Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Will anyone help me understand why this book is so popular? Why did they make a movie based on it? Why do you have to read this book in one seating? I simply can’t put my finger on it.

The story’s told by a nameless narrator and it centres on Holly Golightly – a young actress living in New York of early 40ties, constantly going out and charming rich men in order to find her place in the world, the place where she belongs. Until then she’s travelling. We don’t know much about the main characters, the narrator remains nameless, we only know he’s a writer still waiting to be discovered. We don’t know much about Holly’s past and future. Although the past is slowly revealed the main focus remains on the present – the unusual selection of people Holly attracts and their interests in staying close to her. All this in the light of the interesting and touching relationship between her and our narrator.

In a way it’s a sad story of a girl looking for her destiny not really knowing where it might be hiding. She compares herself to a wild animal or to a hawk whose nature doesn’t let him settle in one place, with one person.

And there’s the movie of course. With lovely Audrey Hepburn, with the beautiful Moon River song. I still don’t know why but both the book and the movie have charmed me so much that I think I’ll put the movie on this evening, just to hear the song again, just to live in that New York again. And would you believe that this whole story, all this charm, all this real and non-happy ending tale is covered on less than 100 pages? And I already miss it and I still don’t know why…

My rating: YYYYY

Yann Martel: Life of Pi

This is the second time I read this book. Since I read it for the first time a few years ago I only remembered that it was about an Indian boy stranded on a boat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger as his only companion. Oh, and I also remembered I loved it.

It was a pleasure to go back to this book and read it again. The first part of it feels a little long at times, which is probably why I didn’t remember it at all but I guess in a way it gives you lots of insight into understanding what happened on that boat later on. The life of young Piscine, his experience as being the son of a zoo keeper, his religious interests and his life as an adult later on – in a way it is all linked to his time on the lifeboat.

Pi spent 227 days on that lifeboat after the ship that was taking him and his family to Canada sunk in the Pacific Ocean and he was the only one to survive. Well, not quite the only one. He had a company of a zebra, hyena, orangutan and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi only survived as he respected the tiger and taught him to respect him back.

Even though this book is classified as fantasy in some reviews don’t expect anything fantasy-like to happen like Pi getting friendly with the tiger, them becoming best friends or the animals talking. No, it’s all a very real story and every day on the boat teaches us something about the human and animal nature. Especially when in the end Pi tells another version of the story to the Japanese maritime officers who are investigating reasons for the ship sinking and who find it hard to believe the story with the animals on the boat.

A really special book, again, unique and original in the story it tells (even though Martel was initially accused of plagiarism by a Brazilian writer who claimed to have published a similar story over 10 years before). A great book to reach for and enjoy!

My rating: YYYYY