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Chocolates for Breakfast
Considered America’s answer to the French sensation BONJOUR TRISTESSE (also published by Harper Perennial), CHOCOLATES FOR BREAKFAST follows Courtney Farrell, a classic disaffected, sexually precocious fifteen year old. Courtney splits her time between Manhattan, where her father works in publishing, and Los Angeles, where her mother is an aging actress. This wild coming-of-age story, scandalous in its day, is also the story of Courtney’s close and ultimately tragic friendship with her boarding school roommate Janet Parker.
Pamela Moore, who went on to publish four other novels, committed suicide in 1964 when she was twenty-six. Her son, Kevin Kanarek, is in charge of the estate. Eager to see this book come back into print, he sought advice from his former French and Latin student, the writer Emma Straub, who put him in touch with her agent Jenni Ferrari-Adler, who was immediately captivated by the novel, as was the Harper Perennial team.
Pamela Moore, who went on to publish four other novels, committed suicide in 1964 when she was twenty-six. Her son, Kevin Kanarek, is in charge of the estate. Eager to see this book come back into print, he sought advice from his former French and Latin student, the writer Emma Straub, who put him in touch with her agent Jenni Ferrari-Adler, who was immediately captivated by the novel, as was the Harper Perennial team.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
67 people are currently reading
4902 people want to read
About the author
Pamela Moore
8 books21 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
1964 TIME Obituary: Fledgling novelist who hit the bestseller lists at 18 with Chocolates for Breakfast, describing a girl's first bittersweet taste of adult pleasures and problems, but had less success with a second novel, and tound her inkwell dry part way through her third, about a washed-up writer who puts a rifle to her head; by her own hand (.22-cal. rifle); in Manhattan.
1964 TIME Obituary: Fledgling novelist who hit the bestseller lists at 18 with Chocolates for Breakfast, describing a girl's first bittersweet taste of adult pleasures and problems, but had less success with a second novel, and tound her inkwell dry part way through her third, about a washed-up writer who puts a rifle to her head; by her own hand (.22-cal. rifle); in Manhattan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 210 reviews
March 26, 2019
Never, I repeat never read a published work by an 18 year old. It's a sad swim in the ocean of the ultimate artist-gods. Pathetic in soo many ways (the emerging poetics of the writer reeking of fervor and expectation; the grubby fad-following fingers of the desperate publishers...). But if you DO feel an 18 year olds project should be given a glance, rely on "Bonjour tristesse", whose American doppelganger is this sad, repetitious, megamelodramatic wreck.
P.S. Read "Kiffe Kiffe demain" instead, dammitt! (Even better than "Bonjour Tristesse"!)
P.S. Read "Kiffe Kiffe demain" instead, dammitt! (Even better than "Bonjour Tristesse"!)
June 2, 2017
"Chocolate for Breakfast" is a book about growing up and the somewhat difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. Courtney is 15 years old when we meet her, and she's a student at a boarding school in the States. Her roommate is also her best friend, Janet; however, when we meet Courtney, she doesn't spend her time with people her own age. Instead, she has a crush on her female teacher whom she thinks about a lot and can't seem to detach from.
This is where the story starts, but it quickly evolves into a journey for Courtney. She experiences hardships and develops very quickly into a young adult who associates with party people. She starts exploring her sexuality, alcohol and the social life of NYC, but the question is whether her development is too fast and too overwhelming?
I liked this book a lot even though it's written in a rather simplistic manner. It speaks of some universal truths, and added to that the life and destiny of the young author, Pamela Moore, only gives the story more depth. Because of these reasons, I see why this book is considered a classic, and I definitely think it's worth a read.
This is where the story starts, but it quickly evolves into a journey for Courtney. She experiences hardships and develops very quickly into a young adult who associates with party people. She starts exploring her sexuality, alcohol and the social life of NYC, but the question is whether her development is too fast and too overwhelming?
I liked this book a lot even though it's written in a rather simplistic manner. It speaks of some universal truths, and added to that the life and destiny of the young author, Pamela Moore, only gives the story more depth. Because of these reasons, I see why this book is considered a classic, and I definitely think it's worth a read.
March 14, 2016
read during my College Years.
I Remember: a girl comes of age in trashy 50s Los Angeles by way of sleazy Hollywood and its sleazier residents... a light, fast read... shallow, overly snarky, homophobic... a brightly-hued & fluffy bit of nihilism... somewhat enjoyable, often fun in a pulpy sort of way... the best-selling Less Than Zero of its generation... women can be sexist too!... apparently the author published the novel at age 18... and committed suicide at age 26. sad!
I Remember: a girl comes of age in trashy 50s Los Angeles by way of sleazy Hollywood and its sleazier residents... a light, fast read... shallow, overly snarky, homophobic... a brightly-hued & fluffy bit of nihilism... somewhat enjoyable, often fun in a pulpy sort of way... the best-selling Less Than Zero of its generation... women can be sexist too!... apparently the author published the novel at age 18... and committed suicide at age 26. sad!
April 13, 2013
Non capisco – e tantomeno penso che capirò mai – il meccanismo per il quale alcuni libri finiscano nel dimenticatoio mentre altri rimangano scintillanti sotto le luci della ribalta. Gli alcuni libri di cui parlo, naturalmente, sono libri che valgono la pena di essere letti, che hanno conosciuto momenti di fama e hanno poi perduto del tutto seguito.. Non mi preoccupo infatti di quei libri che, smaniosi della meritata fama del più forte, nell’orgia assassina della catena letteraria defraudano i pesci più piccoli, più deboli, meno leggibili, meno godibili.
Va da sé che non capisco come un libro quale “Cioccolata a colazione” di Pamela Moore sia potuto andare a finire del dimenticatoio, e non dedicherò altre parole a questo mistero al quale guardo con sdegno. Piuttosto, mi cimenterò a scrivere parole che possano, nel mio piccolo, indurre altre persone a reperire questo testo e goderne la lettura. Inizierò a parlare di questa folgorante lettura prendendomi una licenza, azzardo un altissimo paragone, dirò infatti che Pamela Moore è l’erede diretta di Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Da quest’ultimo infatti ha ereditato eleganza nello stile, disillusione nello svolgersi degli eventi, realismo nel dipingere i personaggi. E, come il mentore che le ho attribuito, sia la scrittrice, che i suoi personaggi, fanno parte della Generazione perduta. Non la stessa Fitzgeraldiana che occupò tra frizzi e sollazzi gli Anni Venti, ma un’altra, altrettanto alcolizzata, disincantata, annoiata, quella degli anni Cinquanta. Il palcoscenico è sempre l’America. L’atmosfera è sempre quella ambigua dei cocktail parties al quale già Jay Gatsby ci aveva invitati.
Cambia il punto di vista. Il filo della narrazione si dipana concentrandosi su Courtney Farrell, sedicenne figlia di un’attrice di Hollywood ormai in declino e di un padre assente nei cui confronti prova quasi paura ogni volta in cui si incontrano, come se si trattasse di uno sconosciuto. Dapprima rinchiusa tra le pareti del college di Scaisbrooke, in seguito giovane scopritrice delle false apparenze del mondo poco brillante di Hollywood, ed infine catapultata nel ritmo frenetico di New York, Courtney è un’anima infelice. Lega la sua infanzia al ricordo degli alcolici di cui era succube la madre, per diventarne vittima nell’adolescenza in un modo quasi automatico, come se si trattasse di un destino inevitabile. Depressa, smarrita nella ricerca della verità, questa giovane ragazza americana passerà dal parlare di Joyce con un’insegnante del suo college al cambiare di compagnia in compagnia maschile per porre rimedio ad un’infanzia perduta in un castello di sabbia andatosi frantumando.
