Name: The Goldfinch
ISBN: 9780316055437

Donna Tartt

A young New Yorker grieving his mother's death is pulled into a gritty underworld of art and wealth in this "extraordinary" and beloved Pulitzer Prize winner from the author of "The Secret History" that "connects with the heart as well as the mind" (Stephen King, New York Times Book Review).

Theo Decker, a 13-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 a longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into a wealthy and insular art community.

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

Draculelle

Helen Whitney

faith hurren

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2014 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.

Not my normal vibe but actually really enjoyed this and the story stuck with me. Insightful take on the underground art world, drugggsss, addiction, friendship, grief, loss, love and all the big themes of life. Easy writing. Not the absolute rave the world created but still vibes. 

Rebecca atkinson

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE "The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review Theo Decker, a 13-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 longing for his mother, he clings to the 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.

A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

wish i could give this 3.75 stars instead. donna tartt is an amazing storyteller and writer however i prefer The Secret History mainly because of plot.

pacing of writing is incredible but pacing of story was too draggy during second half of book. i got bored which made it difficult to follow. first half was absolutely gripping though and so was the ending.

plot line was abit too random and choppy but donna just only manages to interlink all the different "phases" together as one cohesive story. there's not much depth to characters, considering how thick the book is, but there are notable traits and that's that.

overall finished the book for the sake of it but wouldn't recommend this work to people if they're trying to get into donna.

aemouh

wish i could give this 3.75 stars instead. donna tartt is an amazing storyteller and writer however i prefer The Secret History mainly because of plot.
pacing of writing is incredible but pacing of story was too draggy during second half of book. i got bored which made it difficult to follow. first half was absolutely gripping though and so was the ending.
plot line was abit too random and choppy but donna just only manages to interlink all the different "phases" together as one cohesive story. there's not much depth to characters, considering how thick the book is, but there are notable traits and that's that.
overall finished the book for the sake of it but wouldn't recommend this work to people if they're trying to get into donna.

enjoyed this more than the secret history.

- so much to say and no clue where to start... in case the 800 page length didn't inform you let me say now: this book is PACKED

- much like the secret history, i do think there is a 

too much going on, and would massively benefit from an abridged edition. there's no reason this can't be at least 100 pages shorter, and that's being generous. tartt, as always, has many statements to make and a lot of thematic ground to cover, and she definitely bites off more than she can chew

- the best parts of all that's here, however, are a cannonball to the soul. theo and pippa and hobie and the main plot of the stolen painting are just... some of the best bits of literature i've ever read

- this book speaks on trauma and loss and connection through grief with such mesmerizing prose. tartt is a generational talent

smile??

- so much to say and no clue where to start... in case the 800 page length didn't inform you let me say now: this book is PACKED

- much like the secret history, i do think there is a bit too much going on, and would massively benefit from an abridged edition. there's no reason this can't be at least 100 pages shorter, and that's being generous. tartt, as always, has many statements to make and a lot of thematic ground to cover, and she definitely bites off more than she can chew

- the best parts of all that's here, however, are a cannonball to the soul. theo and pippa and hobie and the main plot of the stolen painting are just... some of the best bits of literature i've ever read

- this book speaks on trauma and loss and connection through grief with such mesmerizing prose. tartt is a generational talent

I agree with most when I say the best parts of the book was Theo’s adolescent years. Donna Tartt did amazing in portraying grief, lost, the anxiousness of being a child knowing you’ll be alone in the middle of a big city. And I wouldn’t say I hate the ending, it’s just maybe I don’t like that in the end, I am Theo. I do not understand the point, and I wish there was a grander exit, a bigger purpose or role but in fact, I’m only proving what the author was trying to convey. It’s definitely something to think about and it’s not for everybody. I don’t really like it but it is what it is. 

I don’t know. The first part was amazing, honest and heartbreaking, but the second part was kind of boring. Yes, I can see some of Dostoevsky’s analogies - but is it original, doesn’t it tell us anything new? No really. Theo just got everything by doing nothing good and ended up still reflecting and complaining about his fate. 

Tanya Gush

Not great, the plot was a total miss at points. I was also not a fan of the ending. The characters and the descriptions were very well written, in Donna's style. 

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

While some have found The Goldfinch to be painfully detailed, I liked that Tartt took her time with how she fleshed out the details. She nailed PTSD and survivor's guilt, and I felt like I made a friend in Theo.

I loved Hobbie and Popchik and how all these characters were parallels for finding a home in the most unexpected of places.

While Theo was not exactly the most likeable of characters, he did however went through a traumatic time and he was merely trying to survive after and in ways that he knew how to. Completely understandable. Wish people would stop hating on Theo (and the book by extension). 

Cherine Fok

Subliminal, as with Tartt's other works.

While some have found The Goldfinch to be painfully detailed, I liked that Tartt took her time with how she fleshed out the details. She nailed PTSD and survivor's guilt, and I felt like I made a friend in Theo.

I loved Hobbie and Popchik and how all these characters were parallels for finding a home in the most unexpected of places.

While Theo was not exactly the most likeable of characters, he did however went through a traumatic time and he was merely trying to survive after and in ways that he knew how to. Completely understandable. Wish people would stop hating on Theo (and the book by extension). 

