The Goldfinch in Around the World in 80 Books

Feb 05, 2019 Preeti rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Got me hooked from the very beginning. A beautifully written book, parts of which left me awestruck. Some lines that I found remarkable:

"Between ‘reality’ on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there’s a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic.”

“I felt the strangeness of the city pressing in all around me, smells of ...more

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Aug 10, 2014 Kemlo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I rarely give a five star rating to any book, because four stars ("really liked it") seems like enough to capture my enthusiasm for most really good books. When I like a book, it's three stars, so "really liking" a book (four stars) means I thought it was exceptional in some way---better than good. But five stars? I have to be more than impressed. To get a five star rating, the book has to have a major impact on me.

The Goldfinch falls in that category. This is an extraordinary book, the best I' I rarely give a five star rating to any book, because four stars ("really liked it") seems like enough to capture my enthusiasm for most really good books. When I like a book, it's three stars, so "really liking" a book (four stars) means I thought it was exceptional in some way---better than good. But five stars? I have to be more than impressed. To get a five star rating, the book has to have a major impact on me.

The Goldfinch falls in that category. This is an extraordinary book, the best I've read in many years. The writing is superb. I may even read it all over again right away.

I picked up this book several times in the bookstore without buying it. The description didn't particularly grab me so I kept putting it back. Then one day, I just started reading it. I got caught up in it without even trying. The emotion, the roller coaster of raw human experience, the profound expressions of grief, loss and striving, the attempt to understand and attach some meaning to it all. I felt like I'd been thrown into a deadly hurricane, but I was too busy trying to make sense of what was going on to try to get out.

Now, a good friend of mine astutely observed that our reaction to a particular book often depends on exactly where we are in our lives (physically, temporally, emotionally, developmentally). Sometimes a book resonates with us at a particular moment in time; sometimes it doesn't. Books that have been life-changing for me in the past (five stars! definitely!) might not do much for me now (3 stars? maybe four?).

So, maybe if I had read The Goldfinch at some other time, it might not have captivated me as much as it did during the past couple of days. (And, yes, I read it in just a few days because I could hardly put it down.) I had to stay with Theo through every up and down, find out what would happen, suffer as he suffered, feel his elation during (all too fleeting and yet intense) moments of comfort, love and joy. The depths of loss and despair were so great at times that I felt overwhelmed by them, but I couldn't abandon Theo. I had to know: would he survive? And if so, how? More importantly, was there any purpose or meaning to all of this?

I won't spoil it for anyone, but I am extremely well satisfied with the way the story concludes.

I can understand why this book might not appeal to everyone. Theo's spiral into alcoholism and drug abuse is dark and depressing. The choices he makes and the turns his life takes are often frustrating and sad. This is not a light and happy story---I felt tormented more than entertained by it---but it is rich and deep and intense and (in my opinion) entirely worth reading.

(And in response to some other reviews about this book: if this author reminds me of any others, it's not Dickens---it's Dostoyevsky.) ...more

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Mar 06, 2014 Meghan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: book-club, good-reads, fab-fiction-by-women, mystery-and-thriller, us-new-york-nyc, east-coast, great-characters, illness-and-aging, children-as-protagonists, west-coast

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 28, 2014 Georgia Carvalho rated it it was amazing

I really liked the underlying story and her prose was beautiful. However, at times she dragged scenes on forever, without getting to the point, so much so, I could forget what the point was -- very much like being inside the teenage mind.

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