Gli aspetti interessanti di questo libro andato perduto sono tanti. Omosessualità, distruzione del mito hollywoodiano, suicidio giovanile. La stessa Pamela Moore si uccise a meno di trent’anni con un colpo di carabina, e questo suo anelito di morte si avverte per tutta la narrazione. Per questo parlo di questo libro in modo così impietrito, perché sono amareggiata, ancora una volta toccata da una mano quasi mortale, proprio come mi accade quando leggo Francis Scott che, se non si suicidò, non volle sicuramente bene alla propria vita. Tutte le pagine ingiallite di questo volume trasudano amarezza, abbandono, sono come un grido d’aiuto che si perde soffocato tra litri d’alcool e notte fattesi mattino in compagnia della “ciurma”, poco assennata compagnia composta da giovani studenti rivoltosi di Yale con i quali Courtney scorrazza per New York. E questi giovani sbandati, che si annoiano nel divertimento, che nella noia stessa e nella routine avvinazzata e smodata ricercano se stessi, non sono altro che i Belli e dannati ai quali Fitzgerald già si abituò, è curioso notare che ricorrono persino delle omonimie. C’è un Anthony perduto là, c’è un Anthony perduto qua. Balza agli occhi il fatto che la frenesia con la quale i personaggi vivono è un modo azzardato di combattere il fatto che raggiungere la felicità sia impossibile. Qualsiasi aspetto dell’esistenza, persino la sessualità, è trattato con superficialità. Tanto per i giovani, quanto per gli adulti. La madre di Courtney, attrice fallita, ne è l’emblema. Impegnata a salvare le apparenze, non si cura di indebitarsi per una cifra molto più alta di quella che potrà restituire.
Ma la nota dolente di questo romanzo è il personaggio di Janet, compagna di stanza di Courtney presso Scaisbrooke e sua Caronte per la bella e giovane vita di New York, è un personaggio tragico all’inverosimile, lo scarto della società, il prodotto di un mondo che non si cura di volersi bene, e di voler bene ai propri figli. Anche nel rapporto tra le due si nota una certa forma di mutismo, quasi un’impossibilità a essere se stessi, un impasse di emozioni e capacità di conoscersi più a fondo. Parlano di ragazzi, dell’alcool che bevono continuamente e delle sigarette che una insegna all’altra a fumare. Nemmeno quando sarà troppo tardi, riusciranno a tendersi realmente la mano.
Una prosa impeccabile, un accanimento nei confronti del lettore silenzioso, ma profondo, fanno di questo romanzo un prodotto imperdibile. E ne fanno per me un oggetto di inestimabile valore, in quanto giuntomi dalle mani di una persona amata che, per me, lo ha riesumato dalla polvere di un mercatino, consapevole di quanto ci avrei ritrovato i miei amati Zelda e Francis Scott. Non posso purtroppo provvederne la ristampa, ma vi chiedo gentilmente, per voi stessi, di munirvi di questa lettura, spulciate nei mercatini, chiedete alle biblioteche. Non perdete per nulla al mondo il grido che Pamela Moore fece prima di saltare nel vuoto.
Va da sé che non capisco come un libro quale “Cioccolata a colazione” di Pamela Moore sia potuto andare a finire del dimenticatoio, e non dedicherò altre parole a questo mistero al quale guardo con sdegno. Piuttosto, mi cimenterò a scrivere parole che possano, nel mio piccolo, indurre altre persone a reperire questo testo e goderne la lettura. Inizierò a parlare di questa folgorante lettura prendendomi una licenza, azzardo un altissimo paragone, dirò infatti che Pamela Moore è l’erede diretta di Francis Scott Fitzgerald. Da quest’ultimo infatti ha ereditato eleganza nello stile, disillusione nello svolgersi degli eventi, realismo nel dipingere i personaggi. E, come il mentore che le ho attribuito, sia la scrittrice, che i suoi personaggi, fanno parte della Generazione perduta. Non la stessa Fitzgeraldiana che occupò tra frizzi e sollazzi gli Anni Venti, ma un’altra, altrettanto alcolizzata, disincantata, annoiata, quella degli anni Cinquanta. Il palcoscenico è sempre l’America. L’atmosfera è sempre quella ambigua dei cocktail parties al quale già Jay Gatsby ci aveva invitati.
Cambia il punto di vista. Il filo della narrazione si dipana concentrandosi su Courtney Farrell, sedicenne figlia di un’attrice di Hollywood ormai in declino e di un padre assente nei cui confronti prova quasi paura ogni volta in cui si incontrano, come se si trattasse di uno sconosciuto. Dapprima rinchiusa tra le pareti del college di Scaisbrooke, in seguito giovane scopritrice delle false apparenze del mondo poco brillante di Hollywood, ed infine catapultata nel ritmo frenetico di New York, Courtney è un’anima infelice. Lega la sua infanzia al ricordo degli alcolici di cui era succube la madre, per diventarne vittima nell’adolescenza in un modo quasi automatico, come se si trattasse di un destino inevitabile. Depressa, smarrita nella ricerca della verità, questa giovane ragazza americana passerà dal parlare di Joyce con un’insegnante del suo college al cambiare di compagnia in compagnia maschile per porre rimedio ad un’infanzia perduta in un castello di sabbia andatosi frantumando.
Gli aspetti interessanti di questo libro andato perduto sono tanti. Omosessualità, distruzione del mito hollywoodiano, suicidio giovanile. La stessa Pamela Moore si uccise a meno di trent’anni con un colpo di carabina, e questo suo anelito di morte si avverte per tutta la narrazione. Per questo parlo di questo libro in modo così impietrito, perché sono amareggiata, ancora una volta toccata da una mano quasi mortale, proprio come mi accade quando leggo Francis Scott che, se non si suicidò, non volle sicuramente bene alla propria vita. Tutte le pagine ingiallite di questo volume trasudano amarezza, abbandono, sono come un grido d’aiuto che si perde soffocato tra litri d’alcool e notte fattesi mattino in compagnia della “ciurma”, poco assennata compagnia composta da giovani studenti rivoltosi di Yale con i quali Courtney scorrazza per New York. E questi giovani sbandati, che si annoiano nel divertimento, che nella noia stessa e nella routine avvinazzata e smodata ricercano se stessi, non sono altro che i Belli e dannati ai quali Fitzgerald già si abituò, è curioso notare che ricorrono persino delle omonimie. C’è un Anthony perduto là, c’è un Anthony perduto qua. Balza agli occhi il fatto che la frenesia con la quale i personaggi vivono è un modo azzardato di combattere il fatto che raggiungere la felicità sia impossibile. Qualsiasi aspetto dell’esistenza, persino la sessualità, è trattato con superficialità. Tanto per i giovani, quanto per gli adulti. La madre di Courtney, attrice fallita, ne è l’emblema. Impegnata a salvare le apparenze, non si cura di indebitarsi per una cifra molto più alta di quella che potrà restituire.
Ma la nota dolente di questo romanzo è il personaggio di Janet, compagna di stanza di Courtney presso Scaisbrooke e sua Caronte per la bella e giovane vita di New York, è un personaggio tragico all’inverosimile, lo scarto della società, il prodotto di un mondo che non si cura di volersi bene, e di voler bene ai propri figli. Anche nel rapporto tra le due si nota una certa forma di mutismo, quasi un’impossibilità a essere se stessi, un impasse di emozioni e capacità di conoscersi più a fondo. Parlano di ragazzi, dell’alcool che bevono continuamente e delle sigarette che una insegna all’altra a fumare. Nemmeno quando sarà troppo tardi, riusciranno a tendersi realmente la mano.
Una prosa impeccabile, un accanimento nei confronti del lettore silenzioso, ma profondo, fanno di questo romanzo un prodotto imperdibile. E ne fanno per me un oggetto di inestimabile valore, in quanto giuntomi dalle mani di una persona amata che, per me, lo ha riesumato dalla polvere di un mercatino, consapevole di quanto ci avrei ritrovato i miei amati Zelda e Francis Scott. Non posso purtroppo provvederne la ristampa, ma vi chiedo gentilmente, per voi stessi, di munirvi di questa lettura, spulciate nei mercatini, chiedete alle biblioteche. Non perdete per nulla al mondo il grido che Pamela Moore fece prima di saltare nel vuoto.
March 26, 2021
Sadly not the trashy, escapist diversion I was hoping for, more of a 1950s' curio. When Pamela Moore’s novel was first published it made her, albeit briefly, a literary sensation, its controversial subject matter inciting feverish comparisons to Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye and Francoise Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse. Moore’s later suicide in her early 20s added to the book’s cult status bringing yet more comparisons, this time to writers like Sylvia Plath. It centres on teenager Courtney Farrell, her father’s pretty much absent and her mother’s a fading actress whose parenting seems to consist of plying her with alcohol, while her youthful good looks make her prey to decidedly creepy male suitors. The narrative charts Courtney’s emotional lows and highs and her increasingly decadent lifestyle; she has a crush on her schoolteacher Miss Rosen and complicated feelings for her friend Janet (although a number of the passages relating to this were cut in the American edition and only restored in a later French version); abandoning her strict boarding-school she moves in with her mother first in Hollywood, later New York, and spends her time drinking, having sex with predatory men, and dealing with her growing dissatisfaction and depression through cutting, spending a short spell committed to a sanitorium. The idea that Courtney’s problems are purely individual are dispelled by Janet’s equally appalling experiences - on the surface Janet seems to have her life under control but her self-esteem is slowly being eroded by her alcoholic, abusive father.
