REVIEW: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Title : The Goldfinch

Author : Donna Tartt

Genre : Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction

Summary : 

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antique store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch combines vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

My rating : ★★★★★

Review :

Every element in this book is truly perfect, I don’t even know where to begin. The plot build intense anticipation that paid off satisfyingly at the end. The characters are nuanced and essentially alive, making them one of the most memorable characters I’ve ever read. The writing is intricate, and the way descriptions is filled with a lot of tiny details is what makes this book a beautiful piece.

This novel is at its core about the value of human life versus the value of art, how art has the power to change a million lives, and how art is an immortal beauty; it is, too, a story of loss and grief, of loyalty and bonds that last a lifetime, of falling in love with the wrong person, of coming of age, of impermanence in life and recurrences. It is a very remarkable and captivating read. There’s something about it that pulls you in between its pages and made it difficult for you to put it down, continuously bewitching you with the clever and flawless construct of the story. I was kept in awe with every page I turned. It sufficed to say that this is perhaps my most interesting and powerful read of 2019.