Breakfast at Tiffany’s ⭑⭑⭑⭑

Genre: Literary Fiction

US Publication: 1958

Print: 157 pages

Audio: 2 hours 50 minutes

Confetti Rating: 4 stars

REVIEW:

Holly Golightly… making women feel inadequate since 1958.

At least the iconic Audrey Hepburn film version of her anyway, which technically debuted in 1961. It's probably best to set aside any notion you have of Hepburn’s portrayal though in order to immerse yourself in the original Breakfast at Tiffany’s text by Truman Capote.

The film is set in the ‘60s, the book in the ‘40s. Hepburn’s Holly is a polished brunette, Capote’s is a Marilyn Monroe-like blonde. On the screen Ms. Golightly is a café society girl, on the page she is, essentially, a call girl. (To be accurate, she’s referred to as an "American geisha.”)

She’s also fairly crass, and unfortunately quite racist (as is the language in the book). Still, she’s presented as the quintessential object of the male gaze. Even the seemingly brother-like unnamed narrator can’t help but idolize her as the manic pixie dream girl men perceive (want? need?) her to be.

What makes the book so successful is that it’s a master class in character development. By its conclusion readers have a very vivid portrait of Holly Golightly, which is a remarkable feat given she doesn’t really want anyone to know who she truly is. Capote shrouds her in an opaque cloak of mystery but also gives us magical glasses to see right through it.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

With her tousled blond hair and upturned nose, dark glasses and chic black dresses, Holly Golightly is top notch in style and a sensation wherever she goes. Her brownstone apartment vibrates with martini-soaked parties as she plays hostess to millionaires and gangsters alike. Yet Holly never loses sight of her ultimate goal.