Although Moore’s depiction of life for a particular group of supposedly-privileged young women is a painful one, that exposed aspects of American society rarely explored so explicitly at the time, it’s a very strange piece to read now. It's fascinating as a portrait of a particular place and time and for the way the female characters have internalised the male gaze, viewing themselves as objects while desperately trying to find a way to be subjects in their own right but it's also deeply flawed as a work of fiction. On one level it’s overtly sensationalist reminding me of boundary-pushing novels like Valley of the Dolls and Peyton Place but it lacks their fast-paced, twisty, reader-friendly plots, instead Moore’s story-telling mainly consists of page after page of stilted dialogue and longwinded social scene setting. And, despite its liminal status as an underappreciated LGBTQ classic, it’s often deeply homophobic - here played out through Courtney’s brief fling with a gay actor who’s using her to demonstrate his underlying masculinity. The edition I have is accompanied by copious background material and it’s clear that for a number of people Moore’s work was highly influential. But I wonder if that's because they first read it in their teens when it stood out from more sanitised representations of teenage existence, maybe if I’d encountered it at a similar point I’d have found it compulsive reading too, instead of being intensely relieved when it was finally over.
Although Moore’s depiction of life for a particular group of supposedly-privileged young women is a painful one, that exposed aspects of American society rarely explored so explicitly at the time, it’s a very strange piece to read now. It's fascinating as a portrait of a particular place and time and for the way the female characters have internalised the male gaze, viewing themselves as objects while desperately trying to find a way to be subjects in their own right but it's also deeply flawed as a work of fiction. On one level it’s overtly sensationalist reminding me of boundary-pushing novels like Valley of the Dolls and Peyton Place but it lacks their fast-paced, twisty, reader-friendly plots, instead Moore’s story-telling mainly consists of page after page of stilted dialogue and longwinded social scene setting. And, despite its liminal status as an underappreciated LGBTQ classic, it’s often deeply homophobic - here played out through Courtney’s brief fling with a gay actor who’s using her to demonstrate his underlying masculinity. The edition I have is accompanied by copious background material and it’s clear that for a number of people Moore’s work was highly influential. But I wonder if that's because they first read it in their teens when it stood out from more sanitised representations of teenage existence, maybe if I’d encountered it at a similar point I’d have found it compulsive reading too, instead of being intensely relieved when it was finally over.
April 1, 2014
Courtney Farrell is a 15-year-old boarding school student with divorced bicoastal parents. She has little interaction with her parents (they actually forget about her over spring break, leaving her alone at school for a couple of days), so her only advice comes from Janet, her roommate and best friend; well, her only friend. After a breakdown Courtney leaves school and moves to Hollywood with her actress mother. Proximity doesn’t provide any more parental influence, however. She is basically left to her own devices, spending her afternoons at the pool and her evenings in the company of various actors, learning to smoke, drink and losing her virginity to a bisexual actor at least 10 years her senior. When summer ends she does enroll in school, but makes no friends. A year goes by and then her mother’s career takes them both back to New York – where her father lives – but things don’t change much. Except that she reconnects with Janet, and the two of them (now 17 or 18) spend their evenings going to bars and cocktail parties with a group of wealthy college dropouts, presumably waiting for their lives to begin.
Pamela Moore was only eighteen when this debut novel was first published in 1956. It was a sensation and an international best seller. But it’s clear to me that it was written by an 18-year-old. There is talent here, but it’s raw. One quote pretty much sums up the philosophy of Courtney and Janet:
Centering her life around men rather than around her mother was more secure: men were at least replaceable if they failed.
Interesting that she doesn’t draw any comparison between “men” and her “father.”
Courtney is also caught up in a romantic fantasy of living a charmed life. At one point her father says that she is like her mother – If she were drowning, she would wave off the rescuers in a last gesture of defiance, because they were fishermen in a rowboat and she wanted to be saved by a yacht. - He then orders his teen daughter another Martini!
When first published it was considered scandalous for the references to homosexuality, divorce and suicide. Apparently all the drinking, smoking and teenager/older man sex didn’t seem unusual.
Major book reviews have called it “Permeated with sadness and existential longing” (Los Angeles Review of Books), or “A gem of adolescent disaffection featuring a Holden Caulfield-like heroine (Vogue). In a sense I agree with these assessments, but I didn’t find it sensational, moving, or terribly interesting. I just found it sad, in the way that I feel sad when reading about any young person who is so very lost.
I understand that Courtney is displaying signs of depression; I get that her distant parents provide little structure to help stabilize her; I recognize that her exclusive friendship with Janet is a recipe for disaster. I did like that Courtney is a loyal friend, and tries her best to make a way for herself. But I never cared about her or any of the other characters. It’s a pretty fast read, though I had a hard time getting into it. And an even harder time watching the inevitable spiral to disaster.
July 8, 2016
I loved this little gem, but then again, I love coming-of-age stories. And I love 1950s New York, and lots of descriptions of ice clinking in cocktails, so not too surprising. The narrator had such an interesting voice and made me remember very clearly what it was like to be sixteen.
February 7, 2017
Unexpectedly brilliant. I really enjoyed this and read it in one sitting.
February 5, 2014
So not only did Pamela Moore write an incredible book, but she wrote an incredible, taboo, feminist book about growing up when she was only 18 years old and living in the socially conservative 1950’s. That’s a pretty powerful act if you ask me, and you can be damn sure that Chocolates for Breakfast made the banned books list in about 0.5 seconds flat. (A compliment, in case you didn’t already know).
This book is pretty dark and probably not my first recommendation for the glass-is-half-fullers or chronic-sugar-coaters of the world. Moore explores the painful, necessary process of detaching from one’s parents (who, as we all find out eventually, are just as fucked up and human as the rest of us) and what it means to fly solo in a big, crazy world that often feels hostile and ugly.
Using the life of the book’s main character Courtney, Moore boldly broaches topics like sexual awakening and promiscuity, depression, double standards and gender socialization, friendship, booze, the meaning of life and death, and even homosexuality (*gasp!*). That’s a lot of punch for a 1950’s novel written by a female author!
Chocolates for Breakfast was Moore’s biggest claim to fame. It was on the bestseller list for quite some time and was ultimately translated into 11 different languages. She wrote four other novels, though none received such high praise.
Moore committed suicide in 1964 while working on her sixth book after a long struggle with depression which was not diagnosed or commonly treated at the time. She was 26 years old.
Sometimes the world is just too heavy.
This book is pretty dark and probably not my first recommendation for the glass-is-half-fullers or chronic-sugar-coaters of the world. Moore explores the painful, necessary process of detaching from one’s parents (who, as we all find out eventually, are just as fucked up and human as the rest of us) and what it means to fly solo in a big, crazy world that often feels hostile and ugly.
Using the life of the book’s main character Courtney, Moore boldly broaches topics like sexual awakening and promiscuity, depression, double standards and gender socialization, friendship, booze, the meaning of life and death, and even homosexuality (*gasp!*). That’s a lot of punch for a 1950’s novel written by a female author!
Chocolates for Breakfast was Moore’s biggest claim to fame. It was on the bestseller list for quite some time and was ultimately translated into 11 different languages. She wrote four other novels, though none received such high praise.
Moore committed suicide in 1964 while working on her sixth book after a long struggle with depression which was not diagnosed or commonly treated at the time. She was 26 years old.
Sometimes the world is just too heavy.
March 30, 2016
I was drawn to this book about a teenage girl because it was published when I was a teenage boy & indeed the idiom brought back the 50s wonderfully: “ it’s a blast” “have a ball” “making out” “weenie” “that’s a drag” “out of it” - as well as some of the little details, like the new white luggage Courtney’s mother buys for their return to New York. I can’t recall wanting to read Chocolates for Breakfast then but I know I didn’t. I read Bonjour Tristesse, tho’ I had no idea who was this Bergson that Cécile was supposed to be reading for her exams & wasn’t. Of course I read The Catcher in the Rye because it was the book members of our clique were supposed to like. Tho’ belonging to the same period, The Bell Jar appeared only in 1963, after Plath was dead. Like Plath, Pamela Moore was a suicide, but unlike Plath & of course Salinger, she’s never been idolized by a cult. Yet now I found the principal character of Chocolates for Breakfast Courtney Farrell much more attractive & intriguing than either Esther Greenwood or Holden Caulfield, & frankly the whole family of Glasses too! In my current idiom, the chick rocks! In my teens, I wouldn’t have liked Courtney, but I’d have been very attracted to her but she certainly would’ve preferred older men. Which would have made her even more attractively out of reach.
Courtney’s jejune spirituality struck a chord too. I can still recall the effects of the same highly toxic species of pre-Vat-II Roman Catholicism that offers Courtney no consolation or spiritual sustenance but buckets of guilt instead. Unfortunately her school could not provide her with a formation either, tho’ I thought Miss Rosen could have been the model & guide every teen needs, providing a significant relationship with an adult who is not a parent (like Coach & Addy in Dare Me).We sense that Miss Rosen got a word to the wise from the headmistress that her relationship with Courtney might be getting too close for propriety. But it was unfortunate she dumped Courtney, because there is no one else Courtney can rely on for advice & support in dealing with relationships. As for her lovers, I found Barry likable but very weak, as you’d expect of a failed actor turned professional boy-toy. Anthony struck me as a purely literary creation out of Wilde & Waugh, but believable as a contrast to the odious collegian drunks who are very true to life indeed. Courtney’s BF Jane is the stereotypical party girl of the time, popular because she is “easy” & her fate is all too believable. Several of my friends had alcoholic fathers not unlike hers.
So Chocolates for Breakfast strikes me as a fairly true picture of what life was like among the upper classes in America in the 1950s, with its clouds of tobacco smoke, rivers of alcohol, & total spiritual malaise. Not @ all like the time of confidence & prosperity that it is too often portrayed as these days. Even if I’d had the chance to encounter her - she was only four years older than me - Pamela Moore probably would have represented a very high maintenance friendship indeed. But now I think I'd have liked to have had the chance to try.
Just maybe I’m ready to give Bonjour tristesse another go - en français this time.
Courtney’s jejune spirituality struck a chord too. I can still recall the effects of the same highly toxic species of pre-Vat-II Roman Catholicism that offers Courtney no consolation or spiritual sustenance but buckets of guilt instead. Unfortunately her school could not provide her with a formation either, tho’ I thought Miss Rosen could have been the model & guide every teen needs, providing a significant relationship with an adult who is not a parent (like Coach & Addy in Dare Me).We sense that Miss Rosen got a word to the wise from the headmistress that her relationship with Courtney might be getting too close for propriety. But it was unfortunate she dumped Courtney, because there is no one else Courtney can rely on for advice & support in dealing with relationships. As for her lovers, I found Barry likable but very weak, as you’d expect of a failed actor turned professional boy-toy. Anthony struck me as a purely literary creation out of Wilde & Waugh, but believable as a contrast to the odious collegian drunks who are very true to life indeed. Courtney’s BF Jane is the stereotypical party girl of the time, popular because she is “easy” & her fate is all too believable. Several of my friends had alcoholic fathers not unlike hers.
So Chocolates for Breakfast strikes me as a fairly true picture of what life was like among the upper classes in America in the 1950s, with its clouds of tobacco smoke, rivers of alcohol, & total spiritual malaise. Not @ all like the time of confidence & prosperity that it is too often portrayed as these days. Even if I’d had the chance to encounter her - she was only four years older than me - Pamela Moore probably would have represented a very high maintenance friendship indeed. But now I think I'd have liked to have had the chance to try.
Just maybe I’m ready to give Bonjour tristesse another go - en français this time.
May 23, 2019
Chocolates for Breakfast’ı (Kahvaltı İçin Çikolata) uzun yıllardır duyuyorum ve kitabı bitirdiğim an ilk aklıma gelen şu oldu: “Pamela Moore, ilk Melissa P imiş ve bizim haberimiz yokmuş!” GoodReads’de, kitabın altında şöyle bir göz gezdirdiğim yorumların çoğu “eğer 18 yaşında biz kız kitap yazdıysa aman sakın okumayın” demiş… Pardon ama, tüm dünya Melissa Panarello’nun 17 yaşındayken yayınladığı Yatmadan Önce 100 Fırça Darbesi’ni yalayıp yutmadı mı? Hatta öyle bir yuttular da kitap film olmadı mı? Oldu. Neden içerik hafif değişince (bknz. sadece ve sadece seks odaklı olmayıp da daha fazla “genç kız içgörüsü” olunca) “amanın okumayın!” deniyor? Buna bir sinirlendim; baştan söyleyeyim…
15-16 yaşlarını temel alarak, otobiyografik bir kitap yazdığına inanılan Pamela Moore, Chocolates for Breakfast 1956 yılında yayınlandığında 18 yaşındaymış. İlk Genç Yetişkin romanlarından olduğunu bile söyleyebiliriz bence; her ne kadar içinde vampirdir, kurt adamdır olmasa da… Ana karakterimiz, 15 yaşındaki Courtney ile tanıştığımızda kendisi yatılı okulda okuyor. Boşanmış ebeveynleri arasında, New York ve Hollywood arasında gidip geliyor sonra. İçinde bulunduğu ortam, yetişkinlerin yetişkin olamadığı, sürekli içip, eğlenmeye çalışmakla meşgul oldukları ancak depresyondan da bir türlü çıkamayıp, birbirlerini ezip, üzdükleri bir ortam. Bu ortamda yetişen çocuklar da, Courtney ve arkadaşları da tabii ki dahil olmak üzere, daha 15 yaşında olmalarına rağmen annelerinin en sevdiği kokteyli başarılı bir şekilde yapabilen ve hatta içebilen çocuklar. Siz de tahmin edersiniz ki Pamela Moore seksi keşfediş konusunu da işlemiş ama başta da dediğim gibi Melissa P’nin yaptığı gibi değil; bence Chocolates for Breakfast’ın insanları en rahatsız eden yanı yetişkinlerin psikolojilerinin inanılmaz bozuk olması ve yetişkin rolünü üstlenmeye çalışan çocukların başı boş bir şekilde saçmalaması…
Devamı: https://zimlicious.com/pamela-moore-i...
15-16 yaşlarını temel alarak, otobiyografik bir kitap yazdığına inanılan Pamela Moore, Chocolates for Breakfast 1956 yılında yayınlandığında 18 yaşındaymış. İlk Genç Yetişkin romanlarından olduğunu bile söyleyebiliriz bence; her ne kadar içinde vampirdir, kurt adamdır olmasa da… Ana karakterimiz, 15 yaşındaki Courtney ile tanıştığımızda kendisi yatılı okulda okuyor. Boşanmış ebeveynleri arasında, New York ve Hollywood arasında gidip geliyor sonra. İçinde bulunduğu ortam, yetişkinlerin yetişkin olamadığı, sürekli içip, eğlenmeye çalışmakla meşgul oldukları ancak depresyondan da bir türlü çıkamayıp, birbirlerini ezip, üzdükleri bir ortam. Bu ortamda yetişen çocuklar da, Courtney ve arkadaşları da tabii ki dahil olmak üzere, daha 15 yaşında olmalarına rağmen annelerinin en sevdiği kokteyli başarılı bir şekilde yapabilen ve hatta içebilen çocuklar. Siz de tahmin edersiniz ki Pamela Moore seksi keşfediş konusunu da işlemiş ama başta da dediğim gibi Melissa P’nin yaptığı gibi değil; bence Chocolates for Breakfast’ın insanları en rahatsız eden yanı yetişkinlerin psikolojilerinin inanılmaz bozuk olması ve yetişkin rolünü üstlenmeye çalışan çocukların başı boş bir şekilde saçmalaması…
Devamı: https://zimlicious.com/pamela-moore-i...
