The Goldfinch in The Dusty Bookshelf

Nov 05, 2013 Casey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: the-serious-lit, dear-ones, art-for-art-s-sake, books-that-can-double-as-weapons

Wow. That was probably the quickest 771 pages I've ever read. Usually, after reading a novel of that size, I feel something like a hangover, as if I've gone overboard and need to reign myself in (usually with 200-ish page non-fiction books). I didn't feel that way upon finishing The Goldfinch. In fact, I felt like reading it again. That, to me, is enough to place it on my dear ones shelf (along with the fact that I've been talking it up incessantly, and forcing myself to not read it, so that I c ...more

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Mar 14, 2019 Beth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

It’s difficult to put simply a synopsis of such an involved book as THE GOLDFINCH. There’s so much to say about it! But suffice it to say that the narrator, at 13, is the victim of a museum bombing. His mother is killed, and at the insistence of a dying old man, he leaves the museum with a painting, saving it from possible ruin. Both these results, along with PTSD, affect his life and and every stupid and maddening choice he makes for many years after the bombing.

If you read other reviews of TH ...more

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Aug 07, 2013 Avanders rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-and-literature, book-group-books, given-recommended

My response in a sort of nutshell: It is so well written. Tartt seems to have really gotten into the minds of her characters to draw out their personalities and emotions and philosophies. The "happenings" -- i.e., what is actually going on -- for/in each phase of the book (Theo at ages 13, 14, 19, etc.) are quite interesting. The characters are all lovely -- even the ones you don't like! Of course Hobie is a favorite... reminds me a bit of a really smart Hagrid ;) But. The only real "but" I have ...more

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