Book Review: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was published in 1958; first in Esquire, and then by Random House. As an aside, this novella and I are the same age. Prior to publication, there was a brouhaha with the Hearst Corporation. Harper's Bazaar had picked up the story, but the Hearst editors asked Capote for changes to the language. The publication rights went to Esquire, and that was that. Reading it this year, for perhaps the tenth time, the objection to language seems silly. At the time, however, it was considered racy.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is probably better known as the movie of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn. The novella runs to 179 pages and in most editions is published with three short stories. While I love the movie, it is a pale shadow of the real story. Sure, Audrey Hepburn charms the pants off of everyone as Holly Golightly, but George Peppard is a stiff Paul Varjak. The entire ending of the tale is chopped and mangled into a cute Hollywood happy ending. The film is a lovely, fluffy bit of Hollywood charm, but it is most certainly not Capote's novella.

On the surface, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a simple and straightforward story. I like to think of it as a plain ring of gold, adorned with three jewels. The first jewel is Capote's perfect prose. The second jewel is how deftly the characters are developed. It is as if they appear in a doorway; old friends that you remember in an instant, yet you have never met. The third jewel of this story, for me, is how the characters interact; how they fit together like wonderful pieces of an ornate jigsaw puzzle.

It is almost impossible to talk about the plot without dropping spoilers, but even sixty years later, I will try not to give away the farm. The story is told, when a narrator is necessary, through the eyes of young writer in New York. The young man lives in a brownstone in the City, and he has the most amazing neighbor: Holly Golightly. Miss Golightly is determined to carve a place for herself in the world. Her only tools are her good looks and her outrageous personality. As the young writer, Paul Varjak, is drawn further and further into Holly's orbit, he discovers there is far more to her past than she is willing to tell.

The elegantly written prose of this novella illustrates why Capote was L'Enfant Terrible of American literature in the late '50's and early '60s. There are myriad interviews, film clips, and photographs of the older Capote who worked the talk show circuit to stay in the limelight. I choose to remember Truman Capote as the literary Rock Star that he was, not the shadow that he became.

So, all these years later, why should anyone read this Novella? The answer is quite simple. I believe that these characters, Holly Golightly, Paul, Joe Bell, Doc, and their story, will linger long in the reader's memory. I highly recommend "Breakfast at Tiffany's." If you have never read Capote's work, this is a great place to start. If you have read his work, this is an amazing refresher; a visit from an old friend.


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Book Review: "No Country for Old Men" by Cormac McCarthy

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Cormac McCarthy completed the novel "No Country for Old Men" in 2005. The author returns to the border country between Texas and Mexico, locales he had previously explored in The Border Trilogy (1992-98). This stark and powerful novel, written by one of the American masters, was published in 2006 by Vintage. The novel is an intense 310 page read, a rough ride in an old pickup truck while a huge flatland storm is building on the horizon. This book is dark, chilling, and desperately beautiful.

The Coen Brothers thought so much of this novel that they adapted it into a screenplay. The film went on to win four Oscars, and to make me an even bigger fan of Javier Bardem. But we aren't here to talk about the movie, as much as I loved it. We are here to talk about the novel, which is even darker, more intense, and more beautiful.

Cormac McCarthy uses the fewest and most well-chosen words to say a very great deal. The author's prose is relentless, never allowing the looming threat to dissipate. From the first pages, there is a massive storm brewing just out of sight. The reader knows it its there. When it strikes, it is swift and without warning. This is McCarthy's approach to a classic American crime novel: Use the fewest words to convey the greatest possible danger. The lightning is ever there, crackling at the edge of the page.

The jacket notes for the novel will give a reader the basic plot. A hard but basically decent man stumbles across a massacre in the desert; a drug deal gone horribly wrong. By the time he leaves the place, he has found a bag filled with a great deal of money. The money is not his, and taking it sets of a chain of events that are both dark and violent. In this the novel follows a traditional plot line: Outsider gets money; Bad Guys come looking for it. But there is much more to this tale.

