July Book Club Discussion- The Goldfinch

[christy082]

It's the 25th so here is our discussion thread for the month.

I am unfortunately only 15% into the book- I just got it on Tuesday. So, I'll have to come back to this thread once I finish. 

[Wallflower]

I'm about 70% through. I'm not enjoying it tons and when I didn't see anyone listing it in the "what are you reading" Friday posts, I decided to take a break for a while.

I'm emotionally invested enough to be upset about what is going to happen to the characters (well, some of them) that I just needed to step away from it, so I think that says a lot about the writing. (Heck, one night, I even had dreams that were sort of related to the book.) But I find it hard starting a book where they tell you at the outset that it all ends badly for the main character.

[rootbeerfloat]

Wallflower, I'm not sure how you feel about spoilers, but if you're in this thread, maybe you're not that concerned? More happens after the events described in the beginning, if that is helpful.

I didn't particularly enjoy this book. I liked a couple of the characters, and the language was beautiful (if sometimes overly long and descriptive), which I suppose is why it's received so much praise. But it was just so damn depressing and not in a way that I came out of the ending feeling inspired.

I also felt like there were two different stories - the first half about his adolescence and the second half about tracking down the painting - that could've been different books.

[MrsAxilla]

I loved The Goldfinch! I agree, @max - I was so sad to see the downward spiral his life took after his mom died. I re-read part of it again (for my IRL book club) and it was even sadder the second time.

[kirstinb]

I finally finished this book on vacation last week. The last quarter of the book was so awful I cursed it every time I opened it. And I always feel disappointed in myself when I don't enjoy a book that comes with such high praise. I adored the Secret History, but felt TG was gratuitously descriptive. Lengthy to a fault. And I kept anticipating a more shocking/interesting reason why the old man (forgot his name already) "wanted" the painting in the first place....so it was bit anticlimactic in the end. Bummer. I am currently reading Fourth of July Creek and it is very good.

[Wallflower]

I'll chime in here and say that you don't have to hold off on spoilers on my account. At this point, I'm not sure I'll finish it - I'd be forcing myself to read it, and I just don't think I'm that curious to see how it all ends.

I will say, Theo had a hard life, but he also was starting off badly (i.e., stealing from peoples homes) before his mother died. A huge part of is issues stem from his mother's death and the life he lived after that, but underlying all of that, I wonder if he would have turned into bad person anyway. Nature vs. nurture.

[charlatti]

Not surprising news: movie rights have been sold. www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10997451/Donna-Tartts-The-Goldfinch-to-be-made-into-film.html

I started this and managed about a quarter before deciding I didn't care for it enough to continue. The writing was lovely at times but more often too drawn out.

[definitelyO]

Jul 29, 2014 8:38:45 GMT -5 charlatti said:

Not surprising news: movie rights have been sold. www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10997451/Donna-Tartts-The-Goldfinch-to-be-made-into-film.html

I started this and managed about a quarter before deciding I didn't care for it enough to continue. The writing was lovely at times but more often too drawn out.

I could see this being a good movie.  But I was not a fan of the book.  I never really connected with the characters much and kept yelling at Theo in my head to do something better for himself.  and the last few pages where she seemed to really try to "wrap it up" seemed contrived.  

[aurora]

I'm just signing in to say I've been horrible about book club for the past couple of months but I absolutely promise to take part in August. I love Oryx and Crake.

[curlygirlygirl]

Jul 27, 2014 8:33:38 GMT -5 kirstinb said:

I finally finished this book on vacation last week. The last quarter of the book was so awful I cursed it every time I opened it. And I always feel disappointed in myself when I don't enjoy a book that comes with such high praise. I adored the Secret History, but felt TG was gratuitously descriptive. Lengthy to a fault. And I kept anticipating a more shocking/interesting reason why the old man (forgot his name already) "wanted" the painting in the first place....so it was bit anticlimactic in the end. Bummer. I am currently reading Fourth of July Creek and it is very good.

I felt the same way.  Parts of the book seemed disjointed.

Boris cracked me up when he came back into Theo's life, but then things took a really strange turn with him. 

[rootbeerfloat]

If Boris were a real person, he would be absolutely exhausting. But he was one of the better things about the book.

[Wallflower]

FYI - there is a Kindle single that Amazon is promoting right now about the painter and painting at the heart of the book - smile.amazon.com/Fabritius-Goldfinch-Kindle-Single-Deborah-ebook/dp/B00LU5AG58/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1406810878&sr=8-1&keywords=Fabritius+goldfinch

[MrsAxilla]

I'm starting to suspect that I have shit taste in books - lol! I loved The Goldfinch, but my IRL book club hated it, too.

[christy082]

Ok, so I finally finished. I rated it 3.5 stars. I enjoyed it more in the beginning. It was sad to see how his life turned out after his mother's death. I think it would have turned out much better for him had he been able to stay with the Barbours and his dad hadn't had shown up.

Towards the end, I just started to get sick of all the bad decisions Theo made. And I found the book overly long and descriptive, to the point where I found myself skimming at times. Now I was reading at night before bed, while tired, so that didn't help either. But I had to go back 30 pages at one point because I missed that Theo had shot somebody!!

Overall I just thought it was okay.

[miniroller]

Aug 3, 2014 23:46:31 GMT -5 MrsAxilla said:

I'm starting to suspect that I have shit taste in books - lol! I loved The Goldfinch, but my IRL book club hated it, too.

I also LOVED it & my IRL book club was about 75/25, love/meh. Your love of this book speaks great things re: your taste, says the girl who is pretty stumped @ all the dislike & trying to reassure myself my taste is Fine!! Ha.