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21.2k reviews for:

The Goldfinch

Donna Tartt

3.96 AVERAGE

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
slow-paced

megletkeman's review

5.0

This was a book that I downloaded because it was available on Libby and then didn’t start reading it for a good few re-loan cycles because I was apprehensive about the length. At nearly 800 dense pages, this book is a tome.

But as soon as I started reading this, it was always in my thoughts. I got to the point where I had been reading it before bed for over a month and was honestly starting to feel anxious about finishing it, but weirdly never because I wasn’t enjoying it, it just seemed to be consuming my thoughts? This was a book I read in little pieces all the time - in the minutes before class started or while waiting in the lobby for an appointment. Not once did I actually consider not finishing it.

So now that I’m done, I’m sad about it! Theo, Boris, Hobie...even Xandra…these characters were just written so damn well. I wouldn’t necessarily say I enjoyed watching them make all the decisions that they did, but if everyone did what we wanted them to do all the time, that would be boring and also wrong. Which is actually what Tartt is trying to show us. And while the plot is on the edge of feasible, it’s fiction for a reason. To demonstrate that “coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,” no part of this book - the painting, the plot, the obstacles - is coincidence.

I loved this book and I didn’t realize it until it was done. How typical. I also think I’ll save myself the pain and not watch the movie.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

absolutely incredible. surpasses the Secret History by miles.

every scene was a page-turner and I spent one very, very long day doing nothing but reading this book because I couldn't stand not to! takes you so far out of reality you forget you're not living in new york falling in love with beautiful redheads and russian-australian alcoholics. boris is hilarious and so ridiculously true-to-life I almost believed he was real. theo is a sad sad tormented boy. everything cleans up so neatly. i love this book.

maybe i'll think of some flaws later but right now... wow. no spoilers, but the ending is profound beyond description!!! Tartt put some of her soul in this novel.

i'm scared to watch the movie because (although it looks pretty and fairly accurate to my mental picture) what if it ruins everything beautiful?!?!

okayyyy fun but where is the flipping plot...
emotional reflective 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

Okay, I got tired of them being drunk and/or high and depressed so I decided to stop reading it
adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-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