October 8, 2013
This book is the 1950's version of Gossip Girl, with classic drunken socialites kicked out of boarding school, slouching their way towards Bethlehem and generally behaving badly. It's a booze soaked world swirling in cigarette smoke where parents are ineffectual, children are given unlimited spending money and New York seems to fall at their feet. In other words, it's great fun.
Reading this book I was continually mesmerized by the age of the author: 18. (This is a reissue - it was contemporary at the time.) Her insight into society and the creatures who inhabit this world are devastating. They are so far above her years as to be continually fascinating. I don't think the book would have been nearly as enjoyable if I hadn't been continually marveling at the age of the writer. She was one smart cookie who sadly killed herself at age 26 after subsequent literary disappointments.
Although this is an enjoyable bon bon of a book, it hits on predictably dark themes: alcoholism, promiscuity, the vacuity of the trust fund life and most pedantic of all: bad parenting. The main character runs from one bad environment to the next, her self absorbed parents seemingly unable or unwilling to make a hard call. Drinks are casually served to 15 year olds. Cigarettes are offered as freely as candy. Sure, some of this is the era but allowing a child one drink and calling it discipline is still suspect in any age.
Although there isn't much that is new or shocking, I can see why it would have been both in the 1950's. Now it's par for the course and could be matched shock for shock, with added sex scenes by any teen driven show on TV. Especially reality TV.
There's nothing particularly outstanding about this book other than it's a fun read with a likeable, sympathetic young character. Sometimes that's all a person needs.
Reading this book I was continually mesmerized by the age of the author: 18. (This is a reissue - it was contemporary at the time.) Her insight into society and the creatures who inhabit this world are devastating. They are so far above her years as to be continually fascinating. I don't think the book would have been nearly as enjoyable if I hadn't been continually marveling at the age of the writer. She was one smart cookie who sadly killed herself at age 26 after subsequent literary disappointments.
Although this is an enjoyable bon bon of a book, it hits on predictably dark themes: alcoholism, promiscuity, the vacuity of the trust fund life and most pedantic of all: bad parenting. The main character runs from one bad environment to the next, her self absorbed parents seemingly unable or unwilling to make a hard call. Drinks are casually served to 15 year olds. Cigarettes are offered as freely as candy. Sure, some of this is the era but allowing a child one drink and calling it discipline is still suspect in any age.
Although there isn't much that is new or shocking, I can see why it would have been both in the 1950's. Now it's par for the course and could be matched shock for shock, with added sex scenes by any teen driven show on TV. Especially reality TV.
There's nothing particularly outstanding about this book other than it's a fun read with a likeable, sympathetic young character. Sometimes that's all a person needs.
December 13, 2015
This easily became an all time favorite! I picked this up in a used bookstore while visiting Chicago and that experience paired with the history of this novel really added to the experience of reading it. Originally published in 1954, this story is still relevant to today's culture. Pamela Moore was truly ahead of her time. I thoroughly enjoyed the Foreword which sheds light on the republication of this book (thank goodness!) and a brief insight about the author and how this novel parallels parts of her actual life.
The story follows Courtney's life from age 15-17 as she moves from boarding school, to LA, and back to NYC. The author takes you along her journey of sexuality, relationships, gaining independence from parental/child roles, and depression. Such a moving novel that I could not put down and in fact finished in one setting ❤️. HIGHLY recommend if you are looking for an original story with grit and heartache that is poetically written. A classic, and decadent as it sounds "Chocolates for Breakfast"
The story follows Courtney's life from age 15-17 as she moves from boarding school, to LA, and back to NYC. The author takes you along her journey of sexuality, relationships, gaining independence from parental/child roles, and depression. Such a moving novel that I could not put down and in fact finished in one setting ❤️. HIGHLY recommend if you are looking for an original story with grit and heartache that is poetically written. A classic, and decadent as it sounds "Chocolates for Breakfast"
July 23, 2014
I really loved this book; maybe one of my favorites this year, and that includes some really remarkable fiction.
I've read the entire original American version, the deleted portions, and parts of the altered later version first published in French.
The original, with the censored material, seems the best version.
That this book was shocking speaks volumes about our society. The author, at eighteen, grasped childhood, the role of parents and children, better than many older and more experienced writers.
Her writing is delightful; she constructs beautiful sentences and odd, affected, but natural sounding and honest dialogue.
Her references to Joyce, Fitzgerald, and other literary writers show an impressively well read writer.
It is a shame that Moore did not enjoy a long life; I suspect she'd be a treasured American writer if she did.
I've read the entire original American version, the deleted portions, and parts of the altered later version first published in French.
The original, with the censored material, seems the best version.
That this book was shocking speaks volumes about our society. The author, at eighteen, grasped childhood, the role of parents and children, better than many older and more experienced writers.
Her writing is delightful; she constructs beautiful sentences and odd, affected, but natural sounding and honest dialogue.
Her references to Joyce, Fitzgerald, and other literary writers show an impressively well read writer.
It is a shame that Moore did not enjoy a long life; I suspect she'd be a treasured American writer if she did.
July 11, 2016
This book is a favourite of mine, despite being not especially well written. This is because it submerged me in the process of the spiral of despair experienced by so many people who come to feel alienated from....humanity, I guess. Hopelessness. And, historically, it actually says that incest and child sexual abuse can happen in 'good' families.
In other words, the author didn't gloss over the truth of misery. For its great authenticity of feeling I put it into an all time fave category though it is hardly great literature. Misery is not uplifting but it is a horrible reality.
So, this poor young girl (by which I mean the author) wrote this book which bears parallels to many a teenager's life (certainly to mine) and died at 26 by suicide. I have to wonder how autobiographical this novel was.
In other words, the author didn't gloss over the truth of misery. For its great authenticity of feeling I put it into an all time fave category though it is hardly great literature. Misery is not uplifting but it is a horrible reality.
So, this poor young girl (by which I mean the author) wrote this book which bears parallels to many a teenager's life (certainly to mine) and died at 26 by suicide. I have to wonder how autobiographical this novel was.
May 5, 2019
Tal vez no es perfecto pero me encantó.
February 25, 2019
When this book popped up on the kindle sale list a while ago, it caught my attention mostly because there used to be an awesome clothing store in the Ala Moana Mall in Honolulu called Chocolates for Breakfast. (Not that I ever bought anything there. I was an impoverished early twenty-something at the time who could barely afford rent and ramen noodles, let alone fancy imported clothing. At the time, I was working at a juice shop and writing my own coming of age novel in my spare time--a novel which, thankfully, never saw the light of day, as it was quite terrible and indie publishing was still relegated to shameful "vanity presses." But, like usual, I digress....)
The book then languished on my kindle for a while because I was hesitant to embark on what was sure to be a pretentious recounting of the woes of spoiled youth, penned by an author too young to realize when she was being self-indulgent, but I decided to read it anyway, because I am usually curious about the bestsellers of yesteryear. And honestly...it's not a bad book. I actually kinda liked it. (And it's certainly leagues better than what I was attempting to write during my own youthful, self-indulgent period!)
The protagonist, Courtney, is sent from her posh boarding school (where she was suffering from depression and a supposedly Sapphic crush on one of her teachers) to stay with her mom, an actress in Hollywood who has become past her prime. There, she lives in genteel poverty and begins smoking, drinking to excess, and engaging in an affair with an actor (who's at least a decade older than her.) After another breakdown, she is sent to New York City, where even more drinking, smoking and sleeping around occur. It's a rather depressing scene (especially after I learned that the author committed suicide at age 26), but described in vivid and effective detail. It does come across as rather jejeune at times, but the authenticity of the character's emotions makes up for the occasional lapses into immaturity.
Would I recommend this book to others? Yes, I would, as it's an interesting period piece and in many ways was quite ahead of its time. I thought it was especially interesting as a story of a characters struggling with depression, and as such, would be an interesting companion to Plath's The Bell Jar.
The book then languished on my kindle for a while because I was hesitant to embark on what was sure to be a pretentious recounting of the woes of spoiled youth, penned by an author too young to realize when she was being self-indulgent, but I decided to read it anyway, because I am usually curious about the bestsellers of yesteryear. And honestly...it's not a bad book. I actually kinda liked it. (And it's certainly leagues better than what I was attempting to write during my own youthful, self-indulgent period!)