The Goldfinch: A Novel (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction)

Love Donna tart and love some crime but sooooo long omds 

Ananya Jain

Entirely too long-winded for my taste, I hate to admit I had to skim through the second half to finish it at all, as it'd been years since I started it and it just went on and on. It was a good story and good writing, just too many words for me about too many things. 

Silje Løvli Lorentsen

Mia Hamilton

Probably one of the best books I’ve read. Thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. 

Naveen Sheik

The first 450 pages of theo's childhood was amazing. I loved those first 450 pages honestly. They were an absolute masterpiece, what with his mother's death, his loss of home, continously moving around and more. His friendship (or more than that?) was the most strongest friendship i've ever read about. Potentially, these 3 stars are given purely for their childhood friendship. I love it. And then we extended 8 years after his childhood and it was horrible. This book  is far too long, far too much goes on, the "romance" between certain characters isn't even real, the events which continue make no sense. The last 50 pages I was just clawing for it to end,  skim reading basically all of it. This book was not the greatest book, and my feedback is if you want to write a book, don't make it lengthy, because you find the randomest of events occuring, that don't make sense, and don't follow. Also, try to remind us of who the characters are every now and then, considering this book is like half the size of the bible or something. 

surtified™

Als Theo Decker dreizehn Jahre alt ist, verliert er seine Mutter durch ein tragisches Unglück. Er versinkt in tiefer Trauer. Auch das Gemälde, das verbotenerweise in seinem Besitz ist und ihn an seine Mutter erinnert, kann ihm keinen Trost spenden. Ganz im Gegenteil: Mit jedem Jahr, das vergeht, kommt er immer weiter von seinem Weg ab und droht, in kriminelle Kreise abzurutschen. Es scheint geradezu, als würde ihn das Gemälde, das ihn auf merkwürdige Weise fasziniert, in eine Welt der Lügen und falschen Entscheidungen ziehen, in einen Sog, der ihn unaufhaltsam mit sich reißt ...

Roman

Der Distelfink

Again, beautifully written, but I disliked Theo more and more throughout the book.. Hoby and Boris I loved though

Lili

I really liked parts of the book but mostly hated a lot of it. I couldn't finish the book as it was dragging on and on and I didn't find the enthusiasm I needed to finish a 700 paged book. The author kept putting unnecessary details that I didn't really care about. I also couldn't build a connection with most of the characters and didn't really care for them.

Abbie Duggan

“Why not something more typical? Why not a seascape, a landscape, a history painting, a commissioned portrait of some important person, a low-life scene of drinkers in a tavern, a bunch of tulips for heaven’s sake, rather than this lonely little captive? Chained to his perch?”

To keep it simple: this is the best book I’ve ever read.

tori 👻

Donna Tartt does it again.

I'm in love with her writing ever since The Secret History last year. The way she narrates her tales gives you the knowledge of how much this woman loves what she does. Every line of every page is beautifully put together.
Boris was fascinating to read about as was the love of one for an object, and how much it can shape them as a person. I feel like we all have a Goldfinch, perhaps not in the intensity and desperation Theo has, but I like to think we all do.
This novel was beyond beautiful, the last few pages were hard to read for how much it made me feel.

I was engrossed! Tartt writes such a compelling narrator and who is also the saddest man alive? and she does this thing where she adds a ton of question marks? to the end of half-statements? and doesn’t capitalize them? because they’re spoken by young assholes? It’s really cool. And the word choice is top notch, I learned what a margrave is and what to call a brocade and how to make a cavil statement. Really impressive for a book I got for 2 bucks!

Eli Alvah Huckabee

Elisavet Rozaki 

Incredible, all the way until its last paragraph.

Nova

this was a beautiful read and the only thing stopping me from giving it 5 stars is the word choices. also i probably wont reread, this is more like something you read when you have a lot of time, when you’re unwinding. the paragraphs tend to get very long and tedious to read. i got attached to the characters and andy broke my heart.

Eugene

I loved the journey, some moments caught me, but to be honest I expected more. The art pieces described with great love and care for their beauty, the adventure was interesting, but I expected to get more out of the characters. Sometimes they seem flat, though charismatic.

Rodrigo Figueiredo Severino

This was the first book I’ve DNFd since I got back into reading. Was super excited for this but found it profoundly dull and way too slow for me. This book could be told in 300 pages but we’re stuck with a 800 page novel where most things are boring descriptions and just honestly fluff. I’m honestly proud of myself for withstanding 500 pages of this bullshit, but I can’t no more. This book is the bane of my existance. So I’m gonna just read what happens somewhere and watch the movie maybe. Just wish I’d come to this conclusion earlier. The bane of my existance.
I also keep editing this review cuz every time I remember of something to say. Like the story of this has really interesting parts and could be really good but like by the time we get to the point I already don’t care cuz we got like 100 pages of fluff and setup.

One of the best books I've read in my life. The story is a never-ending adventure, with many pages leaving me shocked. I've recommended it to so many.

** spoiler alert **
           an overall interesting book and certainly one i enjoyed reading although i didn't find it to be on the same level as the secret history. I often found the book to be rather cliché, the characters not very well written and noticeably one-dimensional. the beginning is gorgeous and captivating but the book really starts to go downhill once Theo moves to Vegas with his father. i would've liked it more if Theo's time in Vegas would've been cut a little shorter and his time in Amsterdam, towards the end of the book, expanded.

The Goldfinch

Reviews

Highlights