd of Breakfast At Tiffany's. His writting style is beautiful, lyrical and engagding. Breakfast At Tiffany's reads as good as the movie (or vice versa) thankfully! The additional stories are amazing in how different the characters and storyline is - and only underscores his talent as a fiction writer. Brilliant.

When Truman Capote is at his best -- and he is definitely at his best in Breakfast at Tiffany's -- he is the equal of any American author of the 20th century. Capote paints with words the picture of an enduring time, place and person: mid-century, New York, the small town girl who seeks fame and fortune in the big city. This is a master artist at his finest.
For those who have seen it, the movie is a marvel, but it is constrained by the strictures of its time to be less than candid and less than faithful to the book. The book, while not as explicit or detailed as would be one written today, benefits from those restraints. We learn enough to appreciate Holly Golightly and the strange, wonderful and dangerous world in which she lived. We may know more -- about the author, to be sure -- but it isn't necessary to the book or the story. Its omission is actually helpful.
Breakfast at Tiffany's is like a radio drama of its era. Capote's skillful use of words allows our imagination to fill in the details. Read it and appreciate one of the greats.

The short story, "Breakfast At Tiffany's" by Truman Capote, is certainlty a compelling publication. It is enthralling, and gives one a true aspect of life in everyday society. Capote's novel teaches one about life, and the myths it holds. He sets the stage up for Holly Golightly to "fail" over and over again, which is what life really is about - bouncing back to realitization.
Throughout the novel, the main charecter Holly Golighty goes on a whirlwind of adventures. She is always conforming to society, going in and out of crowds as she pleases, until she finds a part of her hidden self. Capote creates real human feelings and emotions in this book that many people are able to relate with, which makes it so compelling. This novel certainly is one to treasure, along with the other writings that go with it. The book displays the realities of life, and the harshness that exists in the world.
Nothing is perfect, no matter how hard one tries. This is what Truman Capote is trying to point out to the reader. The novel's honest truth is why it is so loved, and the connection that many people have in common with Holly is very apprieciative too. Without this writing, the world would be missing something that can touch the lives of so many. *

Easy to finish short novel is less romantic

than the movie version, but still a quick and memorable read... You will picture Audrey Hepburn a lot when you see Holly in print, except maybe when she rifles off a few swear words. Almost the same as the film with a few rougher edges removed in movie form, like Hollywood usually does. Compare both examples. Decide which one you like more. Capote's style is elegant and a bit flamboyant in spots. Sort of like he was in interviews...

The reason I chose this book is because the word "Tiffany". We all know "Tiffany & Co.", the most famous jewelry store in America. I though this book was talking about female's favor, diamond, but there is nothing about diamond after I finished reading the first short story. Basically, the novel is dividing into three short stories. This book was very easy to understand, was described within the modern words and the issue that we face in today's life. The main character, Holly Golightly, is a brilliantly and charming woman. She makes you feel like she lives in the same house as you do. Everyone came in contact with her falls in love with her. As I kept reading the book, I loved the way it described Holly's appearance, feelings, lifestyles, and actions. Trying to find yourself from your life is the theory or model in Breakfast at Tiffany's. I feel it was a great theory because it dealt with something everyone will face sooner or later. Not everything went perfectly. I found it somewhat boring to just read the conversations between the characters, in which some had no point. Generally, the book is fun because when I read it, I could compare later and now and realized the change in our society.

I was surprised at how different the book is from the movie. As usual, the book is much better. I love Holly so much. The author paints her in a way that makes you struggle between admiring her, and feeling sorry for her.

Fans of the movie will probably be surprised by the book. the movie tried to preserve a more innocent female lead. The book shows a working girl again like the movie she is upper class, not the type found on aa corner. In the movie, there is the traditional happy ending. in the book the ending doesn't match. i won't tell you the ending, but you will enjoy the book. Capote is terrific. i hope my improved review is more useful.

I am a high school student and am actually working on a school project. I was a assigned a decade in history and was required to pick a novel to read and review. I have to admit that in the beginning I was not looking forward to the assignment. I am not an avid reader and actually don't read unless it is required. I am not sure why, I have just not been captivated by very many books(partly because I haven't read very many).

