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A review by mj470
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2.0
Donna Tartt is such a conflicting author. I did my due diligence and read Secret History first. I'm intrigued by her choice to write two very long novels from the perspective of teenage boys. Her prose and particularly her dialogue is masterful. It reminds me a lot of how Stephen King writes.
That being said, Goldfinch is a difficult read. It lives somewhere between a coming of age story, a thriller, an homage to art, and grief literature. There are lengthy portions about Theo and Boris's mind-adlying drug use. It's very depressing and fatalistic. One thing that continually pulled me out of the story was the unbelievable way that everyone around Theo dies. I spent so much time thinking about Tartt's prose because I felt jarred out of the narrative.
The novel ends on a note of reconciliation only after hundreds of pages of darkness. The main question seems to be if the pursuit of beautiful things justifies moral grey areas. In making that point you end up hating most of the characters.
This is a well crafted book and has some merit, but it wasn't a story for me or profound in any personal way.
That being said, Goldfinch is a difficult read. It lives somewhere between a coming of age story, a thriller, an homage to art, and grief literature. There are lengthy portions about Theo and Boris's mind-adlying drug use. It's very depressing and fatalistic. One thing that continually pulled me out of the story was the unbelievable way that everyone around Theo dies. I spent so much time thinking about Tartt's prose because I felt jarred out of the narrative.
The novel ends on a note of reconciliation only after hundreds of pages of darkness. The main question seems to be if the pursuit of beautiful things justifies moral grey areas. In making that point you end up hating most of the characters.
This is a well crafted book and has some merit, but it wasn't a story for me or profound in any personal way.