mulders's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved her enough to forget myself, my self-pitying despairs, and be content that something she thought happy was going to happen.
How I adore Truman Capote. My love affair with Breakfast at Tiffany's began on a transatlantic flight, Frankfurt to California, when I was about 14. I watched the film, transfixed by the colours and music and romance of it, despite never having been much of a rom-com fan. I was enamoured with Audrey in her role, I loved the cat, and I loved the simple beauty of lines such as "I’ll tell you one thing, Fred, darling… I’d marry you for your money in a minute. Would you marry me for my money?" / "In a minute." / "I guess it’s pretty lucky neither of us is rich, huh?" Which is why it may be surprising that I am grateful such an exchange was never uttered in the book, and why you can trust me when I say it is so infinitely better than the film adaptation.
The love story in the novel is a different, in my eyes deeper, truer kind of love; the unconditional kind that comes from a true friend, the kind whose only expectation is that same kind of care and tenderness in return. As wonderful as Audrey is, the Holly of the book is something else entirely. She is almost more alive on the page than she is on the screen. She's vibrant and funny and tragic and brave. Where Audrey's Holly is poised, book-Holly has an unruly childishness to her, a quality that at once shows fragility and strength. She is, in many ways, just a kid, and your heart goes out to and breaks for her. In that way we as the readers are much like the narrator; unlike in the film, where Paul sets out to tame a wild party girl with romantic love and belonging to one another, the book's narrator simply sees Holly for what she is, and loves her fiercely for it, and does not want anything with keeping or taming or belonging; simply to love, protect, and be loved back. That same kind of protectiveness comes over the reader when faced with Holly's character, with the depth of her beauty and her grief. She is not the stunning socialite from the screen, she's just a girl trying her hardest to survive. As is said within the book itself, “You've got to be sensitive to appreciate her: a streak of the poet”. The ending of the novel differs from the film as well; there is no picture-perfect, happily ever after. Instead it is real and bittersweet and hopeful and pinches your heart in a way that I think stays with you much, much longer.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Death, Antisemitism, Miscarriage, and Racial slurs
gcoulsxn's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Miscarriage
nanc_282's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-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
3.0
I picked up this book because I’ve never read anything by Truman Capote. It’s an okay short story about a woman who lives in the same apartment block as the (male) narrator and she dazzles him. It has a lighthearted style which is supposed to reflect the girls cookie nature. However, it does touch in a number of challenging themes, prostitution, child-marriage, sexual exploration, organised crime, for example. But these are only referred to obliquely. The narrator is too enchanted by Holly herself to really engage with the sadness within her story.
Contains racial and sexual language contemporary with 1950s America.
Contains racial and sexual language contemporary with 1950s America.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs, Sexism, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, and Death
fairyabby's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Racism
Minor: Miscarriage and Adult/minor relationship
kendramichele's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Holly Golightly ... all at once glamorous, selfish, crass, far from aspirational yet hypnotic. She strives for ambiguity. She shape-shifts as needed. She's unfulfilled and unloved; Holly's truest nature is survival.
Capote's New York of the 1940s is much like Holly herself: charming and desolate, magnetic and desperate. He offers a forlorn character study that transfixes the reader.
This novella has all the ingredients for an uninterrupted afternoon of reading: a short length, a brisk pace, and prose that strikes the balance between lyrical and sparse.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia
Minor: Miscarriage
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Stalking
Minor: Death, War, Violence, Racism, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Mental illness, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Animal death, Bullying, Animal cruelty, Pregnancy, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Blood, Cursing, and Xenophobia
leonormsousa's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Police brutality, Racial slurs, Grief, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Miscarriage, and Lesbophobia
ikristinaj's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Racial slurs, and Homophobia
mondayxius's review
reflective
fast-paced
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Miscarriage
nocturnath's review against another edition
fast-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? It's complicated
4.25
(I'm editing my score from 3.75 to a 4.25. After thinking about it a little bit more and learning more about Truman Capote, I actually appreciate Breakfast at Tiffany's more... and have become more iffy regarding the movie)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Lesbophobia and Racial slurs
Moderate: Homophobia and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Drug use and Miscarriage