"Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote

I started reading Breakfast at Tiffany's at the bookstore. It was three hours before work, the dread of making sandwiches, dealing with the humourless lunch hour (and the messy back kitchen aftermath) made me stingy. Nothing would have convinced me to spend a dull hour's worth of pay.

I camped on a comfortable couch overlooking shelves of English Dictionaries and Grammar books. It was early enough so the bookstore was devoid of its familiar loiterers. I was alone, I could read and some sentimental sixty's music added to the ambiance.

Holly Golightly is a nice name. That was probably my first thought when I read the back blurb. It suited her quite well - beautiful, hypnotic, cajoling, confident, wild-spirited, happy-go-lucky. Perhaps the ballast of her existence: charisma. Perhaps, charm. They sound so alike.

What is it about Holly Golightly that people find so alluring? Other than the beauty and the sex?

She has this innocence about her: a 'sick' honesty (by society's standards). She acts on pure feeling and impulse. She does things without moral qualms (she is a kleptomaniac, for example). She simply doesn't see any moral implications.

I suppose some people are like that. People do things for 'kicks' or do not see the effects of their actions upon others (and there is a difference between not perceiving something and ignoring something you perceive).

In many ways Holly Golightly is just the nameless cat she owns: a scarred thug who lives off streets and thievery and other people's leftovers. They're both independent, as Holly goes on to say.

The book is a whirlwind of whims and the reserved narration of a penniless writer. I really liked it. Full of gangsters, playboys, Holly Golightly and lies.

My favourite part of the entire text would have to be:

Ms Holiday Golightly, travelling

Sums up the book from beginning to end, no?