The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Disclaimer: I did not completely reread the book in preparation of this review, but I figured that this week would be a good time to talk about this wonderful book by Donna Tartt as the movie comes out this Friday.

This novel is the story of Theo Decker, starting when he is 13 and his mother dies in a bombing while they are visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In the chaos after the explosion Theo takes "The Goldfinch", his mothers favorite painting, and promises a man that he will return the mans ring to his business partner. Before I continue with this convoluted attempt at a plot summary, this book is almost impossible to summarize. The writing is dense and rich and beautiful and So. Much. Happens. The novel takes place over years of Theo's life and very little is skipped over, but every bit of it is important. Theo is a well-developed and flawed character in a cast of well-developed and flawed characters that we come to love as Theo does throughout the novel. In the end, Theo keeps his promise and lives a life that we get to witness through the pages of this book. There is so much more I could say to summarize this book, but I would run the risk of giving major events away so I'll stop now. But I hope you will read it and I hope you enjoy it.

I adore this book. The writing is stunning, the story is even better. Donna Tartt is a phenomenal author and I have loved everything I have read by her. But I'm not going to pretend that this is a quick read. The story is intense and involved and it takes time to absorb it all. But I hope that doesn't scare you off.

When I first saw that they were making a movie out of this book I was very nervous. So much happens in the novel, there is no way that they will be able to get all of it into a film. And I love this book, so I don't want to see it ruined by a bad movie adaptation. But, I was comforted by the trailer. It encompassed the mood of this book beautifully and while I know that they will have to leave a lot out, I am hopeful that they will do justice to what remains. Also, they found children who look like they could grow up to look like the actors that play the adult versions of the characters, which is always a plus for a movie that takes place over many years. Overall, I think the movie will be good, but I'm trying to keep my expectations low to avoid being disappointed.

Just to finish this up, Donna Tartt is an author that I recommend to just about everyone because I think her work is really worth reading. Her writing style is dense and beautiful and I hope that anyone who reads her work because of this post loves it as much as I do.

XO, Ellen

P.S. (Two weeks later) I have just gotten home from seeing the movie, which I thought was lovely. But I would definitely recommend reading the book first. The book is just so dense with detail that it can't properly be put onto the screen and I think the movie would be confusing to anyone who hadn't read the book first. But the movie was beautiful and I'm glad I saw it in theaters.