The Goldfinch in DC Public Library

Apr 06, 2014 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: owned

This was like a Wilco album: kinda long, obviously well-made, and I understand why people love it. That said, it's not quite for me.

I loved the art stuff, I would read a book from Boris' standpoint, and the passages about being young, bored, and on drugs in the desert were devastatingly familiar (mostly they reminded me of a truly shitty week spent in northern Idaho one summer). I wish there was more about Pippa, specifically from Pippa's POV. I know that's not possible from a first-person book, ...more

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Aug 02, 2015 Tom rated it it was amazing

Wonderful. No novel is perfect, but this, despite its length, has enough twists and turns to be continually engaging. I had the impression that she's lived more, knows more, and gets more than I do without flaunting it outright. Loved the novel for being as much Catcher In The Rye as an art-themed murder-mystery. Worth the read, ignore the critical hyperbole. ...more

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Aug 31, 2014 Melissa rated it liked it

Shelves: pulitzer

Parts of the novel are filled with beautiful prose, juxtaposed against horrendous circumstances. My concern and sympathy for the main character waned over time. Finished quickly because I had to know what happened to the goldfinch, but many of the over 700 pages were a drawn out, depressing, numbing read.

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Apr 13, 2016 Joe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Very good, very long read. Other than its nigh interminable length (I was starting to run out of steam before the scene shift to Amsterdam), my only other, minor complaint is the last ten or so pages being a concise(ish) summation of the book's theme. I know, Donna/Theo, I was here with you for the last 12,000 pages. ...more

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