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jmrhike's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.25
_eleanorblackman1's review
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
cyrus_forge's review
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
eliotperdue's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lbarsk's review against another edition
5.0
Right off the bat, I want to say that it did not take me two months to read this book. I actually read it in two periods: I started it and got to page 470 within about three days, and then HAD TO PUT IT DOWN BECAUSE IT STRESSED ME OUT. So then I picked it back up on October 6 and finished it October 7. I'm telling you this not to discuss how quickly or slowly I read books, but rather to say that IT IS DAMN COMPELLING. I read it in effectively a week, with a huuuuuge break in the middle of that week, because WOW JUST WOW A GREAT BOOK.
Coming into The Goldfinch, I had read The Secret History but not Tartt's second book, so I knew a little of what I was getting into. Tartt's prose is dense and sometimes confusing but never inaccessible; she likes her narrators to be both relatable and slightly unreliable and usually pretty boozed or drugged up. Reading Tartt is like having an extremely detailed dream that's sometimes a little hard to follow but it's always clear what's happening. I had to go back through a couple paragraphs and re-read them just because some of the sentences are so convoluted, but here's the thing: this style of writing makes TOTAL SENSE given that both Goldfinch and Secret History are told from a first-person perspective. That's how people's thoughts work! So the actual writing of the book is AWESOME.
In terms of character development, Tartt has knocked it out of the park in the same way she did with Secret History. Actually, scratch that, she did it better here than she did in Secret History, probably because this is book number three for her and she knows what's up. Theo, our main character, is so very alive and so very HUMAN, making all kinds of mistakes and bad decisions and then strongly regretting them. And it's not just Theo--every single character in this book feels real. All of them. Even the side ones who are only mentioned in passing still somehow have a sense of aliveness, which is impressive. It's the same with the settings/scenery: you think that you're in the houses that Theo inhabits, you think you're walking around New York City. I am so thankful when an author (regardless of genre: this can certainly be done well in sci-fi/fantasy) is able to immerse his or her readers into the world that has been created.
And plot: DANG. WOW. I couldn't put this book down, until I felt so strongly for Theo and was so troubled by what he was doing that I actually had to put it down because it was stressing me the hell out. Tartt is a gifted storyteller who knows how to weave many plot threads together and keep her readers guessing; I had NO IDEA how everything was going to end and I was SHOCKED and also really pleased. All in all, this was just a really really worthwhile read.
The only thing that got to me was that Tartt has this pattern of trying to make grand statements about the entire universe, and so the last chapter of the book (one big grand statement) was a little bit of a whimper to the bang that was the rest of the book. I know that making these proclamations is sort of the whole point of literature, but it just felt heavy-handed here at the end of a book that was SO NOT heavy handed or preachy. I'm still going to give it five stars, despite the wonky ending and the fact that it did stress me out and I had to put it down for so long. It's the mark of good writing that the book had such an effect, though, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT EVERYONE GO READ THE GOLDFINCH.
Coming into The Goldfinch, I had read The Secret History but not Tartt's second book, so I knew a little of what I was getting into. Tartt's prose is dense and sometimes confusing but never inaccessible; she likes her narrators to be both relatable and slightly unreliable and usually pretty boozed or drugged up. Reading Tartt is like having an extremely detailed dream that's sometimes a little hard to follow but it's always clear what's happening. I had to go back through a couple paragraphs and re-read them just because some of the sentences are so convoluted, but here's the thing: this style of writing makes TOTAL SENSE given that both Goldfinch and Secret History are told from a first-person perspective. That's how people's thoughts work! So the actual writing of the book is AWESOME.
In terms of character development, Tartt has knocked it out of the park in the same way she did with Secret History. Actually, scratch that, she did it better here than she did in Secret History, probably because this is book number three for her and she knows what's up. Theo, our main character, is so very alive and so very HUMAN, making all kinds of mistakes and bad decisions and then strongly regretting them. And it's not just Theo--every single character in this book feels real. All of them. Even the side ones who are only mentioned in passing still somehow have a sense of aliveness, which is impressive. It's the same with the settings/scenery: you think that you're in the houses that Theo inhabits, you think you're walking around New York City. I am so thankful when an author (regardless of genre: this can certainly be done well in sci-fi/fantasy) is able to immerse his or her readers into the world that has been created.
