Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Breakfast at Tiffany's

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

6 reviews

vivisms_82's review against another edition

medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

If you have seen the 1961 film, just be prepared this novella of which it is based is vastly different. Holly Golightly is a very modern woman for its 1958 publication. As much as I adore Audrey Hepburn and I think she did great with the script she was given, I like this Holly so much more. Set in the 1940s, on the upper east side of Manhattan, an unknown narrator recounts meeting slender, Tawny haired, Holly and their time together. We meet Holly in 1943; she is nearly 19 years old. A tale of escape; the endless pursuit of searching for one's place in the world whilst trying to be true to who they are.

Michael C. Hall narrates and he is marvellous.

Spoilers ahead!!

I love Holly - she is hedonistic but not obnoxiously so. She has interesting views for the time; no doubt a reflection of the numerous ladies in Capote's circle :) She is of the opinion people should be able to marry whomever they wish, thinks most people are bi-sexual, she has had 11 sexual partners (it is implied this is somewhat in exchange for money, jewellery and her cafe-society lifestyle but also because she dam well wants too!). She regularly visits a man in prison - he gives her $100 each visit in exchange for her company and her passing on information to his mafia "family" on the outside. She gets pregnant by Jose but miscarries during her deep despair and grief over the death of her beloved brother Fred. She lives life to the beat of her own drum and will not be tied down to anyone or anything. I love her voice, the free-spirit, open-mindedness she has. The sad truth is that this is mostly influenced by circumstance beyond her control - her and her brother were orphaned in Texas and went on to live with a man called Doc and his children. He then marries her before she is even 14 yrs old! No wonder she ran away and sought out a world of carefree fun and glitz with little regard for sensibility and responsibility. She likes her freedom and regular mentions her dislike for animals being caged. Tiffany's is the only place she feels calms her anxiety and restlessness. The last we hear from her is in 1956 where she was in Africa and a statue was made in her likeness.

Brilliant!

Content Warnings

hazeld's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

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lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

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

1.0

Technically the book is well written and Michael C Hall's narration is perfect for the nameless narrator. I just hated the story the whole way through.

Holly Golightly is something like a proto-Manic-Pixie-Dream-Girl. She's flighty and traumatized and profoundly unwell and all the men in her life are obsessed with her and using her for various purposes all their own. I have a lot of pity and empathy for her and a lot of frustration and what is probably disdain for most of the men in her life.

I definitely understand that a major issue I have with this is that I am a woman in the year 2024 with a history of trauma of my own and a background in mental healthcare education and I am unable to fully remove my context from this story from 1958.

Content Warnings

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

lavitadivio's review against another edition

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inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

sherbertwells's review against another edition

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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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