Life...The Vivere

ARTFUL READERS CLUB

March 2, 2014

THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt

 

 

Good book this month... you might like it! It's Donna Tartt's  THE GOLDFINCH.

 

While viewing an exhibition of Renaissance Dutch paintings in New York City with his mother, 13 year old Theo Decker sees a young girl  with an elderly man. He's fascinated by her and wants to make contact, when a bomb explodes. The museum and exhibition is turned into rubble and dust and Theo's mother is killed. The elderly man with the little girl (who has vanished from sight,) is dying and gives Theo his ring with instructions to take it to a certain address. He also asks Theo to take a painting that has fallen on the ground and keep it safe. The painting is Carel Fabritus' 1654 masterpiece, "The Goldfinch..." one of his mother's favorite paintings.

Spanning 14 years in the life and coming of age of Theo Decker, these incidents set in motion a chain of events, both tragic and fortuitous, that make up this novel.

We  follow Theo through his  variety of residences, close friendships, work experiences, travels, drug-addled days and finally, dangerous  years,  as he struggles to regain possession of his beloved painting...a painting he had planned to return to the museum, but never got to it as the years hiding it made it increasingly more difficult and ominous to envision...the repercussions.

The novel is divided into five parts...the final part begins with a quote by Nietzche: "We have art in order not to die from the truth." This precisely describes Theo's relationship with "The Goldfinch."

As long as he had it, he held the connection to his dear deceased Mother. The painting allowed him to not have to fully grieve. Fabritius, (the artist of the painting,) as his mother explained to him before her death, is the "missing link" between two other Dutch artists, Rembrandt and Vermeer... just as the painting served as the missing link between Theo and his Mother.

Make no mistake... this was a loooooong book... almost 800 pages. The end dragged a bit for me and I could have followed the combination art and philosophy discussion... had it been shorter! Other than that, I enjoyed the tome. Perhaps you'll enjoy it too!

 

RATING: **** out of *****

 

Thanks for stopping  by for my monthly book review. See you for my regular blog posting soon.

 

Big Hugs,

abbyj