Keeping all of this is in mind, I began reading Breakfast at Tiffany's. And I have to admit that the one of the reasons I chose the book was because I have both heard the song and seen the movie. So upon starting reading, I realized that I am possibly the slowest reader alive. It took me forever to read this book of no longer than 200 pages.

The story starts out very confusing, but eventually clears up. There is this girl, Holly Gothily, who is very strange. She seems to be a sort of sleazy character, who picks up a lot of men and tends to sleep around. She lives in an apartment near another man. This man, not one of her "clients", is charmed by her simplicity and uniqueness. He begans to investigate her life until one night she drops in.

They talk and she sort of tells him about herself. Little does he know that she has a past that would shock this quiet author. She was married at fourteen and had four children. She abandoned them and left for New York City. This is where she began her present scandals. When these scandals become too much for her she goes to Tiffany's and has drinks with Joe Bell. This sort of calms her. It is a place where she can go and forget all of her troubles. We all need a place like this. A serene, quiet place where we can do what Holly does, forget all of our present troubles, even just for a while.

At the climax of the novel, Holly's newfound lover, Jose, leaves her and says that she is too much for him. She then leaves to go to Brazil, a place where her and this lover were supposed to get married. She leaves in search of a new Tiffany's, one that she will never find. What makes me so mad is that all she needed to do was realize that her Tiffany's was with the man who she spent so much time with. The man that she never could see herself being involved with, her friend. This is important in that she thought she did not have friends. She did though and she just never realized it, her Tiffany's.

I believe that this book is a result of the times. The book was written in 1958 and focuses mainly on the end of the 50's and the beginning of the 60's with WWII. Holly seems to me to be what everyone wishes they could have been. It seems as though people like Holly were not evident and if they were they were looked down on, as Holly was. I feel though, even though people may have ridiculed her, deep down she was what they wanted to be.

I got his book for my daughter's summer reading list, but decided to read it myself since I had only seen the movie before. I was amazed that the story is only one of several in a complitation book. The book arrived very quickly and in good condition...thank you.

I first read this book in college, when a roommate recommended it to me. I instantly fell in love with and wanted to BE Holly Golightly. She is such an intense, strong, beautiful (inside and out) character who lived life on her own terms, no matter what was thrown her way. Every man who came into contact with her fell in love, not because she was beautiful but because she was a free creature that they wanted to tame, even though they knew she should not and could not be. The events of Holly's life are mostly her own making. And when they aren't, she makes the best of a bad situation. She is an inspiration to all who read her story. Mr. Capote has created a character for the ages; one who can and should inspire one to live life on their own terms, no matter what.

I am quite glad I read the book to see where the spirit of Miss Holly Golightly originated. While it is a whole different time period (1940s versus 1960s), the foundation remains. Plus, I always enjoy Truman Capote's writing. Fun book.

It's true, Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard are fabulous in the film. But the novel is a masterpiece. Capote writes an exquisite tale about the most endearing characters that I have ever met. Indeed, the novel reveals such a deep complexity in Holly's character, that I stop seeing Hepburn in the title role while reading the book. Instead, a new Holly emerged that is much more than the beautiful party girl that we know and love from the film. Her outward appearance of independence and vivaciousness conceals a deeply confused person with a troubled past that she is determined to defeat.
I must admit, I do prefer the Hollywood "happily ever after" ending. Still, the novel left me hoping that Holly would someday find that place that feels like home. A wonderful read that I highly recommend.

I think everyone will find something in this Capote masterpiece that they can reflect on their own lives. She is a brilliantly described character that you feel like she lives downstairs from you. Everyone that comes in contact with her, indeed falls in love. Capote and Joe Bell are no different. She realizes this but is so hard to get close too. She is like the cat, set out alone in the world. She didn't even want to be personal with the cat by not naming him, no attachments. I think everyone would like to be carefree like Holly but just can't. Capote loved her but just being around her was like oxygen, he didn't want to push the relationship and not have her around. I could go on and on.......must read!

