The Goldfinch

By: Donna Tartt

Libby audiobook 32.5 hours (unabridged)

Published: 2013 

Read by: David Pittu

Genre: realistic fiction

This book had been recommended to me by Cina Chapman (a teacher I worked with in Chaska) on 11.18.2015 and by Walter Roers (a Minnesota author I met . . . and read his book Pathos Rising). I had been sorting through my scraps of paper with book recommendations. The Goldfinch won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2014.

Partial summary from Cliff's Notes: "Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch is a complex story about Theodore “Theo” Decker, a young boy who suffers the loss of his mother in a terrorist attack at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Disoriented during the attack, he takes the masterpiece The Goldfinch; this, along with the death of his mother, becomes the catalyst for a decade of adventure, sorrow, mystery, and redemption for Theo. "

 

Also from Cliff's Notes:

Main Characters: Theodore “Theo” Decker; Boris Pavlikovsky; James “Hobie” Hobart

Major Thematic Topics: Forced maturity; the value of art; love; the definition of family; self-awareness

 

The book is in five parts with twelve chapters and many sub-sections. The numbering got confusing and so I ignored it. I've been trying to find the names of the five sections online and I can't!

I kept waiting to like the book, but the further I got the more I disliked it.

Initially, the protagonist was 13 years old and a strange mix of mature and immature. I kept thinking, "Just tell!" When he didn't want to talk to the school counselor, psychologist, etc., it kind of made sense. But when he didn't even talk with Hobie about his experience in the museum . . . he was exacerbating his own agony.

 

At about six hours and 50 minutes was my favorite part of the book. Theo is learning about wood working and furniture repair from Hobie. I loved this part so much! 

The other part I enjoyed was Boris calling him "Potter" because of his glasses. The reader did excellent vocal work for all parts.

He and Boris shoplifting, smoking, drinking, and then Boris talking about not stealing from tourists. . . ugh! Their moral compass was seriously messed up!

When he was in Las Vegas, one comment by Boris stood out to me. "Anything is okay if Americans do it." Especially in our current political comment, this strikes hard. Most of the world has a perception of Americans that has been earned, but is painful to me.

The drugs and dishonesty continue . . . as he and Mitzi are picking out wedding china and he keeps saying he doesn't care, why doesn't he just say he'd prefer some antique store china?!?! Why get married to someone you can't talk honestly with about what you like and don't like? (Especially since she was looking at super expensive china - $800 per plate - and what he liked had more character and cost significantly less?)

Boris. I didn't see the next part with Boris coming. The scenes in Amsterdam were a bit surreal. More vodka, heroin, etc. I really didn't like Theo much. Boris' resolution was a good way for the story to go.

His unrequited love for Pippa and his fatalistic attitude . . . In a conversation with Pippa, he said, "Teaching is a shit job." How would he even know? He was so self-centered and self-absorbed.

The philosophizing toward the end of the book bugged me. Why would I listen to life advice from such an awful person? The only thing he said that I could relate to was, "Life is short." Amen to that. Probably too short to spend 32.5 hours listening to this book!

I did learn that Libby won't autoreturn a book while you're actually listening to it. I listened at faster speed, but knew I wouldn't finish before the autoreturn (3.18.25 @ 12:26pm), but I watched the clock go on to 1pm before I finished. As soon as I exited the book, it disappeared. Interesting to know! I had already placed a request for a print copy, thinking I'd have to finish it later. I'm done with it now!

I'm really curious why those two people highly recommended this book to me. . .