When I think of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I remember, rather fondly, the 1995 one-hit-wonder song by Deep Blue Something. It brings back a nostalgic wave of high school friends and good memories. A few years ago, while scrolling through Netflix, I came upon the 1961 movie the song refers to, with Audrey Hepburn and a young George Peppard (for me, Peppard will always be Hannibal Smith from the A-team). I think I made it through half of the movie before falling asleep on the couch and never picking it back up. But earlier this year, Audible.com had a book sale, and there was Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a short novella by Truman Capote. I never even knew the movie was based on a book, but based on the strength of my nostalgia for the song, I bought it.

The story follows a writer who lives in the same building as, and then falls in love with Holly Golightly, a glamorous phony, who “isn’t a real phony because she believes she’s a real phony.” Holly is a former country-girl who ran away from home, ran away from Hollywood, and knows that it is tacky to wear diamonds before the age of 40. When I picture her in my mind, based on the books exquisite descriptions, she really does seem to look like a young Audrey Hepburn. She survives by befriending various men and having them pay her bills; she seems to attract people with a sense of inner charm and reality. But all she really wants is to simply find a home, a place “where [she] and things belong together…a real life place that [makes her] feel like Tiffany’s.” She has a cat living with her, but refuses to take ownership of the cat or give it a name – because they just “took up by the river one day” and they simply don’t seem to belong together.

The funny thing about Holly is that she sees herself for who she is. In that sense, she is completely genuine. She knows exactly how she comes across to others – she even warns them to stay away, telling her bartender:

“Never love a wild thing Mr. Bell….You can’t give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they’re strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That’s how you end up Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You’ll end up looking at the sky.”

After a variety of travails set in, she does run to the woods (well, the jungles of Brazil). On the way to the airport to flee the country, she tosses out the cat, ready to go find her own Tiffany’s. But then she realizes she and the cat are the same – that they did belong to each other. She hops out of the limo and runs back for him, but the cat has disappeared. And finally, her aura, her shell, her sense of self breaks down and she becomes real.

When I finished the book, I sighed, smiled, and felt content. The cat does find a home in the end. Maybe Holly did too. Maybe we all can one day. Score – 9.0. Nostalgia and one-hit-wonders. I should make time to finish the movie.