Some folks will tell you that you should never ask a question in a book review, but we are going to break that little rule. What if you make a choice that awakens the Devil to your presence? What do you do if you are suddenly the sole focus of the Devil? Not an angry, raging devil, and certainly not a demon with red skin and a pitchfork. This Devil walks amongst us, calmly leaving a trail of dead men. He tests others as as he tests himself; with an intense curiosity and callousness that treats life and death as the same. He takes great pleasure in the last moments of a dying man, holding life and death to the banality of a coin-toss. McCarthy has created a nemesis that, simply by his presence, undermines the community and the country he passes through.

When our protagonist, Llewellyn Moss, takes that bag of money, forces are set in motion. Killers are unleashed. The devil takes notice. An aging Texas County Sheriff, who is also our narrator, tries make sense of what is happening and fails. The yardstick he uses to measure good and evil is not suitable for this new menace. The moral values of the old country are not up to the task of measuring this wave of violence; values that seem to the Sheriff to have evaporated, outdated and without roots.

I can tell you, without risk of spoiler and by means of warning, that there is not a happy ending coming for most of the characters in this novel. Perhaps for the Devil, but nobody else. I would wonder why, if a reader is looking for a happy ending, they would pick up a Cormac McCarthy novel. Many years before Oprah decided she liked "The Road," McCarthy was writing dark sagas of the American West, both past and present. His language is stark, stripped, and cuts like a well-honed knife. In "No Country for Old Men," the author has taken his art to a higher level. Striped to their essentials, his minimalist descriptions carry powerful images. They stand out as if etched in a desert sunset. Likewise is the dialogue striped to the bone. The characters do not waste many words. The only voice of compassion, the glimmer of hope of human decency, comes from the voice of Sheriff Ed Tom when he serves as the narrator. These small passages of narration give the reader a brief pause before the next burst of thunder, the next bolt of lightning.

I highly recommend this novel, both for the quality of the story as well as the art of the writing itself. Readers who need a happy ending, or who are adverse to a dark tale: run far away. This is not your book. If you wish to explore a masterwork written in the language of loss, this novel will suit you well.

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Thanks for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked what you read here, how about trying one of my novels? All of the information is at my website:

Marco Etheridge Fiction

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"The Busker" Live at Literally Stories!

I am thrilled to announce that one of my short stories, "The Busker," has been published in the online journal Literally Stories. The crew at Literally Stories deserve huge thanks for all of the hard work they put in supporting emerging writers. Thank You! Thank You!!

Here is the link:

"The Busker" at Literally Stories

I do hope that you will take the time to read my story. Reading is absolutely free, and there are other fine stores as well. Please take a moment to support Indie Authors. If you like what you read there, please, leave a comment. It only takes a moment and it means so very much.

Thanks for being Readers! The world is a better place when people read.

Thanks for checking out my blog. If you liked my short story, how about trying one of my novels? You can even take a book for a test ride with a FREE eBook. That's right, my novella CLOUDS BEFORE RAIN, the first volume in THE BEST DARK RAIN SERIES, is available as a free download. Subscribe to my mailing list and the good folks at Book Funnel will take care of the rest. No matter what country you live in, no matter what eReader you use, they should have you covered.

To learn more, please visit my website and look for the big button that says GET A FREE BOOK!! It's kind of hard to miss. Happy reading!!

Marco Etheridge Fiction

The Adventures of... Hausmann!!

It is that time again...

My secret day begins when I kiss My One goodbye. She disappears into the winter morning, bound for the real world.  I retreat to my desk, where lies The List. Hand-written, with bullet points and yellow highlights, The List tells me to where I am bound. Today the list demands revisions on a first-draft short story, submissions for a completed story, a book review on a very complex collection of essays, and this blog post. The List is nothing if not optimistic. Suffice it to say that I am rebelling; the last shall be first, the first last.

