A review by myclutteredbookshelf
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was first introduced to Donna Tartt in my second year of university, when I discovered how popular she was in the online bookish community. People would tell me how complex her characters were, how thought-provoking her prose was, and I was immediately intrigued but too intimidated by the length of her novels to rush into reading them. I finally worked up the courage in January 2022 to read her debut novel, The Secret History, which follows a group of classics students who get caught in a web of secrets and murder. After so many years of hearing the internet butter up Tartt's writing, to my disappointment, I ended up hating the novel. The chapters were excruciating long with no page breaks, half of the main characters felt underdeveloped, and the plot contained several cliches you would expect from a first time author trying to make their debut as edgy as possible (e.g., two of the classics students are a brother and sister twin duo; three guesses as to what Tartt decided their big secret would be).

A part of me hoped this was just due to Tartt being a less experienced writer at the time of the book's release. So, I decided to give her a second chance and read her third published novel, The Goldfinch. And my god, were the improvements noticeable.

Read the full review at My Cluttered Bookshelf. 
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