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oyasum1's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Bullying, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Gaslighting, Vomit, and Gun violence
jazhandz's review against another edition
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, and Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Addiction, and Drug abuse
Minor: Bullying and Sexual content
WRT death, there's a lot of discussion of drowning.nabila99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Gun violence, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Murder, Addiction, and Blood
Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
holliesatchell's review
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Medical trauma
exactlyem's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Death of parent, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Bullying
Minor: Vomit and Trafficking
rachelditty's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Some quotes:
"Cool, quiet rooms, where old things slept."
"It occurred to me, that if I didn't already know how my mother had died, no power on Earth could have convinced me they hadn't murdered her."
"...standing up and stretching so that a band of stomach showed between his fatigues and ragged shirt, concave, dead white, like a starved saint's."
"More than anything, I was relieved that in my unfamiliar, babbling and wanting to talk state, I'd stopped myself from blurting the thing on the edge of my tongue, the thig I'd never said, even though it was something we both knew well enough without me saying it out loud to him in the street, which was, of course, I love you."
"My heart was zinging and slamming itself around like a bee under a glass, everything bright, sharp, confusing, wrong."
"Well, let's put it another way. Who was it said that coincidence was just God's way of remaining anonymous?"
"To try to make some meaning out of this seems unbelievably quaint. Maybe I only see a pattern because I've been staring too long. But then again, to paraphrase, Boris, maybe I see a pattern because it's there."
"And who knows? But maybe that's what's waiting for us at the end of the journey. A majesty unimaginable until the very moment we find ourselves walking through the doors of it, what we find ourselves gazing at in astonishment when God finally takes his hands off our eyes, and says, 'look!'"
"Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important; whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair."
"And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them, while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the end of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next."
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Child abuse
rebeccaquinton's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Vomit, Violence, Physical abuse, Gun violence, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Child abuse, Bullying, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Grief, Addiction, and Alcohol
glutenfreemaggie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Vomit, Violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Grief, Drug use, Death of parent, Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Blood
flysick's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Bullying, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Grief
loribeth1961's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As the book begins, our protagonist/narrator, Theo Decker, is holed up in a hotel in Amsterdam, thinking back to the fateful day 14 years earlier when, as a 13-year-old in New York City, he and his mother decided to pop into the Metropolitan Museum of Art to kill some time before heading to an appointment -- at the same time that a massive explosion occurs -- a deadly terrorist attack.
Amid the chaos, Theo comforts a dying elderly gentleman, who gives him a ring and directs him to take one of the paintings (which happens to be his mother's favourite) -- a small, exquisite picture of a goldfinch, chained to its perch, by Dutch master Carol Fabritius (and it is an actual painting). Wrapped in newspapers and an old pillowcase, the priceless masterpiece -- the one thing he has left that connects him to his mother -- accompanies Theo over the next 14 years, as he moves from his mother's apartment and in with a friend's wealthy family on Park Avenue -- then to the completely alien environment of Las Vegas with his previously estranged father and his girlfriend -- then back to New York again (Greenwich Village).
First -- what I didn't enjoy: the book is very (VERY!) LONG, and very leisurely paced. Maybe it's a sign of our shrinking attention spans in the age of instant gratification, but it did feel like a bit of a slog at times. (At 700+ pages, shouldn't I be able to count it as two books read on Goodreads??)
(As an aside: Scanning the reviews of both the book and the movie version online, the word "Dickensian" kept popping up. There are some parallels in the sprawling, meandering, twisting plot, and large cast of colourful characters -- and one of the characters references Dickens, drawing a parallel between another character and the Artful Dodger from "Oliver Twist" -- but most especially the length!)
It's all well written, but some of the material felt extraneous -- there's a lot that probably could have been cut or condensed. Also, there are lots of foreign words & phrases throughout, which was slightly annoying, because I felt like I either had to stop reading and start typing into Google Translate, or keep reading but possibly miss out on a key piece of information, or at least some little nugget that would add to my understanding &/or enjoyment of the novel.
Still. Just when I felt like things were going nowhere, they would pick up again -- and I'd keep on reading.
What I enjoyed about this book: Tartt really is an amazing writer. The characters are all vividly drawn. As I said, I kept reading -- because I wanted to know what happened to Theo, and his best friend -- the charismatic rogue Boris (who -- timely footnote -- is Ukrainian); and to Hobie, the kindly craftsman and expert restorer of antique furniture, who gives Theo a home and a future; and Pippa, a fellow survivor of the terrorist attack, and Theo's dream girl; and the Barbour family, and more. (Apparently Luke Wilson plays Theo's dad in the movie version -- and I can see that -- but really, the only person I could envision as I read the book was a young Michael Douglas. ;) ) The descriptions of New York City and Las Vegas were cinematic. And Tartt's descriptions of the lingering effects of grief and loss, trauma/PTSD, guilt and anxiety, all of which hang over and colour the entire book, are BANG ON. There are several coincidences and plot twists that, while somewhat improbable, also keep things interesting.
So -- not 5 stars. There were parts of the book where I was thinking 3.5, but I wound up bestowing a solid 4. I will look forward to our upcoming discussion.
Graphic: Alcohol, Death, Drug use, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Grief, and Classism
Minor: Bullying, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, and Excrement