976 pages
Published June 28, 2016 by Little, Brown and Company.
"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review
Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity.
It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting …
"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review
Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity.
It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.
This took SO LONG to finish. I really didn't dislike it, but I did get a wee bit tired of all the introspection. Methinks I would have enjoyed this more had I read it.
I still haven't read the blurb - I need to do that - so I went into this audio book blindly. I'm happy I did because I was so pleasantly surprised that I never knew what was going to happen.
In a nutshell, I enjoyed this book a great deal. The characters were so real and complex, even a good number of the secondary characters, that I felt invested in the various story arcs. The only reason I'm not going five stars is because I felt some of the passages about art and furniture went on too long and I found my attention wandering away from the book while the narrator went on for what must have been pages of background information. Much of it was interesting and certainly showed how vast Theo's knowledge was but it couldn't hold my attention.
I finished the book yesterday evening and I'm actually …
I still haven't read the blurb - I need to do that - so I went into this audio book blindly. I'm happy I did because I was so pleasantly surprised that I never knew what was going to happen.
In a nutshell, I enjoyed this book a great deal. The characters were so real and complex, even a good number of the secondary characters, that I felt invested in the various story arcs. The only reason I'm not going five stars is because I felt some of the passages about art and furniture went on too long and I found my attention wandering away from the book while the narrator went on for what must have been pages of background information. Much of it was interesting and certainly showed how vast Theo's knowledge was but it couldn't hold my attention.
I finished the book yesterday evening and I'm actually missing Theo and Boris and Hobie.
It's difficult for me to find the words to sum up my feelings about this book succinctly and adequately, but I suppose that's okay since it's how I feel about Donna Tartt's writing as well.
What at times is a highly entertaining coming of age story with a dash of adventure thrown in bogs down at regular intervals in a lot of overly precious prose, while the end chapter is a bunch of soapbox moralizing that seems to have been lifted from an entirely different work.
I enjoyed Theo's story arc well enough despite the flaws to keep reading on, since he's an interestingly sympathetic anti-hero. It was fun deciding just how long I could continue forgiving his many bad decisions and transgressions. It's more of a three and a half star read for me, but I bumped it up that extra half star because Theo held my interest beyond …
It's difficult for me to find the words to sum up my feelings about this book succinctly and adequately, but I suppose that's okay since it's how I feel about Donna Tartt's writing as well.
What at times is a highly entertaining coming of age story with a dash of adventure thrown in bogs down at regular intervals in a lot of overly precious prose, while the end chapter is a bunch of soapbox moralizing that seems to have been lifted from an entirely different work.
I enjoyed Theo's story arc well enough despite the flaws to keep reading on, since he's an interestingly sympathetic anti-hero. It was fun deciding just how long I could continue forgiving his many bad decisions and transgressions. It's more of a three and a half star read for me, but I bumped it up that extra half star because Theo held my interest beyond where the events and the prose should have turned me off.
It was a bit boring until a plot twist in chapter 10.
It took me over a year to finish Donna Tartt's latest novel, but not because the book drags or because I ever lost interest in the characters. I stopped reading it halfway through partly because I wanted to savor the story and partly because reading about intensely likeable characters going through such an epic of realistic struggles was so difficult. That said, Tartt is our contemporary Charles Dickens and this novel is a wonderful experience. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it.
Apparently the most started-and-not-finished book on Kindle. I started it but because I have the memory of a goldfish (not a goldfinch) I can't remember anything about it apart from a boy being caught up in the bombing of a building.
I can't read fiction anyhow, though I might have more luck with this if nothing really happens in it.
Ale jo. I když bych prostředek zkrátila a o závěrečné moudro bych se taky klidně nechala ochudit, i když vlastně souhlasím skoro se vším v jednohvězdičkových recenzích (nudní teenageři na drogách, stereotyp Rusa, otravná hlavní postava, drogy, drogy), tak to z neznámého důvodu funguje.
Long. Too detailed on things that may not matter. Dense at times and too quick towards the end. I finished it more as a challenge to myself than for interest to know the end of the story.
I loved the first section. It was compelling and kept me eagerly reading, waiting to see what was about to happen. Theo was well depicted as a boy on the verge of adolescence, discovering a sudden interest in girls. And seeing the confusion and terror of the aftermath of the explosion through his eyes was outstanding.
But after that it stopped working so well. The writing was still good. There was just too much of it, with too much padding. So when, after slogging nearly to the bitter end, I read how Theo condensed the whole story - as much as possible - to tell to Hobie, I nearly cried. Why couldn't have Tartt done the same for us?
I think that, on the whole, this was a good book. But a brutal editor would have made it so much better.
I'd been ignoring the raves for this because it's so long, and I hadn't liked "The Little Friend" all that much. Then one of my book groups selected it, so I picked it up -- and read it over a weekend. It's suspenseful, beautiful, and emotional.
Carel Fabritius was a talented Dutch painter who was considered Rembrandt’s most gifted pupil. His paintings often featured delicately lit subjects against a light coloured background. He moved away from Rembrandt’s renaissance focus and developed his own painting style, with a strong interest in the technical. In 1654 he was injured in The Delft Explosion; 30 tonnes of gunpowder exploded destroying most of the city. Fabritius soon died from his injuries at the age of 32. Possibly one of the last paintings he ever painted, The Goldfinch depicts a goldfinch (a popular pet of the time) on light background. This piece shows his control over a heavily loaded brush as well as demonstrates his interest in lighting and texture.