The protagonist, Courtney, is sent from her posh boarding school (where she was suffering from depression and a supposedly Sapphic crush on one of her teachers) to stay with her mom, an actress in Hollywood who has become past her prime. There, she lives in genteel poverty and begins smoking, drinking to excess, and engaging in an affair with an actor (who's at least a decade older than her.) After another breakdown, she is sent to New York City, where even more drinking, smoking and sleeping around occur. It's a rather depressing scene (especially after I learned that the author committed suicide at age 26), but described in vivid and effective detail. It does come across as rather jejeune at times, but the authenticity of the character's emotions makes up for the occasional lapses into immaturity.
Would I recommend this book to others? Yes, I would, as it's an interesting period piece and in many ways was quite ahead of its time. I thought it was especially interesting as a story of a characters struggling with depression, and as such, would be an interesting companion to Plath's The Bell Jar.
August 29, 2020
L'infanzia è una condizione dello spirito
...cui si aggrappano gli adulti per sfuggire alle responsabilità del loro modo di vivere.
Lettura iniziata svogliatamente e terminata senza entusiasmo.
Pamela Moore ci trasporta negli anni Cinquanta, in un mondo di adolescenti senza inibizioni, tra New York e Hollywood, tra alcol e sesso, disperazione e perversioni, spregiudicatezza e insoddisfazione...
Ma il valore e l'interesse del romanzo, al di là delle possibili qualità letterarie, penso dipendano da due altri fattori:
- dal suo carattere autobiografico, avendo P. M. sperimentato e vissuto, dopo il divorzio dei genitori, le stesse precoci esperienze e gli stessi turbamenti giovanili che l'hanno in seguito condotta, appena ventisettenne, al suicidio.
- dall'audacia dei temi trattati in relazione agli anni di pubblicazione. Dopo il successo all'estero, in Italia è stato pubblicato nel 1957 da Alberto Mondadori, nonostante i grandi blocchi culturali e sociali. L'uscita del romanzo ("il libro di una ragazza, ma non per le ragazze") ha generato grande scalpore per la scabrosità dei temi, e uno scandalo sfociato nella denuncia all'editore che si risolse, con l'assoluzione, solo nel 1964.
Tenendo poi conto della età dell'autrice, appena diciottenne, si sarebbe potuto considerare un coraggioso romanzo d'esordio; in realtà la successiva produzione, sempre a tema, fu caldamente scoraggiata dagli editori italiani, causandole probabilmente il suicidio quattro mesi prima della sentenza.
Il libro, considerato "proibito" negli anni 60, non è altro che il quadro tragico e realistico della "gioventù dorata" nordamericana [...] che, dietro la maschera di una esasperata spregiudicatezza, nasconde l'angoscia e l'insicurezza di un'adolescenza vissuta senza affetto e senza guida (come si legge nella quarta di copertina).
...cui si aggrappano gli adulti per sfuggire alle responsabilità del loro modo di vivere.
Lettura iniziata svogliatamente e terminata senza entusiasmo.
Pamela Moore ci trasporta negli anni Cinquanta, in un mondo di adolescenti senza inibizioni, tra New York e Hollywood, tra alcol e sesso, disperazione e perversioni, spregiudicatezza e insoddisfazione...
Ma il valore e l'interesse del romanzo, al di là delle possibili qualità letterarie, penso dipendano da due altri fattori:
- dal suo carattere autobiografico, avendo P. M. sperimentato e vissuto, dopo il divorzio dei genitori, le stesse precoci esperienze e gli stessi turbamenti giovanili che l'hanno in seguito condotta, appena ventisettenne, al suicidio.
- dall'audacia dei temi trattati in relazione agli anni di pubblicazione. Dopo il successo all'estero, in Italia è stato pubblicato nel 1957 da Alberto Mondadori, nonostante i grandi blocchi culturali e sociali. L'uscita del romanzo ("il libro di una ragazza, ma non per le ragazze") ha generato grande scalpore per la scabrosità dei temi, e uno scandalo sfociato nella denuncia all'editore che si risolse, con l'assoluzione, solo nel 1964.
Tenendo poi conto della età dell'autrice, appena diciottenne, si sarebbe potuto considerare un coraggioso romanzo d'esordio; in realtà la successiva produzione, sempre a tema, fu caldamente scoraggiata dagli editori italiani, causandole probabilmente il suicidio quattro mesi prima della sentenza.
Il libro, considerato "proibito" negli anni 60, non è altro che il quadro tragico e realistico della "gioventù dorata" nordamericana [...] che, dietro la maschera di una esasperata spregiudicatezza, nasconde l'angoscia e l'insicurezza di un'adolescenza vissuta senza affetto e senza guida (come si legge nella quarta di copertina).
March 17, 2020
The title, of course, is sex; not just the act itself, but all the sugar, pleasure, tension, indulgence, etc., that could--or might--culminate in the act itself. (When, in fact, you indulge yourself!) Like the "lost generation" one character refers to -- after the World Wars, it seems we're already becoming referential -- these folks have a lot to do, but nowhere to go (or, vice versa). Thomas Pynchon's "Whole Sick" one makes a lot more sense, relative to this "crew" (and, ditto, the social life of the characters in his little-collected "Mortality and Mercy in Vienna") but, here, while not spinning the globe, we're dealing with an author of such confidence you can imagine more than one or two young men or women going ... "Gosh! I wish I could do my version of this ... " Suffice it to say, whether it's Lev Grossman adding a rewrite to Generation X and the film Slacker with his own
Warp
(or my doing the same with my
Crouching Schuyler, Hidden Dragon
), here we're dealing with an author who's minutiae of self-transcribing has more to do with the world as it's spinning ... we're way past Kevin Smith. Think Paul Lukas, or Hal Hartley. Good show, and I can imagine she marked up For Whom the Bell Tolls in writing this as Sylvia Plath did Villette: the author's certainly kingly.
November 1, 2013
This is a reissue of a novel published in 1956. At the time it was scandalous with its teenaged characters drinking and carousing about unfettered by rules or morals or parents.
The book itself was written by 18 year old Pamela Moore who shockingly ended her life at age 26.
The characters, the plot, all reminded me of The Valley of the Dolls somehow. It is very easy to overlook that most of the characters in the book are 17 years old. I can see why it would have been such a scandalous book in the 50's what with the sexual promiscuity, the wanton drinking and the disregard for rules and morals.
But, and this may be because I know the outcome of the author, the book seemed to focus a lot on the mental state and mental health of the characters while at the same time not really addressing those issues. It's clear to me that Courtney suffers from depression and her friend Janet is bipolar but their mental state is only referred to superficially.
Overall it was a sad book. Courtney was so disaffected, so distanced from life with no one to guide or restrict her. If your parents are offering you scotch and martinis and daquiris at 15...chances are your life is not gonna be white picket fences.
July 19, 2021
4,5
Ho trovato questo libro in un negozietto di oggetti usati e ho scelto di prenderlo perché mi sono innamorata della copertina, che nell'edizione del 1957 raffigura una tavola con sopra un bicchiere e una bottiglia mezzi pieni di whisky e delle lettere affrancate. Pensavo fosse un romanzo leggero e divertente, il fatto che l'autrice lo avesse scritto a 18 anni, da studentessa, non faceva che rafforzare la mia idea di libro semplice, e ho iniziato a leggerlo proprio perché avevo voglia di qualcosa di scorrevole e non impegnativo. Non avrei potuto sbagliarmi di più. Fin dalle prime righe, l'autrice ci guida nel mondo di Courtney, ragazzina di quindici anni, offrendoci uno spaccato dell'adolescenza a Hollywood e Beverly Hills negli anni '50, caratterizzati da abuso di droghe e alcol, suicidi e dalla scoperta della propria sessualità da parte delle ragazze. Questo non è un libro leggero: è un romanzo di formazione, che racconta la storia di Courtney, fatta di disperazione, dilemmi morali, miti, amanti, brutture da cui tenta di fuggire cercando la sua infanzia perduta e l'innocenza che pensa di non aver mai posseduto; una storia di vita e morte, unite in un connubio indissolubile.