Today is not so different from any other day. I spend the precious morning time doing the heavy creative lifting. I suppose that my brain is at its weirdest from morning coffee until siesta time. Or, in my case, afternoon cigar time. After that, the creative juices have retired for the day. Fiction projects come first, then book reviews and/or blog posts, and finally, begrudgingly, trying to sell a novel or two: Create -- Contribute -- Capitulate.

Please open the idea bin...

The Idea Bin actually exists, a place I store crazy thoughts; dream bubbles, idiotic notions, they all go in the bin. I scribble them down, all of them, because they come in handy later. The scribbling habit is hard learned; a process of many forgettings. As blurbs and bits bubble into my addled brain. I grab my electronic notepad, frantically keying the tiny letters. The results, read later, are often amusing; sometimes bewildering.

Today, however, is a simple day. Lay out the skeleton of a blog post, then set it aside whilst I visit the Türke Barbers. Once tonsured and tidy, I will attempt a book review of Rebecca Solnit's "A Book of Migrations." I will end up setting that aside because Ms. Solnit's prose is more like poetry, even when couched in an essay on the culture of travel. More time will be required. Then on to the short story revisions, back to the book review, and perhaps submit the new short story to one or two journals. I can fudge The List a bit; marking the item with a dot, rather than a check.

And then... as the clock ticks towards the late afternoon, a transformation takes place. I give up my mild-mannered scribbler persona, becoming instead: Hausmann!!

Homemade Stew on a winter's night...

Hausmann is my secret identity, even though I do not have a cape. Remember what happened to Thunderhead? As Edna says, "No Capes!" Lack of cape notwithstanding, I have duties to perform. Maybe not so much saving of the world, because the world never stays saved, but important duties nonetheless. There are things that must happen before My One returns from saving the world. The apartment has to be presentable, a sense of order established, but more importantly: Dinner has to be ready.

To cook or not to cook: that is a question that holds no validity for me. Of course we cook! We are human; we eat, so we cook. But there is more to it than that. I will let you in on a little secret: Good cooks are sexy. You don't believe me? At this very moment, I can see women nodding their heads, exclaiming,  "Amen, Brother, preach it!" That's right, Boyos: Long after good looks have faded, even when hair is perhaps not as (ahem) full as it once was, a good meal laid on the table will stand you in good stead. In fact, as good cooks know, dinner laid on the table is probably not the only thing that's going to get...  Well, you get the idea. 

"But it's so hard, there's the cutting, and the chopping, and the measuring... whaaaaa!"  Nonsense. Look, it's winter here in Vienna; bone-chilling, grey, and depressing. But a nice, hearty stew is just the thing after a long day of saving the world. The soup companies would have you believe that making homemade soup is difficult. Don't buy into their corporate lies. To prove how simple it is, I'm going to offer up an easy recipe for squash stew. Yes indeed, a blog post AND a bonus recipe: It's your lucky day. So, let's get sexy and start cooking.

Curry Squash Stew:

You will need a butternut squash about as big as your head, five (or so) potatoes, onions and garlic. Split the squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds, then use a sharp knife to skin the thing. Mind your meaty bits. Blood is an interesting flavor best used sparingly. Slice the squash into half-inch rounds, then into half-inch cubes. Wash the taters, then process them likewise. Throw the taters in a pot, cover with water, add a dash of salt, and bring them to a boil. Let them simmer whilst you do the next steps. 

Skin two medium or one big fat onion, then slice and dice. Peel three cloves of garlic, and split them lengthwise. You see that little green stripy thing in the middle? Use the point of your knife to flip it out. That part is bitter and ruins the taste of things. See? You're already learning cool cooking tricks that make you sexier. Mash the garlic halves with the flat of your knife, then mince the little guys. If you have real vege or chicken stock, that's great. If not, use a high quality bullion cube dissolved in water. Have the stock/bullion mix ready in a bowl. A half-lire (or half-quart) will do for a start. Now that we have done the prep work, the rest is easy.