And plot: DANG. WOW. I couldn't put this book down, until I felt so strongly for Theo and was so troubled by what he was doing that I actually had to put it down because it was stressing me the hell out. Tartt is a gifted storyteller who knows how to weave many plot threads together and keep her readers guessing; I had NO IDEA how everything was going to end and I was SHOCKED and also really pleased. All in all, this was just a really really worthwhile read.
The only thing that got to me was that Tartt has this pattern of trying to make grand statements about the entire universe, and so the last chapter of the book (one big grand statement) was a little bit of a whimper to the bang that was the rest of the book. I know that making these proclamations is sort of the whole point of literature, but it just felt heavy-handed here at the end of a book that was SO NOT heavy handed or preachy. I'm still going to give it five stars, despite the wonky ending and the fact that it did stress me out and I had to put it down for so long. It's the mark of good writing that the book had such an effect, though, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT EVERYONE GO READ THE GOLDFINCH.
fakestginger's review against another edition
4.0
I read The Secret History earlier this year and fell in love with Donna Tartt instantly. TSH is now among my favorite books and, while not a particularly new or exciting take, I think that's important to point out because I was biased to love this book from the get go, especially as I had read it was her chef d'oeuvre (and, of course, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction).
I was a bit disappointed.
I obviously still very much enjoyed the novel as I rated it four stars, but there were a few things that made me like this work less than TSH.
The primary issue I had with the novel was the ending. I don't mean the ending of the plot because I found it tied up all of the loose ends of the story very well. I mean to say I didn't find the point of the last 15 or so pages where Tartt explains what the message of the whole book was meant to be. I can handle a reflective page or so but I found it a bit overly wordy and it felt as though she did not trust me to glean the moral and meaning she had set out to explore in the beginning. I have to say 962 pages was certainly enough for me to understand what she was getting at with this sweeping novel. Other than that, I found the book did drag at certain points which, to be fair, is possibly expected with a book of its length.
But overall I found it an enjoyable read. I love her style, word choice, and (generally) pacing as well as her character development and thematic choices. I would most certainly recommend TSH above The Goldfinch to friends, but I think this book is still worth the time you must put into it
I was a bit disappointed.
I obviously still very much enjoyed the novel as I rated it four stars, but there were a few things that made me like this work less than TSH.
The primary issue I had with the novel was the ending. I don't mean the ending of the plot because I found it tied up all of the loose ends of the story very well. I mean to say I didn't find the point of the last 15 or so pages where Tartt explains what the message of the whole book was meant to be. I can handle a reflective page or so but I found it a bit overly wordy and it felt as though she did not trust me to glean the moral and meaning she had set out to explore in the beginning. I have to say 962 pages was certainly enough for me to understand what she was getting at with this sweeping novel. Other than that, I found the book did drag at certain points which, to be fair, is possibly expected with a book of its length.
But overall I found it an enjoyable read. I love her style, word choice, and (generally) pacing as well as her character development and thematic choices. I would most certainly recommend TSH above The Goldfinch to friends, but I think this book is still worth the time you must put into it
albaesfeliz's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cwgonzales's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
I’m not sure what qualifies a book to win something like the Pulitzer Prize, but in this case it kind of missed the mark for me. This book feels like it’s trying to be really profound and gritty but I just found the main characters to all be fairly hard to sympathize with or redeemable in any way. The main character almost always felt just as shallow and cynical as the higher class he fell into. The final moralizing vs fuck it all, life is pointless epilogue sealed the fate of this one for me.
ibisette's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastisch. Tweede boek van deze auteur en wederom een topboek.
amberindia's review
4.0
This was a very conflicting read - there were times where I wanted to abandon it, sections that dragged out a little and didn't grab my attention, but then the story that kept me engaged was what got me to the end.
I wanted closure on this story, it was at times a very intense and anxiety inducing read so I felt I was owed closure.
It's a 4 star read for me more than a 3 star because it's so beautifully written and the message about beauty in life really struck me but it was definitely a long read!
I wanted closure on this story, it was at times a very intense and anxiety inducing read so I felt I was owed closure.
It's a 4 star read for me more than a 3 star because it's so beautifully written and the message about beauty in life really struck me but it was definitely a long read!