The Goldfinch by Donna TarttMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
So begins another book to really lose oneself. The Goldfinch by author Donna Tartt is supposedly known to write only one novel a decade. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, I look forward to reading this book about "haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity."
Ok, here goes.
"A great sorrow and one that I am only beginning to understand: we don't get to choose our own hearts. We can't make ourselves want what's good for us or what's good for other people. We don't get to choose the people we are."
The story starts with a boy who loses his mother in a museum explosion terror attack. In his effort to preserve his sanity and memory, he takes a single artwork, called the Finch from the museum collection from there, his one action leads to one of many series of events that shapes his life as a child to an adult from the setting in Las Vegas to the big apple, New York City. Along the way, he connects with an old child friend who adds more fuel to his complicated journey of self-discovery.
Personally, I felt the novel gave a slow build up to the story line. At times, I would sort of doze off as I read. Don't know why, but it felt like a sleeper. Towards the end story line picked up to really become a page turner. I only wished I was kept at a minimum on the heavy protagonist's erratic mind set, the outcome would have been much more encouraging for the reader if embraced a journey versus reading it as a total outsider. I don't think it was hard book to really get my teeth into it. You can see why it took forever for me to finish the book. The author may have taken a decade to produce a book, but it took me ten months to finally capture her idea of learning the protagonist's repercussions of his fated actions.
It was work to really get my teeth into it. I think my next book will be a humorous one, this one lacked a little of that. Call me crazy on my review, a little dizzying effect for me.
View all my reviews
Comments
Post a Comment