Throw a big pot on the stove, the bigger the better. You want a medium-high heat going underneath the pot. Toss in a tablespoon or so of olive oil, then the chopped onions. Keep stirring the onions in the oil. When the onion bits start to soften and turn clear, throw in the garlic. Keep stirring; you don't want the garlic to get all burnt and funky. Meanwhile, drain the potatoes. After the garlic has cooked for about five minutes, toss in the taters. Now you need to keep things moving about. Browning everything just a bit is what we are after, not scalding or burning. Throw the squash in on top of the taters and make everything dance about the pot.

Right about now, things are going to start sticking to the bottom of the pot. Fear not, it's all part of the process. Pour the stock/bullion over the whole thing, stirring well. When the liquid starts to bubble, reduce the heat to a nice simmer. A slow bubbling is fine. A rolling boil is going to burn the crap out of everything. Not good.

Now we need to spice our stew. Relax, this is easy. Spicing is not really a matter of wrong and right, but more a matter of balance. Let's give this one a go. Squash loves curry, and curry loves squash. The best curry powders come from Sri Lanka or Southern India. Finding a cool little store that sells real curry powders is half the fun. I use a kick-ass Jafna Curry that I brought back from Sri Lanka. The trick to spicing things is sneaking up on them. Starting out with three tablespoons of salt might not be the best plan.

This is my baseline for squash stew:
1-2 Teaspoons of Curry
1 Teaspoon of Salt
8 Grinds of Black Pepper, more or less.
1/2 Teaspoon of Marjoram
1/2 Teaspoon of Sage
1 Teaspoon of Dried Parsley
1/2 Teaspoon of Crushed Red Pepper (Careful!)

Toss it all in, experiment, whatever. You will figure it out. Let that simmer for about an hour. Taste it and try to envision what might be missing. More heat, more salt, more curry zip: sneak up on it in small amounts.

But now I am going to tell you the secret to a great vege stew: Bulgar Wheat. You can get this stuff at the same shop where you bought the curry. Bulgar is a grain like rice or barley, but it stays nutty and chewy in a stew. Throw three-quarters of a cup of Bulgar into a hot pan with oil. Keep it moving in the hot pan, as if you are roasting it, which is exactly what you're doing. This brings out the lovely, nutty flavor. After about ten minutes or so, throw in enough water (or stock) to completely cover the roasted Bulgar. Mind the steam! Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring constantly. The Bulgar will soak up all of the water. Once the water is gone, scoop the cooked Bulgar out of the pan and into the pot. Voilá!

At this point, the stew is basically ready. While the stew simmers, make a salad, or some vege, or whatever side dish your Sweetheart likes. About thirty minute before she or he walks through the door, it is a good idea to blend up the stew. I use one of those hand blender gizmos, but a potato masher will work as well. Mind the hot stew flying around: it burns! Once blended, I usually add a can of red kidney beans to the mix, but that is up to you. Be mindful, my sexy little cooks! Once the stew is blended, the bubbles may shoot out of the pot. They will burn the crap out of you if they find skin. The heat should now be on the lowest setting possible.

Add some nice bread from the bakery and this is a complete meal. Your Baby, or Hunky Man, will be greeted by the wonderful smells of home-cooked stew. Trust me when I say that nothing is quite so welcoming, or rewarding, as the smell of home-cooking after a hard day's work. 

Speaking of Hausmann, it is just about time for me to don my outfit and make with the chopping and the cooking. As always, eat well, be happy, and Ciao for Now!

And, in a quick pause for the cause...

Thanks for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked what you read here, how about trying one of my novels? You can even take a book for a test ride with a FREE eBook. That's right, my novella CLOUDS BEFORE RAIN, the first volume in THE BEST DARK RAIN SERIES, is available as a free download. Subscribe to my mailing list and the good folks at Book Funnel will take care of the rest. No matter what country you live in, no matter what eReader you use, they should have you covered.

