book review breakfast at tiffany's

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By Charles McGrath

May 16, 2014

It would be hard to think of two writers less alike — stylistically and, for that matter, personally — than Truman Capote and John O’Hara, yet they shared many preoccupations. Both were fascinated by society high and low, by how people climbed or toppled from one rank to the other, and by how sex and money underpinned the entire system. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Capote’s charming 1958 novella about a self-invented cafe society girl and the admiring writer who lives upstairs, is set during World War II. Most of the stories assembled in the recent Penguin anthology of O’Hara’s New York stories were written in either the ’30s or the ’60s, but some are set decades earlier. And yet in the newly released audio recordings of the two books, maybe even more than on the page, the versions of New York that are evoked seem virtually interchangeable: It’s a city of people on the make or else clinging to their former reputations, where everyone drinks too much, and where you can easily wake up in bed next to someone you barely remember meeting.

Listening to Capote and O’Hara back to back, in fact, you have to concentrate to keep the characters in one recording from wandering into your recollections of the other, and from picturing Capote’s Holly Golightly, for example — who once had a future in the movies and now pays the rent by accepting financial favors from men — showing up at “21” on the arm of one of O’Hara’s fast-talking Hollywood producers. And that young couple who make a living from hosting creepy sex parties — it may take a moment to recall that they turn up not at one of Golightly’s parties but in the deeply strange O’Hara story “A Phase of Life.”

O’Hara is now somewhat neglected and underappreciated, and the print version of the New York anthology, edited by Steven Goldleaf, with a foreword by E. L. Doctorow, is part of a welcome Penguin effort to reissue his work in paperback. (I wrote the introduction to the new edition of O’Hara’s first novel, “Appointment in Samarra.”) But even readers familiar with O’Hara may be surprised by how many of these stories involve not his Park Avenue types but people in show business: agents, producers, writers, actors, many of them alcoholic has-beens. This is a world O’Hara knew well from his early days as a press agent, and like much of his best work, the stories have the tang of genuine observation and reporting.

So it’s not inappropriate that the audio version employs, instead of a single voice, a whole cast of people, and not just audiobook veterans, but real actors. Some are household names, like Gretchen Mol, Bobby Cannavale and Jon Hamm (doubly appropriate, since Don Draper is an O’Hara character if ever there was one), while others, like Jan Maxwell, Dallas Roberts and Dylan Baker, have solid Broadway or TV credentials. The drawback to this scheme is that some of the cast (Cannavale is probably the worst offender) are inclined not just to read the stories but to act them out, overdramatizing the dialogue and laying the accents on thick.

Unlike most story writers, who fret obsessively about what order the stories in a collection should follow, O’Hara thought that all of his stories were of equal value and so often presented them in his collections alphabetically by title. Goldleaf has adopted this practice, even though it means that contiguous stories are sometimes decades apart in setting (so that Lyndon Johnson, for instance, is president in one, and a while later Franklin Roosevelt is in the Oval Office) and in style. (The later stories are, in general, longer and more discursive than the earlier ones.) And this confusing arrangement is compounded in the audio version by the way the various narrators turn up unannounced. You have to consult the liner notes to know who’s reading what.

But part of what made O’Hara such a master of the short story was his ear, his way of capturing in print the sound of actual speech, and the best performances here catch his nuance and even add to it. Baker, for example, can do a perfect Brahmin accent, subtly underscoring the tension between the New York and Boston-born characters in O’Hara’s great novella-length story “We’re Friends Again.” In “The Assistant,” Mol delicately suggests the wistfulness and self-deception of an over-the-hill actress. Listening to these stories, perhaps even more than reading them, you’re aware of how brilliantly O’Hara uses dialogue to convey exposition, and of how often his people, like Hemingway’s, leave unsaid what is really on their minds. In the gym or in the car, with your earbuds plugged in, you feel as if you’re eavesdropping on real lives.

In the case of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” though, you may find that there’s less dialogue than you remember. Capote’s novella, some of the best writing he ever did, has in many ways been hijacked by the 1961 movie version, in which Audrey Hepburn, so elegant and winning, is not really the character Capote imagined (he had in mind someone more like Marilyn Monroe), and the George Peppard character is a far cry from the book’s narrator, who is partly a version of Capote himself. The movie turns “Breakfast” into a heterosexual love story, which the book is only in a fablelike way, and ignores the degree to which it’s an authorial coming-of-age story, in which the main voice is the narrator’s own.

