Hello everyone!
Today I wanted to talk about one of the books I read about a year ago now and have thought about most days since finishing it. You may recognize this author from this book or the book The Secret History, both very popular books, both with very mixed reviews from readers.
Clearly, I was one of the many who really loved both The Secret History and The Goldfinch but today I am just going to be talking about the latter.
Now I feel like I should preface this post by saying that this book is CHUNKY, it is a very large book with very small print and very thin pages. It is not a light read and requires a good amount of commitment going into it unless you are a speed-reader. And this book does cover some heavier topics, *trigger warnings if you need them :)- grief, depression, physical abuse of a minor, addiction, heavy drug usage, heavy alcohol usage, suicidal thoughts / ideation.
To get into what this book is about, this novel follows our main character Theo Decker who is 13 when he survives the accident that kills his mother. We see Theo as he grows up and what he goes through in his life as he drifts from house to house until his adulthood. We see the struggles that Theo faces along the way and we struggle with him as he attempts to overcome these obstacles.
If you are a reader who needs a strong plot to be able to get through a novel, maybe pass on this one. This story is definitely more character-centric and follows Theo’s development and how his life experiences affect his life. This story has a very loose plot and is definitely a slow burn. I personally tend to enjoy stories like this more than stories heavily focused around a very specific plot (another example of a story like this is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara), but if you tend to not like stories like this maybe skip this one.
Overall, I am in love with Donna Tartt’s writing, it is some of the most beautiful writing ever. With both of the two novels I have read from her I feel as if I am totally immersed in the story, and because of her descriptive writing, I feel like I am right there with the characters.
Let me know if you have read this novel and what you thought about it below!!