Donna Tartt’s new novel The Goldfinch tells the story of Theo Decker, who survived a terrorist attack on a New York museum. Moments before the explosion his mother was pointing out …
Carel Fabritius was a talented Dutch painter who was considered Rembrandt’s most gifted pupil. His paintings often featured delicately lit subjects against a light coloured background. He moved away from Rembrandt’s renaissance focus and developed his own painting style, with a strong interest in the technical. In 1654 he was injured in The Delft Explosion; 30 tonnes of gunpowder exploded destroying most of the city. Fabritius soon died from his injuries at the age of 32. Possibly one of the last paintings he ever painted, The Goldfinch depicts a goldfinch (a popular pet of the time) on light background. This piece shows his control over a heavily loaded brush as well as demonstrates his interest in lighting and texture.
Donna Tartt’s new novel The Goldfinch tells the story of Theo Decker, who survived a terrorist attack on a New York museum. Moments before the explosion his mother was pointing out Fadritius’ painting and telling Theo why she loved it; in all the confusion Theo manages to take the painting. Orphaned and alone, Theo struggles to find his place in this world while also trying to avoid being taken by the city.
While The Goldfinch is essentially a coming of age story, there are some interesting social observations being played out with the help of the stolen painting. On one hand, the painting represents Theo’s love for his mother and his need to hang on. I also feel that the painting represents that part that you keep hidden from the world; the secrets and shames that you tend to think will destroy friendships if revealed. This also serves a purpose when it comes to Theo’s friendship with Boris further in the novel.
While this is a novel about art and its seedy underbelly, I found myself a little disappointed in the lack of art history, art forging or art heists (technically there is a heist but that wasn’t thrilling). When I discovered my love of literature and learning, I also discovered an interest in art and art history, an itch that I’ve not scratched. I was hoping that Tartt’s novel would give me both entertainment and art history lessons but I was left disappointed. I expected Desperate Romantics but all I got was a bulky Catcher in the Rye.
I’m not saying that I didn’t like The Goldfinch, my expectations for the novel was different to what I got. Donna Tartt spends a lot of time looking at the idea of terrorist attacks and the lasting effects they have on the families of the victims and survivors. This grief serves as a baseline for Theo throughout the novel. Often it can be forgotten about but then you catch glimpses of the scars that remain and while they don’t justify his behaviour it really serve as evidence of the emotional rollercoaster he is stuck on. Tartt’s character development is the key to this book; she has created richly complex and flawed characters that feel so real. Theo, in particular, serves as both the narrator and protagonist; his voice throughout the novel manages to be both direct and reflective.
Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch is complex but over padded; there is a lot that could be cut out to make this a shorter book. I can appreciate the way she captured the life of Theo Decker; making this a sweeping saga, packed with emotion and growth, still would be achievable with a hundred or more pages removed. This is a tragicomedy in every sense of the word but my biggest problem was that there were some situations where things resolved themselves a little too conveniently; it happens but not that often.
In the end, I found myself sitting on the fence with The Goldfinch. On one hand the characters and development of this novel was spectacular. The other hand is the fact my initial expectations weren’t met and the novel dragged on too much. I know that expectations should never get in the way of a good book and my head is telling me that I should jump on the bandwagon, however my heart just isn’t in it. I’ve heard good things about The Secret History but I have reservations about it now.
This review originally appeared on my blog; literary-exploration.com/2014/04/20/the-goldfinch-by-donna-tartt/
A major read, both in length and accomplishment. A gripping story with Dickensian feel. Telling Theo's life as a boy and young man is told in the first person, Tartt explores themes of friendship, acceptance and "Anything we manage to save from history is a miracle".
I loved this novel -- I'm hosting my book club tonight, and will definitely recommend it. Not only is the story exciting and well-paced (I had a hard time putting it down for the full 800 pages), but the characters are well-written and sympathetic, and the underlying message -- that life is full of surprising twists, and no matter how good or bad our intentions are, we can't predict how our decisions will play out over the long run -- was well-illustrated. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that the last chapter left such a bad taste in my mouth. It's an epilogue where the protagonist speaks directly to the reader with a "here's the moral of the story!" pedantry that would have been best omitted altogether. The rest of the novel makes it's point just fine: We're all little goldfinches, chained to the post of …
I loved this novel -- I'm hosting my book club tonight, and will definitely recommend it. Not only is the story exciting and well-paced (I had a hard time putting it down for the full 800 pages), but the characters are well-written and sympathetic, and the underlying message -- that life is full of surprising twists, and no matter how good or bad our intentions are, we can't predict how our decisions will play out over the long run -- was well-illustrated. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that the last chapter left such a bad taste in my mouth. It's an epilogue where the protagonist speaks directly to the reader with a "here's the moral of the story!" pedantry that would have been best omitted altogether. The rest of the novel makes it's point just fine: We're all little goldfinches, chained to the post of fate.
What I loved most about this book was the characterization: nearly everyone in the book has serious personal problems or bad character, and in a lesser book they would be difficult to sympathize with. In this book the characters are written so skillfully that even though you know they are terrible people, they are just so darn likeable.
Four-and-a-half stars. The book moves smoothly and quickly most of the time, marred by a few draggy spots, and an overly talky "this is what it all meant" ending. Definitely worth the praise it's been given.
This book was something of a trainwreck. It was entertaining and well-written, but the characters made such bad decisions that I cringed almost the entire time, wishing someone could save them from themselves. That said, I still found myself recommending the book because it's a creative tale. The only thing I would change is the ending. After dragging me through 30+ hours of story that was - at times - painful to listen to, I was hoping for a perfect ending... something that would seam it up beautifully or provide a huge payoff or something. Instead, the end just kind of fizzled.
