Book Report: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote: Torgo approves

I always try to find the cover of the edition I read for this blog. I was reading what was once my father's copy of this book, so it's about 40 years old. That copy has a sticker on it, just under the pic of Audrey Hepburn, that says "by the author of IN COLD BLOOD," which is true, but jarring.

I loved "In Cold Blood." I thought it was brilliant. I've never seen the movie of "Breakfast at Tiffany's," but while I believed it to be something far more mundane and trivial than what it is, the divide between this book and In Cold Blood is significant.

They're different in every possible way. But I don't want to go into all of that.

I was surprised at the casual racism of this book. So it's of a time when such racism was common, that doesn't excuse it. I think the book has dated badly, most notably on this topic.

It also reminds me of "Sneakers," which I just rewatched a week or so ago. That movie has dated badly because of its technology-based premise, set in 1992. Technology is proving to be more and more of a cultural barrier with each passing year. It's most apparent in works from 1945 to the present, I believe.

In "The Apartment," it was bizarre to see a huge office building where everyone's desks just had typewriters and rolodexes.

Ok, I'm getting sidetracked. This was a short book, a novella, I suppose, that I actually finished a week ago.

I approved the book b/c of Capote's writing style. He's a clever one. He effectively pulls the reader into the narrative. The story may be flimsy, but it's an easy read and it's not a burden to just keep going.