Charlie Black / 24 September 2024 / Categories: Books, Novel

The Goldfinch

by Donna Tartt

The Goldfinch

Donna Platt

I have recommended this book to more people than any other. It is the only paperback I have more than three copies of. Whenever I see one I seem to buy it and love giving this story away.

It’s long. It’s epic. And if you are not really a reader it might feel like tackling War and Peace but even though I read it some ago now, I think the lead character Theo, grew up in NYC in present day. The story is a long one that weaves between present day and 14 years earlier in the Meteopolitan Museum of Art when Theo survives a bombing that his Mother does not.

The characters, Boris his friend, Pippa his love interest are memorable even today although it’s Theo’s hectic experience over decades of antique dealing, drug addiction and some pretty suspect associations and criminal underground activities.

The novel holds everything I want from a marathon read, rich language, exciting heart racing pace, relatable characters even though their darkness is ever apparent, especially Theo we love this flawed protagonist, like us all just playing the hand we’ve been dealt, making monumental mistakes along the way and then feeling inspired as he somehow gets back up to undertake the next loop the loop of this twisting tale, all delivered in rich descriptive language. I still remember the imagined antique rooms of Theo’s friend and mentor Hobin.

Part art Heist, part criminal underground, part overcoming adversity, part love story but not with a happy ick predictable ending.

I cannot wait to have four days under a tree wearing a big floppy hat to go on this adventure again.