The Goldfinch

THE GOLDFINCH
by Donna Tartt

 Awards: Carnegie Winner 2014, Pulitzer Winner 2014

 Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2015, Goodreads Finalist 2013, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2013, NY Times Finalist 2013, Women's Prize Finalist 2014

 Date Read: January 18, 2014

 The Goldfinch is one of those odd books that I picked up and read before it became an award winner. I was both shocked that it won the Pulitzer and fascinated by the drama that ensued once it won.

 The Goldfinch was a fun read and I enjoyed getting to know these characters page after page. After surviving a terrorist bombing in a museum, the protagonist, Theodore Decker, steals a painting called The Goldfinch which he carries with him throughout the novel - from the streets of New York, to Las Vegas and back again. A friend Theo makes in Vegas, Boris, actually steals the painting and since Theo is too scared to ever open the packaging, he never knows until Boris confesses almost a decade later. The two spend the remainder of the novel tracking down the painting.

 What's interesting about this novel is that the painting is both a blessing and a curse in Theo's disheveled life. The painting weighs on him almost like an albatross and he lugs it around with him year after year. Combining this with survivor's guilt and obsession, Theo's life seems to take an almost natural turn into drugs, petty crime and a shiftlessness that seems almost unavoidable.

 After The Goldfinch won, I recall reading an article in Vanity Fair that derided it's anti-intellectualism and proclaimed, "...nothing less is at stake than the future of reading itself," and a critic from the New Yorker stating that this novel belongs in "children's literature." Yet, for all the dire warnings and hand wringing, I believe this novel endures the test of time and offers a unique perspective on surviving a horrific event, very much like we are currently experiencing - from terrorist attacks to school shootings. I would be curious what those same critics would say today after giving it another read. 

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