Ariadne answers “A lot of reviewers have called this book...”

Ami asked this question about The Goldfinch:

A lot of reviewers have called this book "Dickensian." What is it about The Goldfinch that reminds everyone of Charles Dickens so much?

Ariadne Besides "Great Expectations", the novel reminds me of another more American "Great" -- "The Great Gatsby". Theo's con-jobs and the dealings with a cri…moreBesides "Great Expectations", the novel reminds me of another more American "Great" -- "The Great Gatsby". Theo's con-jobs and the dealings with a criminal underbelly echoes Gatsby's, and these shady dealings form a slow rot that eats away at the finery...A tribute to vanitas painting indeed.

The aha moment for "The Goldfinch"'s ties with "Great Expectations" came kind of belatedly, when I was musing on the name, "Pippa", which echoes "Pip" from Great Expectations.

1) Cinderfella bildungsroman, beginning in childhood and ending in adulthood, with fluctuating prospects along the way
2) Dealings with crime
3) Theo's orphaned state
4) Theo's numerous surrogate parent-figures, of both the lousy and good varieties (former: Theo's father, Xandra; latter: Mrs Balfour, Hobart, Welty, for the latter)
5) Pippa / Kitsey + Theo echoes Estella + Pip (impossible loves, cold loves, etc)
6) Structurally, the novel opens with quite a literal bang, smack in the middle of a crime scene (echoing the scene at the beginning of Great Ex re: the police patrols and Magwitch) (less)

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