It’s tempting to imagine an audio version of “Breakfast” read by Toby Jones, who was so convincing as Capote in the movie “Infamous,” though it would probably get irritating pretty quickly. The audiobook features Michael C. Hall, probably best known for “Dexter” and “Six Feet Under,” and for the most part he delivers a straightforward, understated version of the text — a reading rather than a performance. This approach avoids all kinds of potential embarrassments (like Mickey Rooney’s cringeworthy attempt at a Japanese accent in the movie) but also adds an element of literalism to the story, ignoring that Holly is in large part a confection, and leaches away some of the romance. What you miss is the sense that “Breakfast” is the story of a writer in love with his own beginnings, or his reimagining of them.

O’Hara employs some writerly narrators as well, but they tend to be older and more cynical. They’ve seen so much that nothing surprises them anymore. And the one big difference between O’Hara’s New York and Capote’s is that Capote’s is still a place of hope and possibility. In O’Hara there is sometimes a lingering sense that the city’s best days, like those of the people who inhabit it, are already over, or that even if they’re not, only an out-of-towner would admit it.

THE NEW YORK STORIES

By John O’Hara

Various readers

Penguin Audio

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

By Truman Capote

Read by Michael C. Hall

Audible Studios

A bibliographical note with a review on May 18 about the audiobook “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” read by Michael C. Hall , misidentified the publisher. It is Audible Studios, not Brilliance Audio.

When we learn of a mistake, we acknowledge it with a correction. If you spot an error, please let us know at [email protected] . Learn more

Charles McGrath, a former editor of the Book Review, is a contributing writer for The Times.

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Book Review: Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote

It’s New York in the 1940s, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour till breakfast at Tiffany’s… And nice girls don’t, except, of course, Holly Golightly. Pursued by Mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a fragile eyeful of tawny hair and turned-up nose, a heart-breaker, a perplexer, a traveler, a tease, and very shocking.

Since the 1961 movie starring the iconic Audrey Hepburn is one of my favorites, I was happy to finally sit down and read this book. And what a delight it was! While the tone may be a bit more somber in places and the ending was a bit of a shock, I enjoyed it just as much as the movie. With characters as vibrant as the era’s pop art style and writing full of humor and flair, I wish this had been a bit longer than a novella. If you haven’t read this one, I highly recommend it, especially if you are a fan of the movie!

“I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I’m not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s.”

This extraordinary book features fashionable artwork by Karen Klassen and is made by Folio Society.

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Not-So-Modern Girl

Thoughts of a twenty-something freelancer navigating her way one blog post at a time, review: ‘breakfast at tiffany’s’ by truman capote.

by Not-So-Modern Girl
Posted on July 15, 2018 April 24, 2024

Yesterday I started – and finished – ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ by Truman Capote. This is an incredibly short novel, but I really enjoyed it. I liked the fact that I could read it in an afternoon!

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ overview

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ is based on the exploits of Holiday Golightly, a young socialite living in an apartment in New York. I never realised just how young she is meant to be, with the book starting a couple of months before her nineteenth birthday.

Her job is never precisely labelled, but she surrounds herself with rich men, and she uses her charms and good looks in order to build up the money she needs to live – and afford expensive shopping trips.

I think she is meant to be more of an escort than a prostitute, although this is never specifically stated. She is portrayed as a woman of mystery, with everyone around her loving and admiring her.

The book is told from the point of view of a young man, who lives in the apartment above Holly, and he recounts the brief time in which she lived below him. With her bright blonde hair and crazy antics, he is instantly drawn to her – and he is fascinated by the parties and glamour.

He soon becomes swept up in her world, going on trips to the local bar, and acting as a confidante for her, as she reveals her various clients, including Sally Tomato, the notorious criminal who she visits every week in prison in order to give him some company.

Whether she realises that he is secretly using her to give messages to others outside the prison is debatable, but it makes for an interesting plotline.

The narrator also gradually finds out about Holly’s life before she came to New York and the various things she’s running away from.

‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ novel review

I really liked this book! It was light-hearted and funny but it also had some deeper and darker undertones that made it a great read.

Holiday Golightly is a fantastic main character. She’s spirited and funny, and her world is so interesting. However, when it becomes clear that she just wants to feel at home somewhere, and this is why she cannot settle, I can see a sad side to her character.

On the one hand, she is a flighty but strong woman, supporting herself and creating no ties for herself. But on the other hand, she is not truly happy. It seems to me that her frivolous lifestyle hides a deeper sadness.

She may have been successful in escaping her old life, but she is also very troubled.

This book really reminded me of ‘ The Great Gatsby ‘ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as the main character is similarly haunted by their past. The narrator of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ also reminded me of Nick Carraway, and the awe of the narrator as he watches from afar.

The setting of this book is brilliant. The book is set in 1940s New York, and I thought this really added to the atmosphere and feel of the book. The fashion and glamour of Holiday Golightly really make the book – and the film version is famous for Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of the main character.