To learn more, please visit my website and look for the big button that says GET A FREE BOOK!! It's kind of hard to miss. Happy reading!!

Marco Etheridge Fiction

Book Review: "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"The Princess Bride," by William Goldman, was first published in 1973. It has since become a beloved story, better known as the movie by the same name that is now a Cult Classic. Before I go further, it is only fair to state that I love the movie. What's not to love? A handsome young man, a beautiful maiden; a story of true love. Add to that the masterful writing, wonderful throw-away lines -- "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." -- Wallace Shawn, André the Giant, Billy Crystal; you simply cannot go wrong.

If one only knows the movie, however, I believe that one is missing out on the second story: Goldman's incredibly clever backstory. The novel contains all of the elements seen in the movie. There is a somewhat jaded young boy, a father trying to engage the boy to read an old book, and the ensuing tale of adventure. This story was read to the narrator by his father. He is stunned, however, when his own son puts the book down after only one chapter. Why?

The reason the boy puts down the book is simple: it is boring. This brings us to the first facet of a literary put-one. The fictitious narrator, the 'Author' created by the author, discovers that the original text (a doubly fictitious text if you will) contains long and very boring passages which his own father skipped over whilst reading it aloud. The narrator discovers these very long, very boring passages relate to the politics of Florin and Guilder. Did I mention that these passages are long? Yes, very much so, and boring. So our narrator, the fictitious author, sets out to write an abridged version of the story, a version that has only the 'Good Parts,' a version that his won son will read and enjoy.

But behind that presenting tale, there is yet another elaborately fabricated yarn about the origins of the book itself. Fictitious countries are created, then made to seem real. The headaches of legal battles with an imagined estate of an imagined author punctuate the swashbuckling story that we are familiar with from the movie. Goldman breaks the fourth wall in such clever ways that the reader is not sure what is true and what is false. I hesitate to go further for fear of spoilers. Suffice it to say that there are entire dimensions in the novel that is missing in the movie.

Goldman's joke was so effective, so convincing, that readers wrote letters to the publisher. Readers looked at current World maps, searching for the fictitious countries of Florin and Guilder. The author's use of asides, of invented histories, makes for a romp of literary jest. It is a jest that I appreciated more and more as the book carried me away.

Reading "The Princess Bride" feels very much like reading two, or even three, different books. There is, of course, the original tall of sword fighting and true love, stripped down to only the good parts. There is the tale of the father attempting draw his son into something that the father valued as a young boy. Lastly, there is the funny and convoluted yarn of the Father/Author/Narrator struggling to give life to the original manuscript by S. Morgenstern. Yes, sorry, but there is yet another fictitious author lurking in the past, the originator of it all.

I realize that this may all sound a bit complicated. Guess what? It is, but in a way that is so marvelous and compelling I believe you will forgive William Goldman all of his many inside jokes. I highly recommend this novel, most especially if you love the movie version. The strange and clever backstory that Goldman weaves compliments the movie version, of which he was the screenwriter.




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And, in a quick pause for the cause...

Thanks for reading my blog post. I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked what you read here, how about trying one of my novels? You can even take a book for a test ride with a FREE eBook. That's right, my novella CLOUDS BEFORE RAIN, the first volume in THE BEST DARK RAIN SERIES, is available as a free download. Subscribe to my mailing list and the good folks at Book Funnel will take care of the rest. No matter what country you live in, no matter what eReader you use, they should have you covered.

To learn more, please visit my website and look for the big button that says GET A FREE BOOK!! It's kind of hard to miss. Happy reading!!

