21.5k reviews for:

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

3.96 AVERAGE

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Fairly well-written with interesting characters for the most part, but just too long and drawn out, especially some of the conversations and stream of consciousness (I get it already, move on!). I ended up skimming the last few pages because I just didn't care anymore how it all turns out for the main character.
adventurous challenging dark medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Rare occasion that I didn’t love “and all of this was a book the narrator was writing” ending. It just kinda felt like a boring and obvious way to have all that in depth reflection at the end. It took me out of it. I will say I started to lose interest towards the end but I think that may have just been out of frustration with the situation Theo kept putting himself in despite the walls crashing down around him. There were so so so many things that could have been avoided if he had just stood up to Boris just once. Im just a Boris hater, from the first time he showed up I was not a fan so when he reappeared at the worst possible time I was very stressed 

I will say that I did not see the twist of Boris stealing the painting at all! I was shocked!
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

wow!!! beautifully written and engaging and i loved it! a long read but worth it

I wanted to love this book. And it was lovely writing and a solid plot. And there certainly were some thought provoking themes. But I felt like the same could have been accomplished in half the number of pages — I found myself muscling through it by the end.
dark mysterious 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

This read like a classic in that it had some very beautiful descriptions and a rich narrative and also in that it was 300 pages longer than it needed to be and I was constantly jumpscared by bafflingly casual racism. 
adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes