The Goldfinch book review
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt Series: Farseer Trilogy #1
on October 22, 2013
Pages: 864
Goodreads
It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch combines vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.
The Goldfinch has been on my TBR for a really long time and I didn’t know if I would ever get to it but doing these challenges has really pushed me to read books that I never thought I would. I think for me this book was an overall win, I did leave it with mixed feelings and I’m not sure I would ever read it again. However it did for the most keep me gripped and I am glad I made the time to read it, no matter how long it actually took to get through it all!
All the way through The Goldfinch we follow Theo Decker who survives a horrific event that kills his mother. I have to be honest I struggled with Theo as a character, for the beginning part of the novel I was really drawn to him as a character but that started to slip away as the story went on. I struggled to justify his reactions and lack of emotion when it came to certain life events. I also struggled to empathise with his friendship with Boris, they weren’t great for each other and I didn’t really see the reason they were friends and that continued all the way through the story and the book.
The best bits of The Goldfinch for me was definitely how gripping the story was and how unputdownable it was for me, especially the beginning before I started to get annoyed with Theo as a character. I thought the way that the book dealt with grief and the upheaval that comes with it. I loved the relationship with Andy, their interactions felt so wholesome and realistic after such an awful event and the same with Hobie. I just loved everyone in his life and the way the first part of the book created this sense of urgency that meant I just had to keep reading.
The worst bits for me would have to be the second half of the book because I kind of feel as though the plot and the story got a little lost and I found myself becoming confused and skimming some parts of the story because they just weren’t interesting or didn’t make much sense. I hated the whole last fifth of the book. I really wished that it had ended on a high note but it definitely didn’t. I am still not sure what the ending was and what happened but it really didn’t impress me.
I would recommend The Goldfinch surprisingly. I thought the first half of this book was one of the best I have ever read. I have never been so invested in a book where nothing happens. I suppose it was only the last 100 pages that I really struggled with so I think it deserves a recommendation for just how good the first part is.
Such a long book! Have you ever read a book that has left you completely perplexed by just how different two parts can be? Let me know what it was in the comments!
