Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Goldfinch

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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

99 reviews

danuu's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

If there were an option for negative stars id give it -5 out of 5. I’m surprised no one talks about all the casual racism in this book. Not a single review I've seen mentions the fact that the writer uses slurs casually throughout the book most of which are the main characters inner dialogue. not to mention several characters are referred to as nothing more then their race. The “Dickensian” style of writing is what everyone praises yet the descriptions last pages for no reason at all while barely describing anything at all. they are long and overly done just to be long. it would be different if the descriptions were actually well written and long but they are just long. None of this book was well written. the plot is slow and almost nonexistent, the characters are either terrible people or stereotypes with no personality and the only form of “development” came through time jumps. one second hes having life problems and in dispair and the next is a time jump and is considered “developed”. Not to mention the book is supposedly based on this painting yet the painting is barely in the book. even his worry about the painting barely makes an appearance. i could go on for pages and pages about whats wrong with this book but by then it’d be as long as the goldfinch and honestly probably more fun to read. The time ive spend reading this i would have rather spent kicking rusty nails with my bare feet. i hope the only people who have to read this are violent inmates and Donna Tartt herself because i truly don't think even she’s read this. I really want to know DOES SHE HAVE AN EDITOR ??

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teresareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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kaczorlantz's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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erinlouise7's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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noa_27moony's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

2.0

i hated this so much
don't know how people can say this is their favorite book it was so looooong and FOR WHAT REASON
honestly the only good thing was boris (at times) and that's it
the only reason i'm still rating this stars is because i read it completely and didn't dnf it and for that to have any meaning i need to rate it

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phases_of_dawn's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

“Only – if you care for a thing enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn’t it? And isn’t the whole point of things – beautiful things – that they connect you to some larger beauty? Those first images that crack your heart wide open and you spend the rest of your life chasing, or trying to recapture, in one way or another?”

At thirteen, Theo Decker miraculously survives an explosion that kills his mother and leaves him utterly alone. He’s taken in by his childhood friend’s rich family, but due to a secret that could destroy everything if it ever came to light, things soon become complicated. What follows is an account of Theo’s journey through grief, friendships, love and obsession, of him trying to find his way through life despite all the bad things that continue to happen to him.

Despite the promising start, I wasn’t quite sure what to think of this book. I liked the writing, kept highlighting passages that I liked, and especially at the beginning I was amazed by the way the author managed to set the tone for the novel, creating an atmosphere that sometimes felt so real I could see the scenes unfolding behind my eyes.

“[…] uncertainties hovering on the edge of a vast brightness.”

But all those descriptive parts soon became repetitive, too detailed, too irrelevant in the context of the entire story. Had the book been significantly shorter and only detailed where it mattered, in my opinion the book would have managed to be way more impactful – however, this way, it only added to the distant, impersonal feeling of the story and the characters. Even the relevant and actually good and emotional parts just blend in with the rest of the story in a way that they maybe shouldn’t, turning out pretty forgettable in the big picture.

Now to the characters: I loved Hobie with all my heart!! I really liked Boris too, which surprised me because frankly, I would usually think of him as an asshole.
Other than that though, I’m not exactly convinced. The characters don’t feel fully fleshed-out – even though most of them do seem authentic and believable as characters, they never come alive on the page, which adds to the impersonal and distant feeling and which really didn’t help me care for the story more. Apart from that, I couldn’t help but notice the sexism in the portrayal of most women in the story – which might be expected since we only view the story from Theo’s perspective, for instance only see Pippa through a rose-coloured lense of obsession, but it still didn’t sit right with me.

Among all this distance between the reader and the story, I did feel random bursts of emotion, but in the context of the whole story those still feel rather small. I did, however, really like the portrayal of grief, desperation and hopelessness and Theo’s nihilistic world-view woven into the story. Put into words the way they were, they felt oddly comforting.

The plot, albeit often messy and random, added to the feeling of being completely out of control – and although maybe a book’s plot should feel a little more put-together than it did here, isn’t that exactly what life is like for all of us, too? Constant wondering what horrors will be thrown our way next, no real understanding of an objective reality, thrown here and there and back again without a touch of control or something to hold on to? Seeing that portrayed in a book was weirdly reassuring and relatable in its own bleak way.

I liked the painting as a connection that tied the story together, not exactly significant, but still satisfying. On that note, the ending did come full-circle in certain ways, but it felt a bit too “epic” for my liking, not fitting enough for the book and its previous tone. I did, however, like the nihilistic but still hopeful approach.

The discussions about art, albeit interesting, felt rather pretentious as well, but then there was the notion that everyone sees beauty in different things and ways but yet the same things have been loved collectively, over the centuries, by so many people. And in the end, that’s what brings us together, that collective love for art and beauty and finding ourselves in others, that’s what defines the very experience of being alive and human in this world. That portrayed in this book was what really gripped me.

“It was one thing to see a painting in a museum but to see it in all those lights and moods and seasons was to see it a thousand different ways […]”

All in all a book that I would consider good in a rather impersonal sense, while my own reading experience with it was mediocre. 3.25 stars.

Content Warnings

theoclem7's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The characterization of the main character Theo really makes you feel attached to him which helps progress the plot. And Donnas writing style is so immersive I felt like I was really along for the ride. My only issues with The Goldfinch were that the over-all message was common but not stated any differently than it normally is; and that it tended to be slow in some places.

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