Marco Etheridge Fiction

 

Book Review: "The March of Folly" by Barbara Tuchman

The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam by Barbara W. Tuchman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Based on the current political climate, this book has been in my thoughts. I feel compelled to update my original short review. My first review read: " More pertinent now than ever. Have you ever wondered how powerful governments can make such bad decision? Then this book is for you."

Perhaps an inquiring reader will ask why? Allow me, in my small way, to answer that question.

"The March of Folly" was published in 1984 by Knopf. Barbara Tuchman, the renowned historian and writer, explores a basic failing of governments. She gives this failing a name: Wooden-Headedness. She defines that trait as "the pursuit by governments of policies contrary to their own interests."

Before I go further, I must admit that I am a fan of Barbara Tuchman. That is not the case with some of her contemporaries. The author was often criticized, and this book was no exception. She was a historian and writer, but she was also a woman in an academic world very much dominated by male writers, thinkers, and reviewers. Tuchman was born in 1912, and was active as a writer from 1938-1988. This was an era that did not look all that kindly on female academics. Regardless of these criticisms, she is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winning author.

"The March of Folly" uses four examples to illuminate the principle of Wooden-headedness. Why did the men of Troy bring the Greek horse into the walls of the city? Why did the Renaissance popes ignore the failings of the Catholic church, failings that would lead to the conflagration of the Reformation? Why did King George III alienate, and finally cause to rebel, the American Colonists, thus killing the cash cow of the colonies? And, finally, why did the government of the United States adopt policies during the Vietnam war that brought about exactly the opposite of their stated aims?

I return to the reader's question: "Why should I read this book?" Barbara Tuchman was not only a gifted historian, she was also a gifted writer. Tuchman uses clear, concise prose. Her histories are written in a way that is clearly accessible to non-academic readers. I find her work to be engrossing, captivating, and entertaining. Reading "The March of Folly" is not a slog through the dry annuls of history. Rather, it is an illuminating look at how and why seemingly intelligent leaders can do extraordinarily stupid things.

The longest portion of the book deals with the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Given the times and the context, this was also the most controversial portion of the book, and the one most often criticized. I wills set that aside, even though I believe that history has proven the author's point. When I first read Tuchman's theory on the American Revolution, I found a new view of history that I had never encountered during all the long classes I had sat through. The English King, George III, and his advisors, simply could not see the forest for the trees.

Prior to the American revolution, the American colonies were a cash cow for England. The colonies shipped much-needed raw materials to the Mother Country. The colonies were also a closed market for England's manufactured goods, forced to buy finished products from England. Financially, England could not do better. They made money both ways. The colonists were, for the most part, loyal subjects of the Crown. They did not want a revolution. When the colonists requested representation in the English Parliament, they were rebuked by the Crown. George III took the view that the colonists were wayward children that needed to be disciplined.

There were voices of caution along the road, both in England and the colonies, but the Crown chose to ignore them. The disciplinary measures that the George III invoked would ultimately lead a minority of firebrand colonists to incite a revolt, thus killing the cash cow that England treasured. Tuchman's point is that the road to ruin was not a blind alley without options. There were warning signs, and warning voices, on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Despite all evidence to the contrary, George III and his minions pursued a course of action that achieved exactly the opposite of what they wanted. Why? Therein lies the premise of this book.

I mentioned that this book has recently been in my thoughts. There is good reason for this. I think that if Barbara Tuchman were alive today (Tuchman died 1989) she would be compelled to add new sections to "The March of Folly." One has only to look at the current Brexit debacle, or the state of politics in the United States, to see that Wooden-headedness is very much alive and well amongst the governments of the world. The point of this review is not to take a position on either of these current example of Wooden-headedness, but simply to point out that the trait is thriving amongst the governing forces of our times.

I highly recommend "The March of Folly," as I do the rest of Tuchman's work. She is clear thinker, and a gifted writer. Whether or not one agrees with her premises is a matter of opinion. That a reader of "The march of Folly" will exposed to new and interesting historical perspectives is, I believe, a fact.



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