I read this book for the first time in June of 1998. Having been born and raised in California after 1960 I had no experience with WW II era New York City, its time, people or it's language. Holly Golightly and her friends were foreign to me, but their charm, wit and personalities were so rich I felt like I knew them.
The story is not a happy, silly romp, it shares the pain and heartache as well as the joys of a tiny sliver of humanity, a snap shot of people who could be our brothers or sisters or upstairs neighbors.
The story is amazing in its development over the course of only 87 pages but by the end I really wished to discover where Holly is today and invite her over for drinks. :)

This is a difficult book for me to sum up. It had GREAT characters and the story was interesting too, but was also a bit slow in places and confusing at times. After seeing the movie, I can understand why Mr. Capote disliked it so much, it was NOTHING like the book. Two totally different endings. Overall, a good, quick read but for me NOT a must read.

After watching the movie and really enjoying it, I had to read Breakfast at Tiffany's. The book was a quick but wonderful read. I enjoyed every minute of it and wished it had been a longer.

Holly Golightly is the girl everyone admires, she's spontaneous and all about just having fun. She's goes to Tiffany's because it makes her feel good; it's her safe haven when the world is crazy. Holly's escapades are hilarious, she unknowingly aids drug lord, Sally Tomato by visiting him in prison and getting the "weather report". The movie and Audrey Hepburn did an amazing job portraying Holly Golightly as the reader envisions her, so if you enjoy the movie you will enjoy the book, although the movie had more of a Hollywood ending than Truman Capote's version, Capote's ending remains true to the real Holly Golightly.

When choosing to read Truman Capote's works for a major research project for my English class, I was disappointed to learn that he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany's. I soon, though, after reading the novella was pleasantly suprised to find it quite enjoyable! Years earlier, I had seen the movie and disliked it very much. However, after reading the book, I have a sympathy for the characters, but still struggle to find a point to it all. Overall, though, I found the novella quite fun and imaginative. Kudos to Capote!
P.S. I am currently seeking assistance with my project concerning the works and life of Truman Capote. If you have any information, and have the time, please email at me [email protected] (the 0 is a zero) Thank you!

Taking place in a New York City apartment building Truman Capote the author of Breakfast at Tiffany's places two characters in a very realistic setting. Holy Golightly is the attraction of the narrator who she comes to befriend and nickname "Fred". Holly and the narrator live in the same apartment building and begin to develop a strong relationship. It all starts when one night Holly knocks on the narrator's door to try to escape a man that is trying to bite her, which she has let in her room. After this point in the story the two characters, Holly and Fred begin to develop a relationship that teaches many valuable lessons both good and bad throughout the story.

Holly's conflict throughout the book deals with her relationship between men. Through this conflict the reader gets to experience the theme of the book by taking a look at the building of relationships. Almost every night Holly brings a new man home and almost instantly there seams to be a problem. Fred gets more information about Holly when on day her husband comes to get her back. Fred learns that she was married at the age of 14 and ran away. As the story progresses it is obvious that Holly Golightly likes the company of a male figure in her life, but also likes to be an independent woman, which would explain the relationship between her and Fred. She liked having him there but things always turned sour when she felt that Fred was getting too close.

It is obvious to see why Breakfast at Tiffany's is a classic. This book has been around for years and years and the story of Holly Golightly and Fred and the lessons learned are still relevant issues in society today.

This book surprisingly sets me up as wanting to read more and more of Capote! And wanting to review the movie made from the book after all these years...an Audrey Hepburn classic. Reading the three short stories included with Breakfast at Tiffanys, left me thrilled and wanting to binge on the "master of short stories"! More will be on my "to read" list, that's for sure!

Ok, so after having seen the movie and read all the glowing reviews, I got the book. I'm commenting only on Tiffany's here, I haven't read the other stories yet.

Sorry, it just didn't do that much for me. It was ok. It wasn't nearly as different from the movie as I expected from the reviews, albeit there were some differences. The writing was skillful in that it was pretty enjoyable to read and did keep you wanting to read the next "chapter" to find out what happens next.

But in the end, to me it came across as more of a character study than a story. While there were some events, there really didn't seem to be a coherent overall plot.

And to be honest, I still don't really understand the main character. I don't know what this whole "cafe society" thing is, or how she was able to hang out with all these rich people or even how she made her income. I've read here that she was a former starlet, but what I read was that she was an almost-but-not-quite starlet, who bailed before her first big chance. So what fame could she possibly have in New York? Guys giving her $50 (which would have to be like $500 today) to go to the ladies room? Huh? On what planet?

