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A review by theelliad
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2.5
It’s no surprise that for me this didn’t live up to my expectations given how long this took me to get through (the fact that I lost the book twice not included as that’s not Tartts fault)
I loved the first section of this book up until about halfway through Theo being at the Barbour’s. After that it fell far from grace. Firstly in it’s unnecessary length (it’s not clever and purposeful the way it is in The Secret History), and in its lack of plot (which also was not clever or purposeful and was just boring). I think the main issue is Tartt didn’t seem to know what type of book she wanted to write; this flits between being a bildungsroman on grief/parent loss, to a story of romanticised addiction and consumption (not to mention the completely unnecessary use of the N word several times in this section by a white author writing from the perspective of a white character…) to a wholesome reunion/found family narrative, to fraud, to gangsters in Amsterdam? I don’t know I just feel like this was doing too much and none of it particularly well. I did enjoy the mildly philosophical/ekphrasis section towards the end (though I agree with Amy’s takes that it feels like Tartt intruding to explain the novel- she never was great at letting readers be readers) however it did make me question whether Tartt missed the mark on the format of this as I can’t help but wonder if it would have worked better if told through the letters Theo claims to have written to his mother throughout!
I think this book also just confirms that Donna isn’t her strongest when it comes to creating developed female characters, I wanted so much more from and for Pippa and Kitsey.
Bonus complaint about the ‘dear non existent reader trope’… don’t write a very clearly novel formed 700 page novel just to claim it’s not expected to be read…
sorry for the long rant heheheh xx
I loved the first section of this book up until about halfway through Theo being at the Barbour’s. After that it fell far from grace. Firstly in it’s unnecessary length (it’s not clever and purposeful the way it is in The Secret History), and in its lack of plot (which also was not clever or purposeful and was just boring). I think the main issue is Tartt didn’t seem to know what type of book she wanted to write; this flits between being a bildungsroman on grief/parent loss, to a story of romanticised addiction and consumption (not to mention the completely unnecessary use of the N word several times in this section by a white author writing from the perspective of a white character…) to a wholesome reunion/found family narrative, to fraud, to gangsters in Amsterdam? I don’t know I just feel like this was doing too much and none of it particularly well. I did enjoy the mildly philosophical/ekphrasis section towards the end (though I agree with Amy’s takes that it feels like Tartt intruding to explain the novel- she never was great at letting readers be readers) however it did make me question whether Tartt missed the mark on the format of this as I can’t help but wonder if it would have worked better if told through the letters Theo claims to have written to his mother throughout!
I think this book also just confirms that Donna isn’t her strongest when it comes to creating developed female characters, I wanted so much more from and for Pippa and Kitsey.
Bonus complaint about the ‘dear non existent reader trope’… don’t write a very clearly novel formed 700 page novel just to claim it’s not expected to be read…
sorry for the long rant heheheh xx