A review by jazhandz
The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

Did not finish book. Stopped at 74%.

DNF at 74%. Ordinarily that's so close to the end that I'd push through, but realizing that I still had 200 pages left, and that not that much had actually happened, and that I didn't really care about what had happened, and that whole pages would be filled with cultural references that felt too rich and bougie for me - I just couldn't hack it. I saw the movie a couple years ago and truly thank god I did because otherwise the writing style is so bloated that I wouldn't have been able to follow any of it. I know this book is probably someone's favorite, and I'm so happy for that person. I wanted to be that person. But if you don't like elaborate, flowery description, and deeply specific art references, then you might not like this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Drug use, Alcohol, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Child abuse, Addiction, and Drug abuse

Minor: Bullying and Sexual content

WRT death, there's a lot of discussion of drowning.