I've heard it suggested that she was a prostitute, but I didn't get that from the book at all. She says she's only had eleven lovers.

I suspect that I'm just too out of synch with the time period to get what's going on.

I love this book and I love its main character, Holly Golightly. Although I enjoyed the movie, it can't be compared to the book. The characters are so realistic you can almost touch them and the story is so simple and yet so rich, I can't imagine anyone not liking it.

I can't tell you that this is a good book, but I can tell you that has a strong message: you can do whatever you want to do without hurting anybody and you will have an easier life, but if you hurt yourself while living this way, you will lost everything you have, because you will not like anything that you have until you lose it.
The story of Holly is like many real stories that I know, so the only person who really know if she were happy or not is Holly.
The book is easy to read but not as good as I thought.

I can't believe I waited so long to read this brilliantly written tale! Truman Capote paints a picture with his stories using every colour, shape, texture and tone imaginable! Loved this story, and although I thought the movie was good, it doesn't come close to the book itself. What a great gift we have been given....as no movie can ever compare to the mind's eye! We watch Holly Golightly as she comes to life before our very eyes. Incidentally, she is quite different and far more multidimentional than in the movie! A well-told tale.

Highly Recommended!! A great summer read.

For those of you who has seen the movie but have not read the book, don't assume that they are both identical. Audrey Hepburn had done a marvelous job in portraying Holly Golightly. But the deep complexity of her characters are explained more in detail in the novel.
Truman Capote had done a splendid job creating Holly Golightly, who is the charming, witty, and the protagonist of the novel. Throughtout the novel, she stuggles to find her place, her Tiffany's, the place where she could belong.
The novel may seem a bit complex to understand, but once you grasp what Capote is portraying, it is a delight to read the novel.

I picked up Breakfast at Tiffany's not expecting to enjoy, but not get very into it. After the first page, though, I couldn't put it down. Holly, the main character, is the type of person that you really want to be friends with, yet at the same time you just want to jump inside the book and yell at her. You can't help but fall in love with her even if you don't like her! I absolutely LOVED this book. If you've seen the movie, do no think because you liked or didn't like the movie you'll feel the same way about the book because they are completely different stories. Breakfast at Tiffany's is awesome! I think it might be my favorite book!

This is a great book and defiantly well written. I saw the movie and loved it, so I decided to try the book to see how it compared. As it turns out the book was not as good compared to to the movie, the ending was disappointing and lacked the impact that the movie had.I am not saying that the book wasn't good, but it defiantly wasn't as expected. So if you absolutly loved the movie as I did, you may not be too impressed with the written version.

Holly Golightly is nineteen and twenty in this novel. She says things she doesn't mean, sleeps with men who don't love her, and breaks the hearts of those who do. She "goes to Tiffany's" whenever she feels herself getting depressed, which can be seen as a metaphor for the way she lives her life-- she surrounds herself with what she can't have to convince herself that she is worth the unattainable. I won't give away the two major twists in the novel, because i want you to read it, cheer for her, and cry with her, without knowing what will happen. If you enjoyed or identified at all with Catcher in the Rye, you will love Breakfast at Tiffany's.

I didn't know how many times you could have your heart broken just by reading one book, but Truman Capote makes it happen on almost every page. Every sentence means something distinct. No word is wasted. The book is Capote's masterpiece, which is saying alot considdering how accomplished Capote is as an author. The character of Holly Golightly is one that even Audrey Hepburn with her loveable, un-matchable quirky grace could not exactly capture.

The central theme that brings together the stories in the book Breakfast at Tiffany's is personal loss. In the story "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Holly and her husband separate, which is the first personal loss in the book. In "A Diamond Guitar," an old man loses a younger man that he loves. This theme is present in all the stories.

The way these stories are all based on a common theme makes in easier for the reader to connect the stories more like a novel rather than a collection of short stories. This theme also serves as an organizational structure for the book. Although all the stories are unique, they all focus on the same issue.

