The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt - book review
This is a huge book - over 800 pages in paperback. And it is not a page-turner. So, be warned that you might struggle finishing it.
If tags impress you, let me share that it is 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner and winner of / nominated entry for many other prizes.
This is the story that revolves around the life of Theo from his 13th year to beyond the teens. Deeply attached to his mother, he loses her in an explosion in a museum. He happens to survive, and takes away with him a prized painting by the name The Goldfinch when a dying man prods him to do so. He tries to keep the painting safe - despite the threat of being booked for stealing it, and later of criminals being after him. His own life is in tatters and so he finds it difficult to keep it safe, but when he is sure of its safety, he learns that the painting has been stolen without his knowledge by a childhood friend Boris. The painting goes through illegal channels and finally, the two friends manage to rescue the painting. They get a huge reward for tracking the painting and sharing it with the authorities.
Of course, there are many twists and turns, and life-threatening, events all the time but the painting binds the story now and then.
The occasional resurfacing of the painting is what keeps the reader worried about it. However, the story is more about Theo's love and longings, his tormented life, his drug habits, his most trusted buddy Boris and a sprinkling of characters with memorable personas.
Donna Tartt writes well. Her prose is brilliant, and her portrayal (=dissection) of characters and feelings is superb. She plays with sentence structure and mixes tenses and thoughts to create intrigue - and that works fine (may feel boring and even sub-standard to many readers). The first-person narration from Theo's point of view works well.
However, the novel drags. After a good start - in which Theo and his mother prepare to face the teacher for his misdemeanor at the school, he is attracted towards a girl in the museum, a big explosion happens, he meets a dying man who asks him to take away the fallen painting - things move in a straight line. You get the hang of the story and are attracted towards the painting. You continue sailing with Theo's ups and downs and you empathize with his feelings. You tend to ignore digressions, things happening out of place. But then it becomes a pattern - a heavy pattern. Monologues. Memories that repeat too often. Too many details about paintings, furniture, locations...
The end is too philosophical.
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