I Wanna Be Still Me When I Wake Up and Have Breakfast at Tiffany's

You either love her or hate her. You either find her amazingly weird or disturbingly phony.  You either declare the novel your new most favorite book or you hate as too shallow. That’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote. That’s Miss Holly Golightly, traveler.

I bought Breakfast at Tiffany’s due to a recommendation from a friend of mine, who is a huge fan of Audrey Hepburn. For those of you falling from the moon today, she played Holly Golightly in the movie, and critics claim this to be her best role. The movie is a must-see but as with all book-based movies I certainly recommend reading the novel first. What I did was rather weird, as I watched it while in the middle of Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The story behind Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not important. Actually, I do not think there is a story whatsoever. Holly Golightly is the usual 20 something girl, who comes to the big city in search for a better life, to follow her dream or one of those bullshits everyone writes about. Sounds trivial but Holly is everything but trivial. On the outside she is phony and capricious; she throws loud parties and searches for a rich man to take care of her. Her favorite place is the jewelry store Tiffany’s where she likes to go and have her morning coffee and croissant. On the inside, she is romantic and sensitive, haunted by the ghosts of past mistakes.  Just like her name suggests, Holly passes through life lightly, as if she hardly steps. Yet, you can recognize her confusion and despair in any lost soul in a search for a relative happiness.

I must say I expected more from the novel. Critics insist that even if Capote didn’t write anything else, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is enough to put him among the greatest classics. Well, the novel is indeed good. What I loved about it is that it poses a question but leaves the answer open to interpretation. In other words, the reader is free to understand and relate to the novel depending on his/her moral views. So far so good. Still, I believe the value of Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a bit exaggerated. A very good, but not a marvelous masterpiece.