The Goldfinch
Ratings548
Average rating3.9
If you're expecting a book with a clear "point" or philosophical message, this might not be the book for you.
That being said, this is an excellent book from a storytelling perspective. Seeing Theo's entire life journey unfold really makes you care about both him and the other characters. I will definitely re-read this just to relive the story again.
Mostly when I read books I have some sort of idea where the author is going and what point they are trying to make, but not with this book. It just seems to meander on and on. I felt I had to finish it but was left with a disapointing sense of ‘Is this really it?' I don't have a problem with depressing books or emotionally scarred protagonists but I didn't really find this book had much of an emotional resonance, perhaps because I found the narrator quite annoying, particularly with the ham-fisted philosophy. Theo didn't develop as a character, he just seemed to stay 13 in my head, probably because of all the drug taking. It ended up feeling a bit like reading a rather pretentious YA novel with added drug addiction.
Loved it. Great characters that get right inside your head - and won't leave. Brilliant story. Couldn't put it down. Best book I've read in a long time.
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.
Could not get through the first couple of chapters. Mostly because: casual racism. The fact that Tartt repeatedly feels the need to keep referring to minor characters using weird vague nondescriptive labels like “small Asian man” and reinforcing cultural stereotypes. Blergh.
The only information “Asian” provides is something regarding appearance - & even then not much. Why? WHY?
read enough to know I want to read more, but it was a library book and I had to give it back before I was all that far in.
Theodore Decker is one of the world's messiest main characters and I have become captivated by him. Despite the plot involving high stakes art theft, the novel is really more of a psychological look into the world of the worlds most fucked up little guy. The writing of Theo as "what if Pip from great expectations did a lot of drugs and lied constantly?" is really very good and I probably could have read 1600 pages of this insufferable idiot. Obviously the prose was very good and the philosophical topics around death and eternity were very poignant and whatnot but also. gay dog called poppers. you know? Also, I think if Theo just owned up to the fact that he was gay it would solve, like, at least a third of his problems. Had a great time, would read again.
I borrowed this one up from Libby and read it on my Kindle. Actually I wanted to read The Secret History but it wasn't available at that time and this one was, so went ahead with it. Took me 3 weeks to finish it. It's quite a long read but the writing is very engaging and the prose is beautiful.
The storyline seems a bit slow paced but it draws you in at the right times, wherever needed. It's bleak most of the times and the primary characters are unlikeable with their drug addiction and misery. But if you like reading books that have a rich narrative based around art with existential philosophy as the underlying theme, go ahead with it. I could find similarities between this book and Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Well, if you liked that one, Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch might amuse you as well.
Maybe? Ugh. No. Maybe? Yes for a second. Absolutely not. Okay? Hmm. Sure. No. Ugh.
If you took Shakespeare's Tomorrow and tomorrow soliloquy and added a million pages.
Some bright spots of hope and interesting interjections about art and beauty but all in all a slice of life turned into a textbook about ennui. I kept wanting to be let out.
The Goldfinch is an incredibly immersive book about love, friendship, loss,class mobility and purpose interwoven with art history.
Theo is blindsided in New York City by something horrific and spirals. Most of the people around him are not stable or reliable except for antiques dealer, Hobie. Their surrogate father-son relationship is written so sweetly and convincingly that I wanted more Hobie on every page.
Then, Pippa is introduced and Theo's love for her is his constant shadow throughout the rest of the book as much as his mother and The Goldfinch painting itself.
Overall, I loved this book for it's immersiveness and mostly well-written characters, but the typos and grammatical errors toward the end wore on me.
Pippa got her ending "off screen", and Theo's final realization about her was muted and over too soon. I wish their issues would've been hashed out over a phone conversation at least.
I also felt like Boris never got to the point with any of his stories in under a page; that final scene in the Amsterdam hotel between Theo and Boris just felt like obfuscation for page count. I could only handle so many drug-induced, three/four-page fever dreams in one book.
Theo's voice in the final pages also inexplicably dissolved into the author's philosophical voice waxing poetic about life and art--it was distracting, anticlimactic and should've never happened.
Still, this book is a great read.
