Title: Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Author: Truman Capote
Publication
Date: September 1st 2008
(first published 1958)
Publisher: Penguin Books
Format: Paperback
Pages: 157
Rating: 5/5
Blurb: In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.
This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, “House of Flowers,” “A Diamond Guitar,” and “A Christmas Memory,” which the Saturday Review called “one of the most moving stories in our language.” It is a tale of two innocents—a small boy and the old woman who is his best friend—whose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.
Blurb: In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.
This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, “House of Flowers,” “A Diamond Guitar,” and “A Christmas Memory,” which the Saturday Review called “one of the most moving stories in our language.” It is a tale of two innocents—a small boy and the old woman who is his best friend—whose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.
Review:
This
review is going to be split into two parts, one part for Breakfast at Tiffanys
and one part for the three included short stories.
I was about eleven years old when my obsession with all things Audrey
Hepburn started, and of course, the film of Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a
massive part of that. Since then, I might have watched the film five or so times
though not within the last couple of years, so when I found out that Penguin
were making hot pink editions of certain books and I learnt that this was one
of them, I knew I had to buy the book. Knowing the story beforehand meant that
I could visualise everything that was happening, though I found that Capote’s
writing was so clear that I would have been able to imagine everything without
the film. Holly Golightly will remain to be one of the most amazing, and a
little bit odd, characters that I have ever encountered. After reading this
book, I’ve been absolutely dying to re-watch the film (though I have yet to
find the time) and experience the lovely Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly all
over again.
I didn’t originally notice that this version also included three extra
short stories, though I’m glad that it does now. Both House of Flowers and A
Diamond Guitar were lovely, the writing was so delicate and beautiful, though I’m
not usually a fan of short stories, I found myself really enjoying these two.
All of this, however, does not even begin to explain A Christmas Memory.
Looking back on it now, I don’t quite know what made this particular story more
enjoyable for me than the other two, but for some reason I felt like I
connected to it better. I also felt that it was incredibly powerful, though it
was so short (and sweet!).
