Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Breakfast at Tiffany's A short novel and three stories by Truman Capote by Truman Capote

10 reviews

kimveach's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

After watching the second season of Feud, I felt I needed to read something by Capote besides "In Cold Blood."  I enjoyed "Breakfast" and the other short stories.  Most of his fiction was a thinly veiled autobiography.  His way of looking at people and his ability to turn them into interesting characters were intriguing.  Now, I need to rewatch the movie to see how it relates to the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Medical content, Medical trauma, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Pregnancy

abijoupansy's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Minor: Biphobia, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Grief, and Lesbophobia

ladybergart's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Sexual violence

sfx_naike's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Racism, Stalking, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Alcohol

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Stalking, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and War

laineydunne's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, and War

Of its time, outdated, wouldn't read again, homophobic and racial slurs aplenty. Extra stories were very strange. I liked the idea that a stranger can become any type of person that you need them to become

burnyayhayley's review against another edition

challenging funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

I don't really know what I expected, though I was unfortunately not surprised by the problematic, outdated language.
This story is so odd, but I have to admit that the character of Holly is fascinating— in the way that compulsive liars who are friends with everyone are often fascinating.
I found the reveals to be quite effective, I was taken aback several times, which I should credit to the pace and tone of the book being so light and airy that when something surprising happens it falls like a ton of bricks. There is clearly skill in the writing, but for the first third of the book at least, I really was questioning why this was a beloved classic.
And why is it that SO MANY AUTHORS write from the perspective of a useless male narrator who doesn't even get a story that has any closure? What is the attraction to that perspective?
Anyway, it was okay, and I do like it when classics are weirder than I expect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Sexism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Abandonment, and War

sherbertwells's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

“The brownstone is midway in the block, next to a church where a blue tower-clock tolls the hours. It had been sleeked up since my day; a smart black door has replaced the old frosted glass, and gray elegant shutters frame the windows. No one I remember still lives there except Madame Sapphia Spanella, a husky coloratura who every afternoon went roller-skating in Central Park. I know she’s still there because I went up the steps and looked at the mailboxes. It was one of those mailboxes that had first made me aware of Holly Golightly” (4)

This book makes me appreciate The Great Gatsby because it is so much worse.

Both Fitzgerald’s classic novel and Truman Capote’s novela Breakfast at Tiffany’s are set in New York, and several similar characters appear in both—the judgemental queer narrator, the enchanting and misunderstood parvenu, the rich bigots, the “inferior” women, etc. Both are slim volumes about charming, awful people.

The difference is in how those people are framed. While Fitzgerald’s Nick Carraway balances utter disdain with infatuation, Capote’s nameless narrator feels nothing but resentment. I get it, Mr. Capote. Rich men are dumb. Being a writer is hard. But calling your friend’s current beau a “preserved infant” and gossiping about his “plump and spankable bottom” isn’t going to make you feel better (15). 

To be fair, all the men in this book are trash. I asked my teacher about why this is, and she suggested that the narrator was an avatar for the author, and he initially takes his resentment out on every other man around him. The real story, then, is about Capote coming to terms with himself. If that’s the case: cool. Good luck with that. Your character is too forgettable to be despicable.

I don’t hate Holly Golightly, who has an actual character. She’s a very messy person: flighty, occasionally racist (as all the characters in this story are), but resilient and animated by a traumatic childhood. Her iconic portrayal by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film is probably better than the character on the page.

“Was my outrage just a result of being in love with Holly myself? A Little. For I was in love with her. Just as I’d once been in love with my mother’s elderly colored cook and a postman who let me follow him on his rounds and a whole family named  McKendrick. That category of love generates jealousy too” (34)

I don’t feel pure hatred toward this story, just disappointment and disdain. I expected a wonderful friendship and got 50 pages of rotten crowds and masculine angst. It took me four days to read because the tone was so vitriolic. If you don’t mind writer characters and biting quips, you might like Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I just got nothing out of it. 

Well, not quite nothing. There’s a cat in the story, and he’s worth the whole damn bunch put together.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Pedophilia, Racism, and Blood

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, and Death of parent

camille_fatalfloor's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Revisiting this one, it's been a long time since I read it and I'm glad to find it much better, and grittier than its film adaptation, which I find vastly overrated. My notes on that one read "absurdly charming in a flimsy way", which I still find to be a good descriptor of Holly as a whole.

That film was definitely propped up by the strength of Audrey Hepburn being her usual lovely self, though I'll give it bonus points for Moon River. I always think that people who idolise that photo of Hepburn have clearly never seen the film or watched it with an ounce of reading comprehension. Perhaps I can cut them some slack, for the usual need for Hollywood glamour meant that a lot of Holly's worser traits were skimmed over.

Make no mistake, Holly's a terrible person who wouldn't be so endearing to the people around her if not for her charm. The novella brings this out much more clearly, and Capote's prose is incisively effective in painting a pitiable portrait of a lost and naïve girl. I was equally struck by how concisely and competently Capote fleshes out the personalities and urban landscape surrounding her.

I do think Holly's monologues are the star of the story, rendering her compelling to the reader despite our awareness of her flaws. Part of the fun about reading about Holly Golightly is to be enchanted yourself, because she is one of those people who draw you into their orbit.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism

Homophobia: period typical use of 'dyke' Adult/minor relationship: Holly was

married to a man at 14

sillyduckie's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

I gave this a 4 when I read it in 2013 but I must’ve been high, or else I read a very different edition. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Grief, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Pregnancy, and War