Book review: The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt

As a lover of The Secret History, I felt that it was finally time to delve into one of her other works. Published in 2013, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is a story that chronicles the life of Theodore Decker as he wades through grief, addiction, obsession, and love. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 and I can safely say that I’ve never read a book more deserving than this one. I picked up my copy in an op shop somewhere in rural Australia in a 3 for $10 deal and I honestly wouldn’t have wanted any other copy. It’s the standard height but it’s extremely narrow which happens to fit perfectly in my hands.

Now before I dive into my review, I want to make it clear that I’m aware The Goldfinch is an award-winning book and I’m not trying to say that I know better than the judges. But these are my thoughts and feelings after reading this book so please don’t come for me xx

Off we go! I tried to start The Goldfinch in 2022 in the UK after completing my exchange semester at the University of Exeter. I’d found it in an Oxfam bookshop for 1 pound in Bristol where I was staying with a friend. I’d only managed to get about 10 pages in before I donated it back to another op shop (feeling rather guilty if I’m honest). I’m not sure why the book didn’t grab me initially, could’ve been because it was 1am on New Years Eve and I was pulling an all-nighter before my bus to London or it could’ve been that I wasn’t receptive to that style of writing at the time. Either way, The Goldfinch has been sitting quietly in the back of my mind, waiting patiently for me to give it a proper chance. So when I recently pulled the title from my TBR jar, I knew that it was only fair I finally try again. And by God I didn’t know what I’d been missing. It completely gripped me! As soon as I read past where I had last left off, I couldn’t put it down. All the allegories and the messages about life hit so close to home that if I read it again, I think I’d be underlining and commenting on every second paragraph! The story didn’t feel like it lagged too much either. With longer books there’s always a worry that there will be a lull around the middle of the story in which the narrative is being dragged along in a net and fighting to breathe. But with The Goldfinch, every inch of the story mattered. There was no point at which I was bored out of my mind or wandering what another character was doing who wasn’t in the scene. I also really enjoyed how the story circled back on itself towards the end. I’d almost forgotten how the story had started, and so to come back to Theo in that hotel room in Amsterdam was really a ‘oh shit! Yes ok let’s go’ for me. Maybe I’m the only one who felt that way, but it felt really cohesive when we caught back up to his reality. I also loved how complex the characters were, I kept swapping between hating and loving Boris. He had a really annoying habit of becoming extremely endearing when he was at the height of being an arsehole. I think that’s an extremely hard thing to do as well, to write complex character correctly. Usually when I come across it in other novels it tends to be the author/character trying to justify their shitty decisions on actions that were fully their own. They tend to still come across as selfish, dumb or just backstabby rather than actually complex. This wasn’t the case with characters in The Goldfinch. I think this was my first book where there were truly complex characters that also felt extremely human rather than just words on a page.

It seems I’ve gushed enough now, time for me to make some enemies (not really, I’m just being honest with my thoughts here).

As much as I loved the book, I don’t think it’s the best I’ve ever read or even in the top 10. The story was just a little bit underwhelming if I’m completely honest, especially the ending. Based off of the blurb on my copy and what I knew about the book, I was expecting a lot more than what I got. (And no I wasn’t comparing it to The Secret History). Ok now maybe it’s me that misunderstood the blurb or made my expectation higher than they should’ve been, but where I started having certain expectations from this novel was this line in the blurb; “…he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately propels Theo into the art underworld.” Now from this, I was expecting secret art societies, backroom deals, secrets and hidden messages, higher stakes, and a full journey into the underworld of the New York art scene. In early points of the story there were also objects and facial expression that were made to seem like they would link back up with a larger plot later down the line but were just never mentioned again, like Mrs Barbour recognising the ring that Welty gave Theo in the art gallery. I can’t fully believe that it was simply because she recognised it as a Greco-Roman crest. Same with Hobie knowing that Theo was staying with the Barbours when Theo hadn’t told him. I know that one was explained just through it being in the papers and the Barbours were keeping the papers from Theo so he wouldn’t get upset, but at the time it seemed like it was being set up for a much more interesting story. It was just underwhelming to have simple and easy explanations, almost an easy out. But what I got was a story of a boy missing and grieving his mother, obsessed with a girl, in love with his childhood friend, and the worry about getting sent to jail. Now I’m not saying that these aren’t important themes, but it bored me a little bit when the story could’ve been dealing with a whole lot more.

I’m also not sure how I feel about Theo as a character. You’re rooting for him because he was dealt an extremely hard hand so early on in life, but as he grows up, he makes choices that have you sighing and shaking your head. Not caring about school and giving up on college, continuing his friendship with Boris, his drug habit, committing fraud at his antique store, not making a more solid effort to move on from his obsession with Pippa, and not necessarily acknowledging that he desperately needs some sort of help in the of therapy. Very human themes yes, no one’s perfect, but he had many times where he could’ve chosen to do the right thing and try to better himself and his life. At points of the novel, I just kept thinking ‘Theo no please don’t’. Maybe that’s the real message of the story, and maybe I’m just dumb and don’t have the reading comprehension to have understood that, but I’m also a big believer that if your audience really has to search for the meaning of the story online and by watching interviews then you haven’t done a good enough job of writing the story. I’m definitely not saying that that’s the case here, that’s just a little extra opinion of mine I apologise.

Overall, I did enjoy the novel. Just because I found it underwhelming or had some criticisms of the story does not mean that I didn’t enjoy it and I wish that the reading community understood that more. It’s not a bad thing to have a negative opinion on a book! What’s not good is how you would communicate your feelings or how you would react to someone having a different opinion than you. But I digress. The Goldfinch is a beautifully written book that gets one thinking about the relationships we have with those around us, how we live our lives and how the world is never what we think it is. I’d rate The Goldfinch 3/5 stars (a standard rating from me) and I think I would recommend it to others if it was their usual genre and style of book.

Remember, if you have feelings or strong feelings about the hobbies that you love and the things that you do, then you’re on the right path.

Until next time xx