by Truman Capote
87 pages
"And I said, 'What about Breakfast at Tiffany's?' she said, 'I think I remember the film and as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it.' and I said, 'Well that's one thing we've got.'" Okay, so I used to love that song. Like lots and lots. While I had seen the film many, many years ago, I just got around to reading the book.
Breakfast at Tiffany's tells the story of Miss Holiday Golightly, or Holly. The story is told from the point of view of a neighbor in the same apartment building. I don't think we ever get his name (unless I totally just missed it, which is totally possible), but Holly calls him Fred, after her brother.
Holly is basically the girl who all the men are smitten with. Everyone who meets her finds themselves needing to know everything about her. "Fred" is one such guy. While he insists that his love for Holly is that of a friendship, Fred quickly becomes her go-to-guy. When Fred meets Holly, he finds out that one of her "jobs" is visiting a mobster in jail every Thursday. When he was arrested, he asked Holly to visit him and relay weather reports to a guy on the outside. In return, she would get $100 a week. As you can all imagine, through the course of the book, this arrangement comes to bite her in the butt.
Another thing that really shocked Fred to learn was that Holly is actually married! There comes a time in which Fred notices a man hanging outside of their building. Fred assumes the man is stalking Holly and sets out down the street to warn her. As he sets out, he notices that the man is following him. To his surprise, the man follows him into a diner and sits down next to him at the counter. At this point he introduces himself as Doc, Holly's husband. Doc shows Fred a picture of Holly at age 14 (shes 19 now) with her brother, Doc, and three other kids. He informs Fred that Holly and her brother Fred were caught stealing from Doc's farm. Instead of calling the police, he welcomes them both into the home he had with his kids from his late wife. As time passes, Holly and Doc got married and they all lived their happily until one day Holly walked down the road and every came back. Her brother stayed with Doc until he was drafted and eventually sent Doc the address where he could find Holly in New York. So, he has come to bring her home.
Holly is obviously responsible for shaking up Fred's life a bit. Although the ending isn't a great one, I think what Holly needed in her life was someone like Fred. Someone who could keep her grounded. This is only the second thing I have read by Capote. In Cold Blood still remains one of my favorite pieces of work, but this one was alright.
3.5 Stars