The Goldfinch: by Donna Tartt: Analysis

Amazon recently suggested Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch to me and I decided to buy it, because every book Amazon has suggested to me I have totally enjoyed! However just a few pages into the book I was confronted with some very adult subject matter. I immediately went to my favorite book companion, Book Buddy Sidekick for some much needed guidance and thank goodness there was one for this book! After I started reading this Book Buddy Sidekick I found out that the book revolved around the life of a thirteen year old boy who has a really light grasp on reality because of the horrific murder of his mother. This companion walked me through what I needed to understand in order to decide whether or not to finish the book. I read The Goldfinch and often referenced the Book Buddy Sidekick, it was awesome!

This book buddy was helpful to me as I read The Goldfinch, which was a terrifically long book full of many characters.Lord only knows, some English major worked hard to identify the literary themes and symbols in the book - something I hadn't even thought of. If you're reading The Goldfinch for a book club this is a very helpful aide to help pull you through what is a long and in my opinion, wordy book.

The Goldfinch will have you feeling as though you are traveling from New York to Las Vegas and eventually Amsterdam, as the lead character 13 year old Theo Decker, tries to handle the tragic, untimely death of his Mother. As most kids this age, his handling of the loss of his Mother is chaotic and stressful to say the least. Read to see how Theo copes with post traumatic stress disorder and see how he tries to find his true self. You never know what is going to happen from one page to the next. This analysis gave me an insight that I wouldn't have with the original book, and I was really able to get inside Theo's head.

Know this is the "it" book of the moment, but I didn't enjoy this story at all. Maybe that was the author's point? If so, she accomplished that goal. This story is about damaged/vapid souls who damage others. A small point of redemption at the end of the book, but it was too little too late. Although a well-crafted story, one that you could visualize, its structure didn't compensate for the fact that I was depressed as heck while reading it and even more depressed once it concluded.

This is basically a few page summary of the book, a list of characters and 3 discussion questions at the end. I read it all in 5 minutes. I bought this to assist in me in leading our book club discussion which it won't do at all; we all will have read the book....we won't need a summary. I'm trying to think of who would want to spend $3 on this---someone who wants to go to a cocktail party and pretend to have read the book in case it comes up in discussion? Absolute waste of $3.

Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch is a masterfully written and epic tale of a boy's life. Though the large novel requires a significant time commitment to finish, its definitely time well spent. Centered around the effect a piece of art, this analysis provides great insight into the well developed characters and artful wording used by the author. The large novel is broken into novellas, each telling part of the main characters life and full of details that the analysis helps to clarify. Definitely worth reading along with this great modern classic.

Thought the whole thing was a bit wordy for the subject matter offered. Could have cut the novel by a third.

Helpful to gain more from this wonderful piece of literature. Highly recommend seeking book discussions to capture the depth of the book.

Did not realise that this was not Donna Tartt's latest book I had been so looking forward to reading - it's been a long wait -but a school type crib sheet which, of course, gives the whole plot away.