From the Bookshelf of Reading with Style

The Goldfinch
by
Start date
September 1, 2014
Finish date
November 30, 2014

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What Members Thought

Joanna
I listened to the 32-hour audiobook version of this overly long but lovely book. The narrator did a great job and this is the best book I've read with my bookclub so far (though, perhaps, that says more about the bookclub choices than it does about this book). In any event, I enjoyed this book with its snippets of New York, the art world (and underworld), and the period of adolescence wherein one feels that every decision is momentous and no one can possibly understand so probably better not to ...more
Miriam
Nov 17, 2013 rated it liked it
Shelves: 2013
I'm ditching. I've read most of the ending, and some of the stuff in between, but I'm really tired of the Goldfinch angst and the bag of pills. Nice to see Boris back, but not enough to make it to the end. All that said, I read the first 500 pages in one big gulp, something I haven't done in years so there's that. Plus, Boris and a great portrait of Vegas suburbs (and 'burbs in general). ...more
Erin
May 25, 2014 rated it really liked it
Dark and depressing is not my normal fare, and 770+ pages is a lot of melancholy. But I enjoyed The Goldfinch, if not for its exceptional prose then almost in spite of it: the rambling, sometimes unbelievable, and omnipresent gloom is just the right literary tool to put readers in the same state of mind as the miserably unhappy and shockingly narcissistic Theo.

As the novel unfolds, we watch a normal, mostly happy boy lose his mother, battle grief, and become wracked with anguish and guilt. We f
...more
Emily Green
Dec 30, 2013 rated it really liked it
Very healthy read at 771 pages. Slow going at times. Other reviews mention they did not like the length and Donna Tart could have taken out a lot of the superflous stuff. However, I love epic novels like these (The Son, Wally Lamb, Ken Follet...) so I don't mind the length. The protagonist, Theo Decker, is very unsympathetic at times. Mostly because he is very self-awared and makes the choices he makes so naturally at times I wanted to strangle him. Overall, I'd give 4/5 stars, if anything for j ...more
Ruth
Dec 10, 2013 rated it did not like it
I was expecting so much more. Not impressed.
Sam
Jun 02, 2013 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: best-reads, read-2014
Amy W
Aug 04, 2013 rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: favorites, 2014-books
Jeannie
Sep 01, 2013 rated it really liked it
Lisa
Oct 05, 2013 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelley
Sep 21, 2016 rated it liked it
Shelves: mystery, fiction, art, crime
Claire Jefferies
Nov 16, 2013 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: favorites, own-it
Jayme Pendergraft
Nov 29, 2013 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 2013, src-winter-2013
Linda
Dec 11, 2013 rated it it was amazing
Jane
Apr 05, 2017 rated it really liked it
Nanci Svensson
Dec 20, 2013 rated it really liked it
Shelves: coming-of-age
Celeste
Jan 23, 2014 marked it as to-read
chunwui
Mar 21, 2014 marked it as to-read
Amy
Apr 20, 2014 rated it liked it
Ali
May 04, 2014 rated it it was ok
Katy
May 07, 2014 rated it it was amazing
Marie
Jun 04, 2014 rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 2014
Nick
Jun 14, 2014 rated it really liked it
AyferS
Jun 28, 2014 marked it as to-read
Rachel W
Nov 16, 2014 marked it as to-read  ·  review of another edition
Shelves: owned-on-kindle
Megan
May 13, 2015 marked it as to-read
Cory Day
Jun 17, 2015 rated it liked it
Shelves: kindle, fiction, read_2015
Jackie
Jul 27, 2018 rated it really liked it
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