Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.
Ratings6
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings6
Average rating3.5
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “So smart and entertaining it should come with its own popcorn” – People “A bonbon of a book… As well tailored as the little black dress the movie made famous.” – Janet Maslin, New York Times Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M. by Sam Wasson is the first ever complete account of the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. With a cast of characters including Truman Capote, Edith Head, director Blake Edwards, and, of course, Hepburn herself, Wasson immerses us in the America of the late fifties, before Woodstock and birth control, when a not-so-virginal girl by the name of Holly Golightly raised eyebrows across the nation, changing fashion, film, and sex, for good. With delicious prose and considerable wit, Wasson delivers us from the penthouses of the Upper East Side to the pools of Beverly Hills presenting Breakfast at Tiffany’s as we have never seen it before—through the eyes of those who made it.
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This was a former DNF that I wanted to give another go. I chose to listen in audio form this time and didn't find it any more interesting than I did several years ago. I kept reading as it was a quick listen and I really did want to enjoy it. Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favorite films and I wanted to learn more about how it was made and its cultural impact. Instead, this book reads more like a Hollywood gossip column with very little substance and a lot of speculation.
My biggest takeaway was realizing that the way I've interpreted the film has been, evidently, vastly different than the majority of people. I've read Truman Capote's original novella as well, which might have influenced some of my perspectives without my realizing it, but I've never thought of the film as a gateway to the ‘sexual revolution' of the 1960s. Of course, this could also be in part of being born decades later, but for me, the film has always been more about the lost souls of the characters and it being a story of how they try to come into themselves in an overwhelming world. Holly's lifestyle (and Paul's for that matter) has always appeared to me to be a harsh reality, not something that would ever inspire me to take on that lifestyle let alone empower me. She lives a sad life, and it's only when she accepts the honest love of another that she can begin to feel free. (This is all based on the film, not Capote's original work.)
