The Goldfinch
Title: The Goldfinch
Author: Donna Tartt
Language: 5/5
Content: 4/5
Overall: 9/10
Imagine a 864 page book centered around a not widely known painting by Fabritius called The Goldfinch (at least I hadn't heard of it which isn't saying much given my general ignorance on all manner of art) and you might not think much of it. The wide assumption would probably be that it's boring and in some ways that's not entirely inaccurate although boring is not the right word for it- slow-moving perhaps. My prejudice for the book stemmed not only from this mistaken expectation but also from my contempt towards any form of award-winning literature. As it happens, The Goldfinch is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2014. I will not get into the general views I hold about this award but this was probably the occasion I have been most delighted about being wrong.
The very heavy book is somehow poetic without being too descriptive. There are passages with extremely detailed description which almost read like a modern twist on classical Russian literature but the tone is mostly straightforward. It's almost a detached, matter-of-fact way of writing which stops the book from being the story of psychological development. This is no Crime and Punishment and even though the subject is a child who loses his mother at a young age under tragic circumstances, there isn't a Raskolnikov-esque internal struggle.
Instead, we watch Theo grow-up in broken environments and make choices as a result of those environments from a far-away camera lens without ever becoming him. If anything, it's a risky way of writing which makes the book stand out.
After losing his mother at a tragic museum bombing, Theo becomes obsessed (if that is the right word) with The Goldfinch but this extreme interest is more about what the painting becomes to him in time rather than a pure intellectual excitement. In a way, this makes the novel an ode to beauty in it's various forms and if I needed a short and sweet four word description that is what I would pick. The Goldfinch to Theo (a very clever and intellectual man) is a childhood memory, a piece of his mother, a widely-celebrated work of art but it's also his destruction and downfall. Towards the end Boris says "..I personally have never drawn such a sharp line between 'good' and 'bad' as you. For me: that line is often false. The two are never disconnected. One can't exist without the other." and that is probably the best summary.
This passage really spoke to me so I'd like to include it here: "And as much as I'd like to believe there's a truth beyond illusion, I've come to believe that there's no truth beyond illusion. Because between 'reality' on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there's a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic. And-I would argue as well-all love."
*The product artwork I use within this review is taken from Wikipedia in order to identify the subject of the review. It is low enough in resolution such that it could not be used as counterfeit or pirated material.
Author: Donna Tartt
Language: 5/5
Content: 4/5
Overall: 9/10
The very heavy book is somehow poetic without being too descriptive. There are passages with extremely detailed description which almost read like a modern twist on classical Russian literature but the tone is mostly straightforward. It's almost a detached, matter-of-fact way of writing which stops the book from being the story of psychological development. This is no Crime and Punishment and even though the subject is a child who loses his mother at a young age under tragic circumstances, there isn't a Raskolnikov-esque internal struggle.
Instead, we watch Theo grow-up in broken environments and make choices as a result of those environments from a far-away camera lens without ever becoming him. If anything, it's a risky way of writing which makes the book stand out.
After losing his mother at a tragic museum bombing, Theo becomes obsessed (if that is the right word) with The Goldfinch but this extreme interest is more about what the painting becomes to him in time rather than a pure intellectual excitement. In a way, this makes the novel an ode to beauty in it's various forms and if I needed a short and sweet four word description that is what I would pick. The Goldfinch to Theo (a very clever and intellectual man) is a childhood memory, a piece of his mother, a widely-celebrated work of art but it's also his destruction and downfall. Towards the end Boris says "..I personally have never drawn such a sharp line between 'good' and 'bad' as you. For me: that line is often false. The two are never disconnected. One can't exist without the other." and that is probably the best summary.
This passage really spoke to me so I'd like to include it here: "And as much as I'd like to believe there's a truth beyond illusion, I've come to believe that there's no truth beyond illusion. Because between 'reality' on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there's a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic. And-I would argue as well-all love."
*The product artwork I use within this review is taken from Wikipedia in order to identify the subject of the review. It is low enough in resolution such that it could not be used as counterfeit or pirated material.
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