Title: The Goldfinch

Author: Donna Tartt

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Format: Hardcover, Large Print

Pages: 1240

Rating: 4/5 stars

*Warning: mature content. Parents please be advised.*

Synopsis:

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 is a mesmerizing, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

Review:

Oh man, where do I even start with this book? There were so many ups and downs, so many parts where I couldn’t put the thing down, and then other parts where I was bored out of my mind as some areas seemed to drag on forever. I gave this book 4/5 stars because the writing is beautiful. Tartt is able to paint a beautiful story and develop strong characters, even though some scenes took forever to pan out. The story centres around Theo, who’s mom dies in a museum explosion. Her loss hits him pretty hard, and he struggles on how to form his identity without her. On top of that, Theo has in his possession a prized painting from the museum, The Goldfinch, and the book centres around the painting and its influence in Theo’s life.
There are many memorable characters in this book, but you can’t help but feel compassion for Theo and Boris. Both come from hard living situations, both have experienced trauma, and both try to cope with that trauma with unsafe means. This book, to me, is also about how to overcome personal trauma, and accepting that it will have an impact in your life, but you are the one to decide what that impact is!

Happy Reading!