I liked this book well enough at the beginning. I felt for Theo and his mom. I enjoyed the tension of not knowing how/when his mom would die and the subsequent what-will-Theo-do-now turn his life takes once his mom is gone. But then Theo goes to Vegas, and then comes back to New York, and his hazy, blurred-together drug-use days lack the urgency and emotional connection of the first part of the book. (Maybe that was the point.)
We flash-forward, finally, and things pick up. I am interested again in what is happening with Theo. I am not sure if all is at it seems and this intrigues me. Boris returns and I am fascinated to see the Vegas days through his eyes. I realize Theo has not been a reliable narrator. I wonder why I am surprised.
The pace picks up even more and we suddenly find ourselves in a heist movie. Things move so quickly, I can barely turn the pages fast enough to keep up. The haziness returns however, and we have a long, surreal scene that seems to be moving inexorably towards the inevitable end that has been waiting for Theo all along. Until the knock on the door and a kind of unbelievable ending that maybe was the only possible ending because making all the wrong decisions and taking all the wrong paths has led Theo to exactly the right place. At this point, this book has somehow gone from a begrudgingly given, but honestly earned three stars, to a breathless, where-did-that-rollercoaster-come-from???? four stars.
And then we enter the final stretch wherein Theo, our emotionally stunted protagonist, finally experiences personal enlightenment and lays down the truths of the world, as he seems them. I don't agree with everything he says, but I felt all of it deeply (as clearly evidenced by this 1am scribbling). I underlined pretty much the entire last part of this book and as soon as I finished, I read the last part again. I questioned the tenets Theo believes in, agreeing with some wholeheartedly and completely rejecting others. Why are we each the way we are? Can we change who we are? Why do we sometimes desperately want the things that are worst for us? Is it better to live a “proper” life of quiet desperation or should we throw ourselves into the flames of our most closely cherished desires? Are we all just chained goldfinches? Finally, I come to the last page or so and this book does what I was least expecting. It switches from a minor chord to a major chord. Just a little major chord, but still, the hopeful notes are there. And just like that, we're at 5 stars.
if this wasn't SO long (way too long imo) and had fewer slurs maybe I would've given it a higher rating
Started off really strong, and I was very invested in the main character. But some of the later sections dragged, and I was relieved to finish it by the end.
Holy shit, go read this book. rtc because I need to proceeeeeeeeess AHHH
TWs: Alcohol and drug abuse, death of a parent, PTSD, suicidal thoughts/attempts
Highly, highly recommend reading with the audiobook!!!
Ok so. I do think this is her best book (so far!!), and that she has brought the best aspects from both The Secret History and The Little Friend here (The Little Friend is still my favourite buttt I can acknowledge that it is perhaps, technically, less ‘good'.....whatever that means.....) This book was a slow but wonderful read (as all of her books have been for me), beautifully written, absolutely sprawling, with probably the most developed and intricate characterisation in any of her books (The Little Friend though......but I concede I can have objective-ish viewpoints! Though I will stand by the fact the The Little Friend has the best main character (although she does not first person narrate the story) as I think that both Richard and Theo are most interesting in their relationships with others, particularly Theo because the characters in The Goldfinch are just so good!!!! Not that I dislike Richard and Theo: I'm very fond of them. Just much, much fond(er)/curious of, like, most other people in their books.) Having read them chronologically, it is amazing to see the distinct threads that cross over all of her stories while each still has such a lovely individual character........Donna Tartt, you insidious web-weaver, you've done it again!
✩✩✩✩✩
“All I can really say for sure is that I've never felt the mystery of the future so much: sense of the hourglass running out, fast-running fever of time. Forces unknown, unchosen, unwilled.”
I wasn't planning on giving this book five stars simply because of how long it took me to read it, but as I was thinking about it I realized just how good this book was. There is an insane amount of detail and it was incredibly well written. Despite the length of the book, it was enjoyable and the characters were so thought out that they felt real.
So I am once again thanking Donna Tartt
A child loses his mother in a terrorist attack at an art museum. As he escapes the wreckage he steals a piece of art, and keeps it along with the guilt he has for stealing it for the next 10+ years into adulthood.
I found it to be quite a gripping book. I definitely preferred when he was more of an idealistic child and not the troubled adult he becomes, though.
“Who's to say that gamblers don't really understand it better than anyone else? Isn't everything worthwhile a gamble? Can't good come around sometimes through some strange back doors?”
I want Hobie in my life! The best character in this book. Period!
