Grieving a Goldfinch and a Parent

Donna Tartt’s fantastic new novel, The Goldfinch, tells the captivating life story of Theo, whose mother died when he was 13. In Theo’s words, “It was all a circle back to her,” though I won’t take the risk of spoiling this fabulous tale’s fast-paced mystery and “can’t stop reading” tension. As a grief counselor, I was struck by how Theo goes through life feeling, like so many grieving children and teens do, like he is somehow responsible for what went wrong. Of course, this kind of magical thinking is not limited to children. Adults who are trying to make sense of the unthinkable engage in it, too, asking themselves what they could have done to prevent a death, or what they can do to quench their longing by fantasizing about a reunion. Memories sweep Theo’s mind and body, with sounds, smells, and tastes evoking the treasured past. Theo finds some solace in his friendship with a peer who also lost a parent at a young age. Together, they seek numbness and distraction from their pain, in ways that may make many readers cringe. The Goldfinch story is a searing, poetic, and thoroughly absorbing search for meaning in life. It is also a beautiful demonstration of the healing power of words written by a boy in desperate search of his lost loves.