Ho trovato questo libro in un negozietto di oggetti usati e ho scelto di prenderlo perché mi sono innamorata della copertina, che nell'edizione del 1957 raffigura una tavola con sopra un bicchiere e una bottiglia mezzi pieni di whisky e delle lettere affrancate. Pensavo fosse un romanzo leggero e divertente, il fatto che l'autrice lo avesse scritto a 18 anni, da studentessa, non faceva che rafforzare la mia idea di libro semplice, e ho iniziato a leggerlo proprio perché avevo voglia di qualcosa di scorrevole e non impegnativo. Non avrei potuto sbagliarmi di più. Fin dalle prime righe, l'autrice ci guida nel mondo di Courtney, ragazzina di quindici anni, offrendoci uno spaccato dell'adolescenza a Hollywood e Beverly Hills negli anni '50, caratterizzati da abuso di droghe e alcol, suicidi e dalla scoperta della propria sessualità da parte delle ragazze. Questo non è un libro leggero: è un romanzo di formazione, che racconta la storia di Courtney, fatta di disperazione, dilemmi morali, miti, amanti, brutture da cui tenta di fuggire cercando la sua infanzia perduta e l'innocenza che pensa di non aver mai posseduto; una storia di vita e morte, unite in un connubio indissolubile.
August 10, 2014
I got about 1/2 way through this book and had to stop because I was so bored. I kept reading for as long as I did because of the biographical details of the author were fairly compelling (she wrote this at 18! she killed herself shortly thereafter!)and I felt like I should cut her some slack. But no...
Comparing this to The Dud Avocado is insulting to Dundy because there just isn't anything in the writing that compels me to keep reading, no style and no substance.
Maybe I'll come back to this at some point or skip to the end and read more about the author but life is too short to finish books that bore you to death.
Comparing this to The Dud Avocado is insulting to Dundy because there just isn't anything in the writing that compels me to keep reading, no style and no substance.
Maybe I'll come back to this at some point or skip to the end and read more about the author but life is too short to finish books that bore you to death.
May 22, 2022
"Last night, when I got back here, I realized that I couldn't ever be different from what I had been brought up to be. Maybe if I'd been farmed out to somebody like you when I was six or so, I could have been different. Now, I'm just stuck with cocktails at eleven and breakfast at noon."
"You sound as though you were my age."
"I'm nearly a woman, Al. If I ever had a childhood, it's behind me now, and the kind of person I'm going to be is established whether I like it or not. I can fight it, but I'll just wear myself out and confused myself."
This was one of my favorite books that I've read this year! I found out about it from this LitHub article and immediately bought it off ThriftBooks. Written in the 1950s by a depressed 18-year-old girl, this book is startlingly prescient and such a deeply moving read. I loved the period details of 50¢ breakfasts at a lunch counter and ice clacking in a glass of scotch and soda and a pool full of dead leaves in a run-down Hollywood hotel; and then, in New York, debutante parties that go for two days in a row on Long Island, dates with Harvard and Yale boys for whom getting kicked out because of alcoholism is a point of pride, and our protagonist Courtney's relationship with one very interesting pseudo-aesthete who wanted to keep her locked up in his hotel room, building his castles in the air with him and avoiding real life for as long as they could. (I loved Anthony so much - he reminded me of Francis Abernathy from TSH!) It's sort of like The Great Gatsby by way of Catcher in the Rye and with about half of the charm of Sally Jay Gorce from The Dud Avocado! It's about a young girl who just wants to be a grown-up but is scared of what that entails, throwing herself into adult relationships before she's ready for them, finding out the hard way that she can't handle her gin, trying to find a home for herself in the world. In the second half of this book I genuinely could not put it down, and I found the essays at the end of my Harper Perennial reprint edition (albeit with a god-awful modern-style cover) to be very enlightening about the life of the author, Pamela Moore, who died far too young by her own hand at the age of 26. I am sorry to report that it seems I will now have to take to eBay to find a copy of her other vaguely-popular novel, The Horsy Set, which is currently out of print! I loved this book, and if you like Catcher, Franny and Zooey, The Dud Avocado, or The Bell Jar, I highly recommend you read it!
"You sound as though you were my age."
"I'm nearly a woman, Al. If I ever had a childhood, it's behind me now, and the kind of person I'm going to be is established whether I like it or not. I can fight it, but I'll just wear myself out and confused myself."
This was one of my favorite books that I've read this year! I found out about it from this LitHub article and immediately bought it off ThriftBooks. Written in the 1950s by a depressed 18-year-old girl, this book is startlingly prescient and such a deeply moving read. I loved the period details of 50¢ breakfasts at a lunch counter and ice clacking in a glass of scotch and soda and a pool full of dead leaves in a run-down Hollywood hotel; and then, in New York, debutante parties that go for two days in a row on Long Island, dates with Harvard and Yale boys for whom getting kicked out because of alcoholism is a point of pride, and our protagonist Courtney's relationship with one very interesting pseudo-aesthete who wanted to keep her locked up in his hotel room, building his castles in the air with him and avoiding real life for as long as they could. (I loved Anthony so much - he reminded me of Francis Abernathy from TSH!) It's sort of like The Great Gatsby by way of Catcher in the Rye and with about half of the charm of Sally Jay Gorce from The Dud Avocado! It's about a young girl who just wants to be a grown-up but is scared of what that entails, throwing herself into adult relationships before she's ready for them, finding out the hard way that she can't handle her gin, trying to find a home for herself in the world. In the second half of this book I genuinely could not put it down, and I found the essays at the end of my Harper Perennial reprint edition (albeit with a god-awful modern-style cover) to be very enlightening about the life of the author, Pamela Moore, who died far too young by her own hand at the age of 26. I am sorry to report that it seems I will now have to take to eBay to find a copy of her other vaguely-popular novel, The Horsy Set, which is currently out of print! I loved this book, and if you like Catcher, Franny and Zooey, The Dud Avocado, or The Bell Jar, I highly recommend you read it!
March 15, 2024
Chocolates for Breakfast was written by an 18 year old and it’s about a teen girl in the 50s in Hollywood and New York. It reminds me of Bonjour Tristesse, The Book of Goose and Catcher in the Rye. Chocolates for Breakfast is not very well written and some of the dialogue seems like a bad radio play but it has charm. The main character Courtney (until this book primarily a man’s name), is a total pick me girl and some of her sexual politics are terrible, but it’s realistic and darkly funny. I couldn’t help casting the characters in my head, Janet would be Sydney Sweeney.
February 13, 2020
3.5 stars.
Chocolates for Breakfast was written by an 18 year old and originally published in the 1950's. It tells the story of a precocious teenager, Courtney who bounces from an East Coast boarding school (after the administration tells her parents Courtney is depressed) to live with her struggling actress mom in LA. Courtney attends a lot of parties, does a lot of drinking and meets a lot of boys. The book is overdramatic, as teenage stories often are, and fraught with lots of angst as Courtney seems determined to make herself more of an adult thru her drinking and relationships. Her friendship with her boarding school roommate Janet is a downward spiral of non-stop parties, drinking and dates. Neither girl has a stable family situation so they end up creating a bond without much parental oversight.
Chocolates for Breakfast was written by an 18 year old and originally published in the 1950's. It tells the story of a precocious teenager, Courtney who bounces from an East Coast boarding school (after the administration tells her parents Courtney is depressed) to live with her struggling actress mom in LA. Courtney attends a lot of parties, does a lot of drinking and meets a lot of boys. The book is overdramatic, as teenage stories often are, and fraught with lots of angst as Courtney seems determined to make herself more of an adult thru her drinking and relationships. Her friendship with her boarding school roommate Janet is a downward spiral of non-stop parties, drinking and dates. Neither girl has a stable family situation so they end up creating a bond without much parental oversight.
July 15, 2017
Alleen maar vervelende mensen.
Allereerst: Ik ga dit boek nog een keer lezen en dan tellen hoeveel glazen alcohol de zwaar minderjarige Courtney nuttigt, een dergelijk spelletje heb ik niet meer gespeeld sinds ik bijhield hoevaak het woord 'kutje' voorkwam in de vertaling van Charlotte Roches Feuchtgebiete.
Verder kwam ik eens in een artikel het woord 'borderlineporno' tegen - zo'n term die geen verdere uitleg behoeft en die honderd procent van toepassing is op Bonbons. Deze roman is een fijne cocktail (!) van Gossip Girl en 13 reasons why, misschien een beetje Breakfast at Tiffany's en, uiteraard, Bonjour Tristesse, maar dan tegen het decor van Hollywood in de jaren vijftig.
