A review by mackenziejfrye
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

3.75

Ah, man. First of all, Donna Tart’s prose is an absolute gift. After reading The Secret History, I felt no issue taking on the approx. ~800 pages that The Goldfinch is because of this. I feel that I can get lost in both the mind’s of her characters and even the very real setting that is NYC … however … It was just too slow for me. I did not genuinely feel tied to the plot of the story until about the last 20% of the book. Donna knows how to write on the human condition, and she does it so beautifully, but I feel that so much of the middle of the book was unfortunately lost on me. I was there. I knew what was happening. In some ways it was mundane, which is *fine* and not an issue to me, but in other ways it just felt a bit of the same repetitive narrative to get to the same point. I do think that this book needed some length to have the effect that it does, but I am just not sure it needed this much. These characters are so real, and I once again felt connected to them…but I can’t say I felt this way throughout the entire book. Certain ones had my heart from the get go, specifically one, but others it took until the latter end to have develop this connection. All in all, I really enjoy Donna Tartt and hope we see another book soon…as it has been over 10 years! I will most likely take a break from her and then eventually try out The Little Friend.