Annie

i really wanted to love this book. i had heard so many great things about it. young boy learning to navigate through the grief of losing his mother, stolen painting, meaning of life.... blah blah blah. seemed right up on my road of favourites.

the first 150 or so pages were great. i loved the new york setting and how the story was progressing. then young theo decker gets taken to las vegas by his mysterious father... and everything goes down hill.

the next 200 pages of this book is like a realistic fiction trying to be so realistic and gritty that it just turns into a nonsensical pile of shite. The whole 14 yr old theo and his drug abuse problem and his gambling, money owing father just was so boringly repetitive. also like borris...? whats up with that guy. especially him and his 16 yr old anorexic girlfriend who also has an abusive 20 yr old boyfriend.

anywaysssss... the rest really doesnt get any better either. Tartt just drones on and on about the most stupid irrelevant details. the plot doesnt improve either, everything seems unrealistic, the events seem too coincidental (especially when borris comes back). IT JUST WAS NOT IT.

also the whole stolen painting thing seemed like it was supposed to be the main plot but also was completely irrelevant for majority of the book...

All in all this book could have been good... it was not. the characters were widely exaggerated, plot unrealistic, descriptions useless. the book dragged on for seemingly forever. utter disappointment.