FIFTH AVENUE, 5 A.M. Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman

Listeners whose scope of interest includes the details of the pre-production, filming, and post-production of the 1961 screen classic BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S will likely enjoy this audiobook. Wasson’s well-researched writing is didactic and, at times, too intentionally sensational. In contrast, Grover Gardner’s narration is workmanlike. He employs a deep-voiced documentary style entirely without characterization or emotional texture. There are ample doses of anecdotes that discuss feuds, conflicts, politics, Givenchy fashion, and the larger-than-life persona of Truman Capote, who wrote the original Tiffany novella. But, despite the precision of Gardner’s reading, the work is weak in providing evidence that Hepburn’s performance was a pivotal moment in American sociocultural history. W.A.G. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2012]