The Goldfinch in DC Public Library

Aug 27, 2014 Aliza rated it it was amazing

I almost don't even know where to start because so much about this book left an impression. There is something I have always loved about the desert, something ironic and beautiful about the stubbornness of trying to thrive in a place that so clearly doesn't want you. When Donna Tartt described the haunting desolation of Las Vegas, the way the glittering Strip masks the hollowness of the inhospitable surroundings, I was entranced. Theo, wrapped up in a guilt-induced fog after a tragedy, spends th I almost don't even know where to start because so much about this book left an impression. There is something I have always loved about the desert, something ironic and beautiful about the stubbornness of trying to thrive in a place that so clearly doesn't want you. When Donna Tartt described the haunting desolation of Las Vegas, the way the glittering Strip masks the hollowness of the inhospitable surroundings, I was entranced. Theo, wrapped up in a guilt-induced fog after a tragedy, spends the first third of the book stumbling purposelessly around the Upper East Side, only to be shocked back to life when he arrives in the desert and realizes he will never reach the mirage. But what kind of life is it? After being exiled from the only place he has ever called home, Theo winds up with his indifferent, alcoholic father and his father's cocktail waitress girlfriend. They did not expect to be taking care of a teenager, which they make clear to Theo on several occasions, and he is left to fend for himself in a mostly abandoned exurban wasteland being slowly reclaimed by the desert.

Adult Theo winds up back in New York, but it's clear that Vegas has changed him -- mostly because of his only friend and the best character in the novel: teenage Russo-Australian nihilist Boris, who teaches Theo to drink and do drugs and pretend that he doesn't care. But all the characters, from Xandra's raspy-voiced druggie and Mrs. Barbour's icy fragility to Hobie's blissful ignorance, are finely rendered. Theo may be the narrator, but the narrative does not belong to him alone.

Ultimately, the human relationship with art, and with objects in general, is sort of the central paradox of The Goldfinch: the stolen painting ties Theo to his dead mother (much as the titular bird is tethered to its post), and though he thinks about the painting often, its presence seems to inspire dread more frequently than joy or comfort. And yet, at the end, Theo reflects on how what we leave behind, as people, is great art; that beautiful things are worth creating and preserving and admiring because they will be our greatest legacy. Many of the troubles in his life have come from art (his antiques scam, the stolen painting), but still he is held in the thrall of Art, the concept and the vision and the dream more broadly. Despite what he has experienced, Theo still believes in the power of art to change his life for the better. Should a reader of literature settle for anything less?
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Mar 30, 2018 Deepthy rated it it was amazing

4.5 stars. I spent years trying to decide whether to commit to reading this nearly 800-page book, and I’m glad I finally did. This book had its problems (so much drug use that it made me sad; no innocence or optimism or uplifting moments; and repeated patches of narrative stagnation), but it is clever, witty, and darkly funny, with so many immersive scenes and intelligent character descriptions that it is obvious why it won the Pulitzer. This book can’t be described as character-driven, nor can ...more

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Jan 26, 2014 Noralo rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-ve-loved

The writing. The story. The characters. The depth.

Resisted this book for awhile, and now I'm not sure why (author might want to consider changing her name?). That many people can't be wrong.

Personally I can't help but appreciate any book that takes events, extraordinary or otherwise, and doesn't make cosmic connections or throw in a supernatural hand. This book meditates on that and explores that humans can make meaning of their own lives without ascribing any bigger picture fate to them. One of ...more

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