Breakfast at Tiffany's

Good Morning! And yes, I've been rubbish at blogging during the last month and I must admit it. I'm not going to start justifying myself, because I'm not proud of that. I finished with my exams, finished with my 2nd year of university, had an amazing time at Beach Break Live 2010 and came to London for an internship at Felicities PR. I started loving London even more, but I might dedicate another entry, proving the statement that you can never be bored, while in London.

Another thing, that apparently happened to me, was the fact that I finally read "Breakfast at Tiffany's", although I've been in love with Audrey Hepburn since year 10, when chose her as my "wanna be" celebrity for the yearbook. I would love to dedicate a separate entry to Audrey Hepburn - the style icon, although there are far too many books on the "fashion books market" recently. Now, I want to share a few thoughts on the book - some of you will love it, others not.

Firstly, if you haven't read the book or haven't watched the movie (though you must have seen the black glasses and the white pearls) - "It's New York in the 1940s, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour till breakfast at Tiffany's. And nice girls don't, except, of course, Holly Golightly. Pursued by Mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a fragile eyeful of tawny hair and turned-up nose, a heart-breaker, a perplexer, a traveller, a tease. She's irrepressibly "top banana in the shock department", and one of the shining flowers of American fiction". Copied as from the back of the book.

Do I "wanna be" Holly Golightly? No, I don't want to, although sometimes I feel exactly like her. She's 20. She's living in her own own flat and drinking (skimmed) milk. She loves pearls (although she admits that pearls are for older/much more mature women) and she loves Tiffany's, the morning croissant in a paper bag and the coffee in a cardboard mug. Sometimes, even most of you feel like that - especially due to the fact that now, in 2010, there is Starbucks (Nero, Costa, etc.) on every single corner and it's much easier to get a take away latte and not only a croissant, but a chocolate croissant. The difference between Holly and most of the girls/women aged 20-25 is that if they want to maintain the Holly Golightly life style, they cannot afford having a long long breakfast at Tiffany's; they will just "grab 'n' go". And as Hemingway says - "All good books have one thing in common - they are truer than if they had really happened.". And that's what makes Capote's classic a novel and not a real life story. However, there are many things that (unfortunately) we must admit as true.

Early twenties lady, i.e. a gold-digger? We all know (or maybe not) that very often success is measured by the amount of money you earn, thus we can all be classified as gold diggers. Even those of you, that will just turn head, thinking -"What is she talking about, of course we cannot be classified as such", better think once again. Of course there are different types of gold-diggers, but I'm obviously not talking about the ones, who just don't put any meaning in their existence. Because even Holly's got an aim - she wants to get married (at some point), travel around and be happy! At the end of the day, that's what most of us want. In the busy 2010 city life this means two things - good job and the right surrounding. And those two are very tightly bound. Very often the first leads to second. One of the major points in "Breakfast Tiffany's" is the one about the importance of being social and finding the right people to hang out with. Being realistic, that's crucial if you're young and ambitious women, because at some point you'll want to be "coupled" and I don't think that there is something bad in it. Many people will blame me for saying the truth, but if you need to meet someone you need to be among people that you can communicate with and be interested in having a conversation with. All that clearly excludes the feminist notion that we need to work 9am - 9pm and be equal.

Here it comes the second major point of the book (or at least according to me) - men and women have never been, and will never be equal. That's how the world had been created. Referring to the book - Holly is young, beautiful, looks after herself and wants to be taken care of. At the same time, we cannot classify her as weak, according to me, that's the last thing she can be. So...third major point - a woman might be strong, without being equal to men. That's what lacks in the feminist way of thinking. She lives on her own, and yes very often keeping all those relationships and contacts is even harder than sitting 9am-5pm behind a desk and doing nothing.

All that leads to another key topic - being lonely among the crowd. New York. Big city life, big apple, Mr. Big, everything is big. And you are small. You're just a tiny part of the whole city. The problem with the big cities is that you can remain anonymous and alone for the whole duration of your life. Although she is surrounded by tons of guys and guys and guys, Holly is alone. She doesn't have friends, she's got acquaintances. She doesn't have girlfriends, but most important - she doesn't have a family. Even if we consider the option of her family just being somewhere far away, the situation won't change. And that's one of her aims - to have a family. That's why she wants to desperately marry someone (valuable). She's not even rich, although she tries to live in the luxurious world. Her wealth is a day to day wealth - today is here, tomorrow is gone and no one knows when is it going to come back again.  

The themes about the loneliness and the wealth remind of another truly American classic novel - "The Great Gatsby". Gatsby is part of the new-rich during the first half of the 20th century. He's got the massive house with the massive swimming and (obviously) hosts parties with lots of alcohol (martini), men and women. At the end of the day (in the morning to be precise), he is the loneliest. The scene that is stuck in my mind is when he is staying near the swimming pool, watching the autumn leaves falling into the dirty water of the swimming pool. Sad. Pretty self-explanatory. 

 
So, all those were my thoughts and conclusions after reading "Breakfast at Tiffany's". It's worth reading not only because it's a classic novel, but because is one of those stories without a clear begging or an end. There is no "finito". The "finito" is in your head. And it's especially worth reading if you're - 1. a woman; 2. 20-30 years old. 

"I want to still be me when I wake up one fine morning and have breakfast at Tiffany's." Holly Golightly