The aspect of this book that sets it apart is its excellent organization. The way the stories are put together and all relate to each other shows how it is organized very well. The order that the stories are in also portrays the good organization because as the book progresses, the stories develop each other to form a main concept that is complete at the end.

In conclusion, Capote's well written book Breakfast at Tiffany's has an exemplary connected theme throughout all the stories it contains. The book connects to everyone who picks it up by relating to personal loss in several circumstances. Without a doubt, Breakfast at Tiffany's is Truman Capote at his finest.

Holiday Golightly was a true teleiophile. For example, in Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's Holiday Golightly married a much older man at the age of thirteen, she lived with a college jock at the age of fifteen, and at the age of eighteen stated,"I can't get excited by a man until he's at least forty-two." Now that's a teleiophile (i.e. a young women are immensely attracted to older men.)

The Allure of Nymphets

I confess I bought this book because Cosmopolitan recommended it, but I was drawn in quickly by the sophisticated, elegant writing style. I'd never read Capote before and it took a little while to get used to the subtleties and the absence of action, which is a great strength of Breakfast at Tiffany's. The following short stories are also very well done and I picked up the book every chance I got.

Quite possibly the most perfect one hundred pages ever written. Why this book hasn't undergone a mass rediscovery by today's gay-friendly, cocktail swilling swinger set is beyond me. It is simply amazing, full of Capote's singular wit, guile and fluid rendering. A compressed epic, this book accomplishes more in terms of character and style than any book three times its length.

I bought the book yesterday morning, not knowing much about it; I haven't even had the chance to see the film yet! Anyway, I finished it last night. It is the most hooked I have ever been on a book. If you, like me, are a keen reader of JD Salinger, then this is a good read. I have't read the other stories as of yet but intend to later today.

As a woman, I almost feel I have to love this book. And I want to, I really do, but I would be lying to myself if I said so. While I thought it was an entertaining book, the characters and such, there was nothing else there for me. Capote clearly knows what he's doing when he writes, but the story itself just didn't capture me as much as I would like. Perhaps the hype was too much over the years. Or perhaps there have been many women based on her that she no longer seemed all that unusual to me anymore. I'm not sure. But I am sure of, is that it wasn't amazing. Good. Not great.

This is a must read! The character of Holly Golightly is timeless. I even wrote a song and made a music video about her : [...]

Shes that inspiring! The book is also a breeze to read. I read it in France over 2 short day's reads; then felt depressed because it had ended so soon. Enjoy;-)

I have read many of Truman Capotes short works and this collection is my absolute favorite. I saw the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" as a child and fell in live with Audrey Hepburn. Later I read the book and realized that it was even better than than the movie(forgive me Ms. Hepburn). These characters will be etched in my mind forever.

As soon as this book begins, you fall in love with it. Holly Golightly, the main female character,is described so well, and it made me wish that I knew her! Capote writes an entertaining and riviting story, highly worthwhile book.

I got this book because I love the movie, and now I can say I greatly appreciate the book also. It is always nice when a movie follows a book well and not make their own story and just use the title. But this is definitely a book i read again and again. The other stories in the collection were good also.

Capote writes very well but with storylines are poor. Besides reading "Breakfast At Tiffany's" I really didn't care about any of the other stories. Capote may be famous for this short stories but I find no joy in them. Finishing this book was like pulling teeth....

I read the reviews on this story, the 5 stars and the 1 one, but I thought I would give it a try. Wish I hadn't.

What does nonsensical mean? "Having no meaning or direction or purpose." Exactly what this story represents. There is no depth to Holly Golightly's character. She talks in trivial roundabouts, is selfish and did nothing but try my patience. The narrator is flat, a wimp, and has no backbone. The story consists of mostly dialog, giving the reader no sense of being there. When I read it, I was thinking "blah, blah, blah" the whole time.

As a librarian, I really do give every book I read a try, but I felt this story was nothing but complete DRIVEL!

Ok, so I know I'm probably alone on this one, but it's one of the few books I have read that I would not recommend. I have never seen the movie, so maybe I missed some link. I found it was lacking any form of structure and I think some of the language was dated (of course seeing when it was writen) and maybe some "American" terms that because I am not familar with I missed the point. However, I did get two quotes out of it and it was a short read so not a huge time investment to loose.