Reviews

O Pintassilgo by Donna Tartt

rufussnailhat's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

jaushe's review against another edition

4.0

9/10. Worst Pulitzer yet.

ktrobbins's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This is a tough book to rate. I really liked the beginning, and the end was pretty good too. I could empathize with Theo for the most part, but he became pretty unlikeable, and it made it tough for me to care about him most of the time. The same is true of a lot of the other characters in the book. I feel like there were quite a lot of unnecessary details that made it drag on for so long. I honestly felt relieved when I finished this (I said, "finally")-- yikes!

Maybe listening to it as an audiobook at almost 2x speed made it worse for me, or maybe I'm not enough of an ~intellectual~, idk. It's a decent book but I don't think I would ever re-read it; 3 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Addiction, and Alcohol

fern17's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

melissalikesmilk's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I actually cannot put into words how much this book has changed my life but I will say it’s oddly fitting that I sat in my garden reading this everyday while I watched a dead mouse decompose until it was just a ball of fluff on the ground while the little birds (who looked exactly like the painting to me but were probably sparrows or something) flew around above me

kjyles29's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

5.0

s_g_dorrity's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

nataliestorozhenko's review against another edition

3.0

Donna Tartt certainly has a way with words, but in my opinion, she may have overdone it a bit. The plot of the book was very slow, which I believe was due to the author's over-descriptive writing style. While it felt okay in the beginning, after about 200 pages, it started to feel like constant rambling and a never-ending stream of consciousness. Although it did manage to convey the claustrophobic and anxious terror that Theo was experiencing due to his secret, it could have been done in fewer pages. Towards the end, it felt like a huge sprint that left me exhausted and unwilling to participate in such a run in the future. Personally, I found "The Secret History" to be much superior with more compelling characters and themes that resonated with me. However, if you enjoy Tartt's descriptive nature and the way she plays with words, you may still enjoy this book.

marthadilley's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jbrownleo's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this book! I think it was a wonderful and tragic story of a boy suffering through life and experiencing love and loss and friendship and struggling without guidance from a loving, caring and capable parental figure. I laughed, I cringed at the terrible decisions, my heart broke for the characters at times and the ending was perfectly realistic.
Unfortunately I do not feel the same about the movie...but the book was well worth the 700 plus pages!