'Jij en ik zullen natuurlijk eindigen,' staat er op de op één na laatste pagina van het verhaal. 'Maar de schoonheid zat nooit in de personages. Het was de betovering die het waardevol maakte.'
Dit soort zinnen uit de kleppen van halve tieners - ja, dat is nep, pretentieus, ergerlijk en dramatisch, maar daarom ook compleet geloofwaardig (geen wezen neemt zijn/haar drama immers zo serieus als een tiener). Knap gedaan dus van de piepjonge auteur.
Het verhaal is verder inderdaad niet meer dan een zomer lang verwende kinderen en liters martini/whiskey/bourbon, maar verwachtte iemand echt iets anders van dit boek?
Allereerst: Ik ga dit boek nog een keer lezen en dan tellen hoeveel glazen alcohol de zwaar minderjarige Courtney nuttigt, een dergelijk spelletje heb ik niet meer gespeeld sinds ik bijhield hoevaak het woord 'kutje' voorkwam in de vertaling van Charlotte Roches Feuchtgebiete.
Verder kwam ik eens in een artikel het woord 'borderlineporno' tegen - zo'n term die geen verdere uitleg behoeft en die honderd procent van toepassing is op Bonbons. Deze roman is een fijne cocktail (!) van Gossip Girl en 13 reasons why, misschien een beetje Breakfast at Tiffany's en, uiteraard, Bonjour Tristesse, maar dan tegen het decor van Hollywood in de jaren vijftig.
'Jij en ik zullen natuurlijk eindigen,' staat er op de op één na laatste pagina van het verhaal. 'Maar de schoonheid zat nooit in de personages. Het was de betovering die het waardevol maakte.'
Dit soort zinnen uit de kleppen van halve tieners - ja, dat is nep, pretentieus, ergerlijk en dramatisch, maar daarom ook compleet geloofwaardig (geen wezen neemt zijn/haar drama immers zo serieus als een tiener). Knap gedaan dus van de piepjonge auteur.
Het verhaal is verder inderdaad niet meer dan een zomer lang verwende kinderen en liters martini/whiskey/bourbon, maar verwachtte iemand echt iets anders van dit boek?
August 16, 2019
Totalt tidløs! Sjovt at læse og relatere til sine egne teenage-oplevelser, kampe og fjollerier. Alle de følelser og tvivl man sidder med som et ungt menneske. Og fornuft til den sags skyld. Jeg vælger at præsentere bogen for min datter, som er en skøn teenagepige med mange drømme og meninger.
January 9, 2022
perché non dovrebbe dormire, una ragazza, se non ha nulla nella vita che la tenga sveglia?
June 25, 2013
Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore is a book after my own heart and soul. I chose it, mainly because it stood for something so completely different than what I read, and because of the title. The title is intriguing and sucks you in (or at least it did me) to the story at hand. A story of the link between childhood and adulthood. That moment every teenager reaches where they are in limbo between both of those worlds. Not quite in one, but not quite part of the other.
Chocolates for Breakfast stars a young woman named Courtney in this very dilemma. She is still on the very outskirts of childhood, has still some of the same values, some of the same innocence and morality, but is not quite into adulthood. It doesn't help that her parents seem to even forget she exists in the midst of their own very busy lives. It seems that Courtney has had to raise herself for quite some time. Her only reprieve from this lonely life of hers is her best friend and Scaisbrooke roommate, Janet Parker. At times, though, Janet is more of a burden than a relief.
Her mother, being informed of Courtney's attitude and subconscious reaction to her dismal life at Scaisbrooke, gives Courtney a choice. She can stay there, or she can move in with her mother and go to school in Beverly Hills. Courtney does not have to give the choice a second thought and immediately takes the latter.
However, the latter does not necessarily mean the better.
Courtney is infinitely changed throughout the chapters of this novel. She faces rejection, poverty, fantasy, lust, and sorrow. She tries to capture sophistication, all the while still trying to fit into her own skin. She grows from a timid girl looking for love, to a woman who has not one but two affairs. She ultimately is just trying to survive and play the part she believes she herself was born to play.
This book was a phenomenal read. It was poetic, obscure, terrifying, and exhilarating all rolled into one. Each character had their own voice, had their own way of being that was enchanting. I was so mesmerized by the world Pamela Moore created and will undoubtedly search high and low for her other works.
I recommend this work to all of you out there who long to have a scandalously wonderful experience.
Chocolates for Breakfast stars a young woman named Courtney in this very dilemma. She is still on the very outskirts of childhood, has still some of the same values, some of the same innocence and morality, but is not quite into adulthood. It doesn't help that her parents seem to even forget she exists in the midst of their own very busy lives. It seems that Courtney has had to raise herself for quite some time. Her only reprieve from this lonely life of hers is her best friend and Scaisbrooke roommate, Janet Parker. At times, though, Janet is more of a burden than a relief.
Her mother, being informed of Courtney's attitude and subconscious reaction to her dismal life at Scaisbrooke, gives Courtney a choice. She can stay there, or she can move in with her mother and go to school in Beverly Hills. Courtney does not have to give the choice a second thought and immediately takes the latter.
However, the latter does not necessarily mean the better.
Courtney is infinitely changed throughout the chapters of this novel. She faces rejection, poverty, fantasy, lust, and sorrow. She tries to capture sophistication, all the while still trying to fit into her own skin. She grows from a timid girl looking for love, to a woman who has not one but two affairs. She ultimately is just trying to survive and play the part she believes she herself was born to play.
This book was a phenomenal read. It was poetic, obscure, terrifying, and exhilarating all rolled into one. Each character had their own voice, had their own way of being that was enchanting. I was so mesmerized by the world Pamela Moore created and will undoubtedly search high and low for her other works.
I recommend this work to all of you out there who long to have a scandalously wonderful experience.
June 14, 2013
I received an ARC of the Harper Perennial edition that will be released with additional material and my review reflects that. Review originally published at http://witlesswitticisms.wordpress.co...
Pamela Moore originally wrote Chocolates for Breakfast in 1957 (when she was only eighteen) and it was widely read and acclaimed for a number of years before going out of print and slipping from our collective consciousness. Until now. Harper Perennial is reissuing it with a number of extras (like biographical notes that shed some very interesting light on Pamela Moore’s life and writing).
Even without the extras, Chocolates for Breakfast is a great read. A sexually precocious teen with distant parents, splitting her time between Hollywood and New York and the crazy people she hangs out with in each place? You’re hooked, aren’t you? I certainly was.
Given the timing and certain parallels in the biographies of authors and characters, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between Chocolates for Breakfast and The Bell Jar and The Catcher in the Rye. But they’re favorable, I promise.
There are some places, especially in some of the turns of phrase, where Chocolates dates itself, but mostly you can read it and feel like it’s taking place today. And that, friends, is the mark of great writing.
I read Chocolates for Breakfast very quickly — I pretty much couldn’t put it down. And now that I’ve finished it I kind of want to read it again even though I have a ton of other books that I need to read first. So take from that what you will. Bottom line: you should read it. Right now. Or in July, when it actually comes out.
Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore comes out from Harper Perennial in July and I definitely recommend it.
Pamela Moore originally wrote Chocolates for Breakfast in 1957 (when she was only eighteen) and it was widely read and acclaimed for a number of years before going out of print and slipping from our collective consciousness. Until now. Harper Perennial is reissuing it with a number of extras (like biographical notes that shed some very interesting light on Pamela Moore’s life and writing).
Even without the extras, Chocolates for Breakfast is a great read. A sexually precocious teen with distant parents, splitting her time between Hollywood and New York and the crazy people she hangs out with in each place? You’re hooked, aren’t you? I certainly was.
Given the timing and certain parallels in the biographies of authors and characters, it’s hard not to draw comparisons between Chocolates for Breakfast and The Bell Jar and The Catcher in the Rye. But they’re favorable, I promise.
There are some places, especially in some of the turns of phrase, where Chocolates dates itself, but mostly you can read it and feel like it’s taking place today. And that, friends, is the mark of great writing.
I read Chocolates for Breakfast very quickly — I pretty much couldn’t put it down. And now that I’ve finished it I kind of want to read it again even though I have a ton of other books that I need to read first. So take from that what you will. Bottom line: you should read it. Right now. Or in July, when it actually comes out.
Chocolates for Breakfast by Pamela Moore comes out from Harper Perennial in July and I definitely recommend it.
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