Breakfast at Tiffany’s

I came across with one of   Truman Capote’s novellas: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Of course the title rang a bell because I had heard about a movie with the same title. In particular, I had heard about its main character Audrey Hepburn and I had seen many pictures of her on the web.

I wondered what the book was about and I started reading it. I have to say I got a little disappointed after a first reading. It was likely my fault because my English may not be as good as it should  and I probably missed many important features. The fact is that I got the movie from a friend and I watched it.

Then I completely changed my mind after seeing Andrey Hepburn’s portrayal as  the sociality  girl Holly Golightly on the screen. Isn’t she just gorgeous, even when she is sleeping?

Let’s talk al little bit about the writer who is behind this wonderful story. His name was Truman Capote and he was one of the most renowned north american writers from the 20th century.

Truman Capote (1924-1984) had a difficult childhood. His parents divorced when he was four and he was raised by some relatives. He started to write when he was eleven years old and some of his first stories have been published very recently. Many of his books were adapted to be filmed. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was one of them and, although he did not like it very much because many facts from the book were changed, the truth is that the movie became so popular that brought the book into fashion again.

Another of his famous books that was adapted to be filmed is “In Cold Blood”. This novel was named by Truman as a real non-fiction  one, since he  related the real story behind a multiple murder that took place in a rural village in Kansas. He stayed at this village until the crime was solved  he showed everybody that reality could more interesting than fiction  with this novel. In 2005 a movie about his life was released. Namely the film entails part of his life while researching  the Kansas crime. The title is “Capote” and it obtained several awards. The main actor won an oscar for his performance as Truman Capote.

Truman Capote got to be very rich, he was a renown homosexual  in his time and he achieved many party friends, although only a few real ones. He fell down into a very active social life where he became an alcoholic and a drug addicted. Moreover, many of his previous friends, particularly wealthy women, gave him the cold shoulder  in the last part of his life. The reason was that he  broke their confidence revealing  many of their intimacies in his last articles published.

But let’s go back to Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Capote narrates the story of Holly Golightly, a girl living in New York with no real job but very fond of  parties and very wealthy men. In the novel the story is related by one of her neighbours who fell in love with her and try to help her. But as she used to say, she doesn’t belong to anything or to anybody.

 

The mean red Holly’s days:

From the book:

Holly Golightly: You know those days when ?

Paul Varjak: The mean reds. You mean like the blues?

Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you’re getting fat, and maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

Since Breakfast at Tiffany’s was launched, Andrey Hepburn became a fashion icon that have endured until these days. Holly’s good taste in the plainness of her clothes and her elegance in a minimalistic style did that her appearances have been imitated by many movie stars from that time on. And her eyeliner set up a make-up style which everybody knows in these days.