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A review by michaslam
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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
4.25
“You can look at a picture for a week and never think of it again. You can also look at a picture for a second and think of it all your life.”
I get the feeling this is a ‘think of it all your life’ kind of book (though I will admit, I’ve been reading it for months). I’m not sure what made me pick this up, since the story isn’t something I’d usually gravitate towards. And aside from the incredibly vibrant characters, I’m not sure what kept me reading to get to the end. I suppose part of me was always eager to get just one more taste of the heart wrenching prose sprinkled in every other chapter.
There is a deep, almost innate anxiety in Theo that I feel like I share. This constant unshakable fear of being found out, exposed, and losing everything because of it. That all the things we cling to with love are always seconds away from crumbling away in our fingers. In childhood, I might have attributed it to my own deficiencies. The heart-sinking-to-my-stomach feeling every time my dad picked up the phone, because what if it was the school calling to let him know I failed a class and needed to attend summer school? Can’t invite my friends over to my house, because what if they see how strange my immigrant family is and realize that I’m actually some kind of freak? In adulthood, that ‘I’m about to get in trouble’ feeling doesn’t fade, it evolves. Now, it’s a lingering fear of time running out. That there is something urgent to be done somewhere that makes all of this time and effort worth it.
I’m not sure I’ve heard a story that captured that anxious feeling more accurately than The Goldfinch. It’s strange that I never considered these feelings to be a shared human experience until now. But like Theo, I’ve come to understand how that deeply held anxiety is tied to joy and love.
“And I'm hoping there's some larger truth about suffering here, or at least my understanding of it - although I've come to realize that the only truths that matter to me are the ones I don't, and can't, understand. What's mysterious, ambiguous, inexplicable. What doesn't fit into a story, what doesn't have a story. Glint of brightness on a barely-there chain. Patch of sunlight on a yellow wall. The loneliness that separates every living creature from every other living creature. Sorrow inseparable from joy.”
I get the feeling this is a ‘think of it all your life’ kind of book (though I will admit, I’ve been reading it for months). I’m not sure what made me pick this up, since the story isn’t something I’d usually gravitate towards. And aside from the incredibly vibrant characters, I’m not sure what kept me reading to get to the end. I suppose part of me was always eager to get just one more taste of the heart wrenching prose sprinkled in every other chapter.
There is a deep, almost innate anxiety in Theo that I feel like I share. This constant unshakable fear of being found out, exposed, and losing everything because of it. That all the things we cling to with love are always seconds away from crumbling away in our fingers. In childhood, I might have attributed it to my own deficiencies. The heart-sinking-to-my-stomach feeling every time my dad picked up the phone, because what if it was the school calling to let him know I failed a class and needed to attend summer school? Can’t invite my friends over to my house, because what if they see how strange my immigrant family is and realize that I’m actually some kind of freak? In adulthood, that ‘I’m about to get in trouble’ feeling doesn’t fade, it evolves. Now, it’s a lingering fear of time running out. That there is something urgent to be done somewhere that makes all of this time and effort worth it.
I’m not sure I’ve heard a story that captured that anxious feeling more accurately than The Goldfinch. It’s strange that I never considered these feelings to be a shared human experience until now. But like Theo, I’ve come to understand how that deeply held anxiety is tied to joy and love.
“And I'm hoping there's some larger truth about suffering here, or at least my understanding of it - although I've come to realize that the only truths that matter to me are the ones I don't, and can't, understand. What's mysterious, ambiguous, inexplicable. What doesn't fit into a story, what doesn't have a story. Glint of brightness on a barely-there chain. Patch of sunlight on a yellow wall. The loneliness that separates every living creature from every other living creature. Sorrow inseparable from joy.”