We read this in our international online book club in March 2025.
I saw the film many, many years ago. I always wanted to read the book, but somehow I never got around to it. Of course, too many books, too little time. Now we have read it in our international online book club.
It really is an excellent book, but unfortunately much too short.
The description of the characters, especially Holly Golightly and the nameless narrator, is excellent. You can feel the relationship between the people, the problems that people had back then. Would the book be written like this today, would the characters still live like this today? Certainly not, but that makes the story even more interesting.
From the back cover:
"It's New York in the 1940s, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour till breakfast at Tiffany's. And nice girls don't, except, of course, Holly Golightly. Pursued by Mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a fragile eyeful of tawny hair and turned-up nose, a heart-breaker, a perplexer, a traveller, a tease. She is irresponsibly 'top banana in the shock department', and one of the shining flowers of American fiction."
Holly Golightly is one memorable character!
ReplyDeleteVery memorable indeed, Lark. For me, she always looks like Audrey Hepburn, though. I wish I had read it before I watched the movie. But I love Audrey Hepburn, so no harm in that.
DeleteDid you ever come across the television show Seinfeld, Marianne? There is a memorable episode in which one of the characters is in a book group and cheats by watching the movie instead of reading the book - and they are very different so he is discovered!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds funny, Constance. I know about Seinfeld but never watched it. I think I would find out anyone who didn't read the book in a book club. LOL They always leave out something in a film and often changed something else so the plot still makes sense.
DeleteWhat good timing, I read two books in the last two weeks involving Capote, who I personally just can not stand. One book was called Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century and the other was And Every Word Is True, which looks at evidence in the Clutter murder and why Capote's/the official account of the murders that's been pushed for decades isn't actually accurate.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Sarah. I always rely on you to put things right because you read so many non-fiction books. I doubt I would want to read anything more by or about him.
DeleteFor me, Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote didn't live up to the hype. Like you, Marianne, I thought it was too short. Plus, I loved the movie version starring, Audrey Hepburn, which I really enjoyed. https://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2014/08/breakfast-at-tiffanys-by-truman-capote.html
ReplyDeleteYou are right, Lisa. The movie is definitely great, but anything with Audrey Hepburn is fantastic.
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