Breakfast At Tiffany's

Hello to all my fellow literary travelers, whomever you might be. I have just finished another remarkable adventure, one that I highly recommend embarking upon. As a literary person, I generally have issues with books turned into movies, especially when there are huge differences between the two. However, I did not find this to be an issue with Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. Perhaps it was because I saw the movie first. I have found quite often that I can enjoy a movie based on a book more if I see the movie first. However, that does lead to spoilers in the book. But whatever the reason was, I loved both the book and the movie and highly recommend it as reading material for anyone. 

Breakfast at Tiffany’s tells the story of an anonymous narrator, whom is affectionately called Fred, who moves into an apartment building and meets the delightfully eclectic Holly Golightly. Miss Golightly is a unique young lady who leads the life of a free spirit and thinks Tiffany’s in the most perfect place on earth. A society girl, Miss Golightly lives her life by sponging off of rich men and hoping to find the right one to marry someday. She also makes money delivering “weather reports” each week for a gangster in prison named Sally Tomato. However, her involvement in this ends up with her being indicted for aiding in a drug ring. This scandal ruins her chances at marrying one of the rich men she was socializing with and moving to Brazil with him. Although still under investigation, she decides to move anyway. Throughout the course of the story, this narrator, who is pursuing a career as a writer, tries to discover what exactly makes this beautiful woman tick. However, he is eventually left wondering if Holly ever found happiness in Brazil, a mystery that is never resolved for the reader as well.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s perfectly showcases the unique and creative writing style of Truman Capote. Capote perfectly captures the first person point of view while not excluding the thoughts and inner monologue of other characters. Reading Capote’s work is a completely new experience for readers and tells stories in a way no other writer does. Reading this book definitely has me excited to read more of his work.

For those of you familiar with the movie, expect an entirely different experience but still a wonderful story. The movie is honestly loosely based on the book, as often happens, but I still love both and recommend both. 

When I first started this blog, I did not expect to find this many literary gems but I have been pleasantly surprised by most of the books thus far. I am excited to continue in these wanderings. I also would absolutely love to hear from you and what books you have loved on this list so far. So, send me a comment or an email. I would love to hear from any of my readers out there. And look for my next entry coming next week where I tell you about my next literary journey into Contact by Carl Sagan.