Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Breakfast at Tiffany's

I don't really know what I expected, though I was unfortunately not surprised by the problematic, outdated language.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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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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camille_fatalfloor's review against another edition

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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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sillyduckie's review against another edition

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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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