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A review by mackreads324
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
(Sigh)
I don’t know. I know this book is critically acclaimed. I know this book often comes highly recommended. I tend to be a fast reader. I read A LOT, and if I like a book, you can often find me staying up until the wee hours finishing it in one setting. However this book- I had to *literally* force myself to finish it. There are moments throughout the book, undoubtedly, that I thought “ah, this is why people like Tartt.” But those moments, for me, were drowned out compared to the rest of the text.
People compare this novel to that of Dickens-era. I guess I could see the similarity….when I read Great Expectations, I remember my high school English teacher telling me it was “a classic”, raving about the prose and themes. However- I felt like the process of reading Great Expectations was akin to holding my eyelids open and forcing myself to read the words on the page, even though I would rather be reading anything else. This was reminiscent to that at times. True to the fact that a book can be a “literary masterpiece”, and also be not enjoyable.
If it was 300 less pages would I have appreciated it more? Maybe.
I don’t know. I know this book is critically acclaimed. I know this book often comes highly recommended. I tend to be a fast reader. I read A LOT, and if I like a book, you can often find me staying up until the wee hours finishing it in one setting. However this book- I had to *literally* force myself to finish it. There are moments throughout the book, undoubtedly, that I thought “ah, this is why people like Tartt.” But those moments, for me, were drowned out compared to the rest of the text.
People compare this novel to that of Dickens-era. I guess I could see the similarity….when I read Great Expectations, I remember my high school English teacher telling me it was “a classic”, raving about the prose and themes. However- I felt like the process of reading Great Expectations was akin to holding my eyelids open and forcing myself to read the words on the page, even though I would rather be reading anything else. This was reminiscent to that at times. True to the fact that a book can be a “literary masterpiece”, and also be not enjoyable.
If it was 300 less pages would I have appreciated it more? Maybe.