Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Other Stories

Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Other Stories by Truman Capote    140 pages

It’s been decades since I last read the title novella in this short book.  I kept in on my shelf as I had never gotten around to reading the other three stories. That is why I chose this title to read as my June selection in my 2018 reading resolution. I’ve seen, and loved, the movie of the same name at least a dozen times.

Now that I have re-read the second of Capote’s masterpieces, I was majorly disappointed.  Set in New York City during the 1940s, the irreverent Holly Golightly adores the good life. She dates older men, stays out all night, and has little regard for her new best friend, the new guy in her building, a writer. Still, by the time I got to the end I was bored with Holly. She just seemed to do the thing over and over in each scene. 

But let’s talk about the other stories. First is “House of Flowers.” It is an odd little story that I really didn’t care for. Set in Haiti, Ottilie is a prostitute, a customer favorite.  The bordello’s madam does her best to keep Ottilie happy by giving her things the other girls must do without. She must decide whether to remain at the house or become the wife of Royal Bonaparte, a man from the mountains. I didn’t care for the ending at all.

Second is “A Diamond Guitar.” Set in a prison in Alabama, the two main characters are both convicts. Mr. Schaeffer is serving a 99-year sentence for murder and Tico the new guy on the block, serving a two-year sentence for stabbing two men. They attempt to breakout, with the ultimate goal of obtaining aa prized guitar.

The third story was my personal favorite and catapulted this review to three stars (up until then, it was going to get one. In “A Christmas Memory,” narrator Buddy is looking back the last Christmas he spent with this much-older cousin in rural Alabama. Every Christmas season they spend four days making thirty-one fruitcakes, evening going as far as sending one to President Franklin Roosevelt. It’s a fun, yet sad story that often rings of Capote’s own childhood.

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three Other Stories” receives 3 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Miracle in the Rain

 

Miracle in the Rain  by Ben Hecht   52 pages

When I was a kid back in the late 1960s-early 1970s, I loved to watch old black-and-white movies on Sunday afternoons. One of those films that stuck with me was Miracle in the Rain, a rather sappy WWII romance. I hadn’t seen it again until recently when it aired on TCM.

The 1956 movie starred Van Johnson and Jane Wyman. Really I only remembered the final scene; it had stuck with me for all those years. 

Watching the credits, I saw that the movie was based on a “novel” by Ben Hecht, who also wrote the screenplay. I was excited to learn that the St. Louis Public Library had a copy.

The “book” turned out to be a short story---or as one is defined in 2015---of only 52 pages. The genre was current fiction when it was written in 1943, but now I would consider it historical fiction.

The film was true to the story. A lonely woman living in New York, caring for her mother, meets a lonely solider about to be sent overseas when she stops to wait out a rainstorm. He, Art Hugenon, inserts himself into her, Ruth Wood, into her life. And lickety-split, they are in love.

The movie had to add scenes to stretch it out but that didn’t take away from the storyline. It’s still a sappy WWII romance, but the plot is strong, the character well-developed, and the perfect amount of details.

I have to admit, I loved watching the old movie again, and reading Hecht’s story. It’s a great way to kill a couple of hours. Sentimentally, I give Miracle in the Rain, five out of five stars.