The Goldfinch in Around the World in 80 Books

Nov 18, 2014 Gabriella rated it really liked it

Shelves: queer-lit

Ah, The Goldfinch...

This has to be one of the books I waited the longest to read. Got it on my Kindle when it first came out, was a bit put off by the hype, started plowing into the initial section, found myself very bored, found the writing pretentious. Stopped reading, dismayed.

And then I went back recently, picked it up again and found, to my surprise... that once Theo moved in with his school chum Andy and the Barbour family, the writing perked up, the book gripped me, and I swept through th Ah, The Goldfinch...

This has to be one of the books I waited the longest to read. Got it on my Kindle when it first came out, was a bit put off by the hype, started plowing into the initial section, found myself very bored, found the writing pretentious. Stopped reading, dismayed.

And then I went back recently, picked it up again and found, to my surprise... that once Theo moved in with his school chum Andy and the Barbour family, the writing perked up, the book gripped me, and I swept through the rest of it as fast as I could. I was particularly taken by the Las Vegas section where Theo is taken off to live by his scoundrel of a father, who gambles for a living, and takes up with a young Ukrainian/Australian guy, Boris, who is even more rootless and unparented than Theo himself. Theo and Boris take lots of drugs, steal for kicks, they experiment sexually... Donna Tartt's writing here is superb, showing the boy's world opening up rather than shutting down.

But back in claustrophobic New York, torn away from Boris by his father' timely, or untimely, death, depending on how you look at it, Theo hits a bit of a slump that seems like it will last the rest of the novel.

Unlike many of the reviewers on Amazon, who loved the first, "arty" section of the book, and hated the philosophical, open-ended ending and the scenes in Amsterdam, I found that Tartt exploded her own pretensions by driving a bus through her own literary novel. Theo's world "explodes" again at the end, and we're led to believe that at least he is taking his life in his hands...somewhat. (Mostly by not killing himself, ironically.) But what would have really pleased me would have been a recontinuation of the relationship with Boris. These are two characters who seem to want to be together, no matter how much their author wants to dub them as straight, on different tracks, etc.

To sum up, I'm very glad I read the Goldfinch! It's a nineteenth-century novel at heart; it luxuriates in its own length. Theo's "bad" friend Boris ends up giving him closure on the biggest wound of his life outside of his mother's death, his ownership of the famous painting, which has become a terrible burden. Once he realizes that he hasn't even had the painting in his possession for years—a delicious twist that Tartt pulls off well—Theo's life begins to change. And for a book that says over and over again that people can't change, Tartt does offer a little smidgen of hope for Theo. But it IS a dark and sad book, no doubt. Those who have suffered loss and who have PTSD (and Tartt does not shy away from labeling Theo this way) will understand the bleakness. Without the tragicomic character of Boris, this book would have been a terrible slog. Luckily, Tartt allows that relationship to become central, and to my mind it saves the book. ...more

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Aug 11, 2014 Laura (booksnob) rated it did not like it

Shelves: literature, pulitizer

DNF- never finished. I made it to about 400 pages.

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Jul 08, 2014 Lara rated it it was amazing

I loved it and kept being surprised that I did. The character development is masterful. I feel like I know everyone in the book personally. The plot was unpredictable and suspenseful and in the end, I really liked the themes she worked with. 5 stars!!

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May 31, 2014 Sunflower rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction-read-2014

This is a sprawling, incredibly well-written novel that takes you through the life of a boy and... a painting. These collide early in the book, back when the boy has an almost normal life, but from the time of the initial catastrophic event things begin to unravel for him. I don't think that any further outline from me can do this book justice, except to say that it is an exceptional read. And that I was completely unaware that the painting actually exists until after I'd finished it. ...more

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