Author: Donna Tartt
Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Alone and rudderless in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld. As he grows up, Theo learns to glide between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love – and his talisman, the painting, places him at the centre of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.
The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettably vivid characters and thrilling suspense, it is a beautiful, addictive triumph – a sweeping story of loss and obsession, of survival and self-invention, of the deepest mysteries of love, identity and fate.
The Goldfinch was an extremely hyped book years ago when it was first published where I felt I saw it everywhere. This story is long at 771 pages so there is a lot to get through on the page. While a lot of the content was great, I think the novel could have been condensed to around 300-400 pages and it would have been amazing. The story is a lot of words where the reader follows almost the entire journey of a character in many details. There is a lot of emotion in this story and many dark moments, including survivor’s guilt. The pacing of the story is slow, so, for me, I put down this book many times as my mind started to wander.
The story follows 13-year-old Theo Decker who had an absent father and a devoted mother. After an incident at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, his mother passes away and Theo is left alone. He ends up connecting to a painting of a goldfinch that his mother liked, and he ends up moving in with a family until his father returns with his girlfriend to have Theo with them. The painting is at the center of the story as everything that happens somehow connects to it. I think the general concept of this story is great, but it read more like a novel trying to win literary awards rather than just being a solid story. I am not quite sure how best to describe it, but this was as close as I could create. Overall, for me, this novel was not worth the hype, but I can easily see how others would praise everything about it, so it is definitely a story where each reader should try it for themselves.
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