Truman Capote himself was actually against this casting, as the character in the book is meant to have blonde hair, whereas Audrey is a brunette. Despite this, I cannot imagine Holiday Golightly any other way – and Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of the character is really something special.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I thought the whole feel of the book was brilliant. You cannot help but fall in love with Holiday Golightly, and her world is just so odd and wild that it sweeps you in, just as the narrator gets swept in.

The deeper tones of the book were also interesting to read, and the way in which Capote considers the life Holly escaped, and whether her life is better now. I would definitely recommend this book to any Gatsby lovers!

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What do you think of my review of ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ by Truman Capote? Have you read this book/watched the film? Would you ever give this book a go?

Let me know any thoughts in the comments below 🙂

Happy reading x

Author: Not-So-Modern Girl

I’m Eleanor, welcome to my little corner of the internet! I’m a freelance content writer and book lover from Yorkshire. On my blog, I write about life as a 20-something, including posts about freelance life, blogging, book reviews and more. I also write resources for bloggers and writers on my Gumroad account. Check out my links below or connect with me on social media! View all posts by Not-So-Modern Girl

29 thoughts

Great review! I agree, some of the deeper, darker undertones make for a fascinating read. She was a surprisingly complex character.

Like Liked by 1 person

I agree, I was surprised, as I always imagine her as a shallow character. Thanks for dropping by

I think I’ll add this book to my reading list. I thought it sounded a lot like “The Great Gatsby” as well. Is the narrator as unreliable as Nick Carraway?

Great, I hope you enjoy it! I would say so, as we only ever get his point of view on events, and the narration style is certainly very similar, in terms of the narrator being in awe of the main character.

Thank you! I watched the film ages ago, I might give it another go now that I’ve finished the book! Thanks for dropping by 🙂

DAMN, Ihave been wanting to read this one for EVERR!! It kinda slipped from my mind though! BUT, god, BLESS YOU FOR WRITING SUCH A FABULOUS REVIEW and reminding me the absolute need to read it! And the comparison with Gatsby! WOW! That is my ALL TIME FABOURITE story! All the passion, betrayal, and subtle secrets! LOOOVED IT! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank you so much, I really recommend it <3<3 Gatsby is a good book, I hope you can see the similarities in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' when you get round to reading it! I think with Gatsby, the time period also emphasises all those aspects, and makes for an interesting read. Thanks for dropping by!

Followed you. Thanks for following me. I have another site at http://crystalsphotobloggingsite.wordpress.com . Are you on Goodreads? I am. If your on Goodreads lets be friends. Also, what name are you under on Goodreads if you have an account so I can send a friend request.

Thanks for the follow, and you’re welcome 🙂 I actually don’t have Goodreads, sorry!

You are Welcome. I’m sorry you don’t have Goodreads account. It’s a great place to be if you love to read and love books. Maybe consider it?

I may do in the future!

I understand. I’ve been reading for a long time but just got an account.

I read this an age ago, but agree that it’s a very good book. For me, the film adaptation was awful, with both Hepburn and Peppard miscast. (And that singing!) I consider it to be desperately overrated, but I know it has legions of devoted fans, so what do they care about my opinion? 🙂 Thanks for following my blog. It is much appreciated. Best wishes, Pete.

I actually am slightly inclined to agree with you, although for me the appeal is that I love Audrey Hepburn! I think the film itself is slightly over-rated, but the hype and whole feel of the film just make it so much better for me… The book definitely offers much more depth 🙂 No problem, thanks for dropping by

A very short book you can read in an hour or two. I loved it and loved the film adaptation too.

I agree, much shorter than a normal novel 🙂

I have heard about this one but I am yet to read it or watch the movie. Your review certainly has me intrigued though. Adding this title to my TBR.

The book was definitely better than the film in my opinion, but Hepburn makes it a classic 🙂 Thank you, I hope you enjoy it!

Great review. I’m so tempted to read it. I’ve never actually watched the film either so that’s also on my list. Kelle – http://www.itskellesspace.com

I hope you enjoy it if you do! Thanks for dropping by 🙂

You’re welcome! 😊

Hi. A quick note to let you know that I’m going to follow your blog. Take care.

Thank you so much ❤

Pingback: What Did you Read this Summer? – Not-so-modern girl

A great review. I have definitely got to read this and The Great Gatsby now. I have watched the Breakfast at Tiffany’s film. I thought it was amazing. How have I not read these already?

I really like The Great Gatbsy, but at the same time the characters are a bit annoying, which I find difficult with books! I hope you enjoy them both when you get round to it 🙂

Yeah, no I understand that. Thank you.