Cedar Falls Public Library discussion

The Goldfinch
Hi,
This is Sheryl, and my first time in leading an online discussion. I'm excited to be discussing this book. I've read Donna Tartt before (Little Friend, Secret History), and I'm a fan. Have you read Tartt before, or is this the first? One of the first signs that I was really engaged in this story was that I went online and looked up several of the paintings mentioned during the museum tour. Did you? If you didn't, check out:
http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/maur...
More to come soon.

This was my first Donna Tartt novel, and I loved it so much that when I finished, I read The Secret History (loved it) and then started Little Friend (couldn't get into it--abandoned it). I didn't go looking for other paintings, but I did spend quite a bit of time looking at the goldfinch. I'll definitely check out the link. Thanks for sharing it.

The Anatomy Lesson was mentioned, too, and I had to look that up (I now want to make a museum roadtrip). It's the painting Theo's mother really wanted to see. A bit thought-provoking that she died while searching for this painting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anat...

Thank you for posting the links to the pictures. I was not familiar with the painting of The Goldfinch before reading the book. I had seen pictures of The Anatomy Lesson before. I bet a lot more people are interested in seeing The Goldfinch than before the book came out.

I had to abandon this book. I find the writing to be overblown.

It is an investment of time to read 700+ pages, especially if you don't care for the writing style. What did others think? Were there parts of this book that made you want to give up on it, made you skim, etc? If so--what made you stick with it?

I love Donna Tartt, so I was looking forward to this book for a long time. I loved The Secret History and The Little Friend (which I know is difficult to get into, and the end disappoints those readers who do not understand that the book is not about solving a crime). I've read both several times over, and I devoured The Goldfinch. I will say that the middle seemed to go on forever! But I think that Tartt wanted to establish the blood-brothers type of bond between Theo and Boris; she spends a lot of time on character development, but I like that.

You're right--she really did an excellent job of portraying the sort of bond between friends that can be very rare and wonderful.

What do you all think about how well she portrayed Theo's grief and survival guilt? Did you pick up on a sense of desolation, or were you able to gauge his feelings of loss?

A lot of reviewers have commented very favorably on Boris as "the most inventive and vividly portrayed character in the book." What do you think? Did you like the characters? Which ones?

I think that Boris is one of the most inventive and vividly portrayed characters in any book I've read. I liked Boris even though he did some deplorable things. I also really liked Hobie. For the most part I did not like the main character, Theo, too much. I felt bad for him at times but some of things he did drove me crazy.

I did love Hobie. It was upsetting when Theo did things to put Hobie's integrity in peril.

I couldn't believe he did those things to Hobie either. The first time the reader hears about it is after the fact and I thought to myself, What are doing? My second thought was the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Meaning Theo is like his Dad.

Hobie is a great guy. I couldn't believe Theo did those things, but maybe it was the need for drug money. It would be hard not to like Boris, as awful as he could be sometimes.
What did you think of the Barbour family? Mrs Barbour surprised me after the tragedy in her family. I didn't think she paid that much attention to her family, but she became a recluse. I wondered if it was because she loved them, or if it was because her world crashed.

Pippa...I loved her explanation to Theo about why she didn't think she should be with him.

One character that kind of bothered me--Theo's friend Tom Cable--he seemed kind of vague. Kind of a shadow person. He was just in the background. I'm sure there was some sort of symbolism in that, but I couldn't quite grasp it.

There were a lot of complex characters is this book. Mrs. Barbour seemed pretty aloof on one hand but then she let Theo live with them for months without any hesitation. I would like to think I could that but when push comes to shove I wonder if I would. I agree about Tom Cable. He seemed one dimensional. Were you surprised when Kitsey was having an affair with him?

I kept reading this book because I was caught up in what happened ultimately with the main characters. My favorite part was the relationship of Boris and Theo, especially their time together in Las Vegas. Much of the book seemed to go on and on too much, yet it kept me intrigued. I have to say, this was an unusual read for me and one I won't soon forget.

Boris & Theo's relationship has to be one of the all time most interesting friendships I've read about. Kind of reminds me of Huckleberry Finn & Tom Sawyer, for some reason.

Do you like to speculate about the future of characters? What do you think will happen in Theo's life? Will he and Pippa end up together (why do I always make stories into romance novels?) How about Boris's future? Why didn't Tartt wrap some of this up nice and neat for us?

Although I'm glad that Theo had such a good friend, Boris often made me cringe. I found myself thinking, "No, Theo! Don't follow Boris into this situation!" I guess maybe that comes from having followed a Boris or two myself when I was a teenager--it never turned out pretty.

Sheryl wrote: "A lot of reviewers have commented very favorably on Boris as "the most inventive and vividly portrayed character in the book." What do you think? Did you like the characters? Which ones?"

Sheryl wrote: "A lot of reviewers have commented very favorably on Boris as "the most inventive and vividly portrayed character in the book." What do you think? Did you like the characters? Which ones?"

Sheryl wrote: "A lot of reviewers have commented very favorably on Boris as "the most inventive and vividly portrayed character in the book." What do you think? Did you like the characters? Which ones?"

Sheryl wrote: "A lot of reviewers have commented very favorably on Boris as "the most inventive and vividly portrayed character in the book." What do you think? Did you like the characters? Which ones?"

You're right, Kelly. I think Boris is one of those friends that is very attractive, and very dangerous. Although I loved the character, probably not a good influence on a child who's been a victim of a terrorist attack, and continues to suffer from PTSD.

I've enjoyed this discussion. Thanks for joining us, and I hope you'll all join us for next month's title: The Golem & the Jinni. Which should commence right about now :)