michilovesyou | ☆ 018: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Book)

Rating:

I absolutely adored the movie. In fact, I loved it so much I simply had to have Truman Capote’s book. My friends and I joke that it is every fashionista’s bible. Very few of my friends do not know Audrey Hepburn… and they either adore her or respect her as an actress and fashion icon. But, I read somewhere that Capote’s first choice for Holly Golightly was actually Marilyn Monroe. I am forever grateful that in the end they chose Audrey, but after reading the book I can really see why he wanted Marilyn Monroe to play her. As I was reading the book, I visualized Marilyn Monroe as well.

I have been determined to buy the book since after I first saw the movie. It is just very difficult to find the book here. I finally found it last Christmas and bought it. I used the last of my money to do it. Now, I am broke. I am always broke, sadly. I grieve for my empty, shiny wallet

The book is pretty short. I finished after only a few days. It is less than a hundred and fifty pages. When I first began reading it, Audrey was in my head--- and as I read on it changed. Holly, in the book, was described to be a beautiful blonde with a boyish cut. It is not very hard to imagine Marilyn in Audrey’s clothes in Tiffany’s. I actually think the idea is not so bad. The character Fred in the movie, Holly’s neighbor, is not much like the book version. In the movie, he is a good-looking writer/pimp but in the book he was a skinny guy that ‘looked stupid.’ There were a few things cut in the movie. Like Holly’s mailbox had a card that said, ‘Holly Golightly, traveling.’ In the book, she wears those huge glasses not just for fashion, but also because they are possibly prescribed. A bit of the dialogue is still the same, like her reason for not having spare keys and her Thursdays with Sally. But the differences are very noticeable for those who bothered to read the book.

I loved the book still. It is more honest than the movie. But, the movie is still eye candy but not in a bad way. Reading the book, it was difficult to keep the image of Audrey as Holly Golightly. It simply wanders to Marilyn. I think it is because Audrey is not really as sinfully sexy as the Holly in the book I am imagining. Audrey looks too much like an angel. Despite being married two times, she still looks as angelic and innocent as ever. It really makes me wonder how she does it.

As accurate as casting Marilyn would have been, Audrey just made the whole movie endearing and made ‘the little black dress’ a sensation. My sister said I am just being biased. Maybe it is true, but the I really find it difficult to think of them as the same thing. They both have totally different feels to them despite having the same title, heroine and at times, dialogue.

You don’t need to be a fashionista or be someone in the social ladder to enjoy the book. We all have the ‘Mean Reds.’ There are many times we get scared and don’t know what to do--- and we are all looking for someplace to belong. The book is more than just a fashionista’s bible. It shows what most of us want, but Holly is more willing to get it and more honest to admit. She is a combination of wise and naïve that is both rare to find and too natural to fake. It is really good read. Out of a scale of 5, for a short story I would give it a 4.5. Read it, maybe you’ll see that there is a bit of Holly Golightly in all of us.