The Book Club discussion

A quotation from p. 771 from an0ther reader who said "it will sing in my heart for a long time:"

(Not much of a spoiler if you know anything at all about the story, but will post it this way for those who prefer not to read until they have reached this point.)

(view spoiler)[ "Whatever teaches us to talk to ourselves is important: whatever teaches us to sing ourselves out of despair. But the painting has also taught me that we can speak to each other across time....For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time--so has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next." (hide spoiler)]

The Goldfinch reviews Donna/Polly brought to our attention:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06...

Vanity Fair:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/201...

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/21/...

The new setting for The Goldfinch. (The art work.)

C.B. provides us this information re The Goldfinch:

She sought something that would provide a concise review. She found one--but only one--possibility: The Goldfinch: A Guide for Book Clubs by Kathryn Cope. With Amazon Prime, it can be borrowed for free; otherwise it is $2.99 on Kindle. A paperback version is also available.

Among other content, it includes a full plot synopsis. Might be right for those who don't want to read the book or who don't get through all 775 pages and want to find out how it ends.



Thx, C.B.

Here is the review by Francine Prose in The New York magazine that is alluded to in at least one of the reviews at Msg 2. If you dislike spoilers, you might want to avoid this review until you have read the story.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archi...

Francine Prose is author of Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. I don't find her comparison with Dickens as easy or one-sided as she seems to do. His long, loopy sentences in Bleak House (presently reading) are annoying me as much as some of Tartt's shortcomings. But, I do think Prose's comments are useful to consider, if only to sharpen one's awareness of what others notice when reading.

PDF sent under separate cover.

Interview (text) with Donna Tartt:

National Book Critics Circle Fiction Finalist Donna Tartt in Conversation with MFA Student Jennifer Morell

Critical Mass Blog of NBCC Board of Directors

http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/n...

Reviews:

1) Washington Times, Corinna Lothar, Friday, April 18, 2014

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2...

2) "Dickensian Ambition and Emotion Make 'Goldfinch' Worth the Wait" by Maureen Corrigan, NPR, October 31, 2013

http://www.npr.org/2013/10/31/2421056...

(Has a different picture of the author than usual.)

3) Time magazine, Lily Rothman, June 11, 2014

http://time.com/2857286/why-people-ar...

(Lev Grossman review for Time mag, Monday, Nov. 04, 2013, available from this article if you have subscription.)

4) New York Times, Stephen King, October 10, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/13/boo...

5) The New Yorker, "The New Curiosity Shop," James Wood, October 21, 2013

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...

6) The Guardian, "Donna Tartt: Is this the year of The Goldfinch? Laura Miller, May 30, 2014

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014...

7) Newsweek "Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch Neither Sings Nor Flies" Alexander Nazaryan, October 10, 2013

http://www.newsweek.com/donna-tartts-...

Discussion of The Goldfinch on Goodreads 21st Century Literature board:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

On calling a novel "Dickensian", in The Paris Review:

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/20...

Some Paris Review links relative to The Goldfinch:

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/ta...

Videos with Donna Tartt:

1) I like this one on CBS with Charlie Rose:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11...

Same: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZ_9...

2) BBC Culture Donna Tartt shares The Goldfinch's secret history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbQyK...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiL1d...

3) Donna Tartt reads from her novel -- 31 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPgPi...

http://cdn.artmight.com/albums/2011-0...





The very first chapter has the title "Boy with a Skull."

"Young Man holding a Skull (Vanitas)
1626-8, Frans Hals

"This painting is not a portrait. The skull held by the boy is a reminder of the transience of life and the certainty of death. Such a subject is known as a 'Vanitas' (Latin for vanity), a name derived from a verse in the Old Testament (Ecclesiastes 12: 8), 'Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, all is vanity.'

"The Netherlandish tradition of showing young boys holding skulls is well-established and can be traced back to engravings of the early 16th century. The exotic clothing recalls that used in allegorical and genre subjects by the Utrecht followers of Caravaggio, the so-called 'Caravaggisti'. The painting can be dated to around 1626/8."

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/pai...

Thanks to all for the delightful discussion today (8/22/14) of The Goldfinch!

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/0...



New home for "The Goldfinch." See also Msg 3.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...

"...Carel Fabritius’s 'The Goldfinch' (1654), a mere slip of a work — about 13 inches by 9 inches — but a giant hit because of Donna Tartt’s best seller of the same title." (NYT article)

Ekphrasis -- a word new to me, learned while reading reviews of The Goldfinch

"Of the paintings she’d mentioned, The Anatomy Lesson was the only one I knew. A detail from it was featured on the poster for the exhibition: livid flesh, multiple shades of black, alcoholic -looking surgeons with bloodshot eyes and red noses."

Tartt, Donna (2013-10-22). The Goldfinch (p. 22). Little, Brown and Company. Kindle Edition.



The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is a 1632 oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.

Just finished "The Goldfinch". While reading it I kept thinking, why is this book considered literature. OK, by the end I realized that the characters were well drawn and developed during the book, and memorable, at least to a degree.

Yes, the involvement of art and its impact did raise the discussion and meaning of the book. "Why is Art Important?" I went to a workshop with students at the Rutgers Zimmerli Museum on art inspiring literature "Ekansis???" Can't remember how to spell it. And that came to mind reading this book.

However, I would have edited the book removing much of the bombing scene and the drug scenes. In my opinion, they went on far too long. OK, I guess this book is literature. Enjoyed the read, even if I didn't relish every part.

Janet wrote: "...'Ekansis???' Can't remember how to spell it. And that came to mind reading this book...."

Janet -- see my opening @16 above.

N. shared your reservations about The Goldfinch.

The guide mentioned @4 is quite useful for assessing the story. If you looked at the reviews, you know the range of criticism was great.

I have been reading Dickens's Bleak House with a group and comparing The Goldfinch with it has been fun for me, since Tartt is a Dickens fan. Some of the reviews as well as the above guide comment on Dickensian similarities, including the plethora of memorable characters.

Yes, I can see the Dickens similarities. Thanks.