Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics

Price/Format: £8.99, paperback.

Bought from: Mr B's Emporium

ISBN 0141182792

Without doubt this deserves it's status as a modern classic, and I encourage everyone to read it at least once. It is beautifully crafted, and an absolute pleasure to read.  Capote's descriptions of people and places are divine, and the picture becomes so clear in your mind.

Holly Golightly is wonderfully written, multi layered and appealing.  All at the same time I felt sorry for her, angry with her, frustrated, motherly even.  She is at once a child, and a grown woman, tough yet vulnerable, and a calculating gold digger who genuinely cares.

I decided not to try to analyse Holly too deeply. I think you could talk yourself in circles and never reach a firm conclusion, so I will leave that topic alone. What I can tell you is that I finished the book a few days ago, and I'm still pondering it all. Another sign of a brilliant character/story.

Capote's skill in writing such a complex character, and situating her so firmly in her world is made even more astounding when you realise that Breakfast at Tiffany's is barely more than a short story, at a mere 91 pages in this edition.

To bulk out the book this edition has three of Capote's short stories at the end. They get progressively better. The first seems to have no point, it really goes nowhere. The second is better, with an interesting ending, but the third I felt was by far my favourite.

Enjoy.