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The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

(17 Posts)
lamb Sat 29-Mar-14 15:03:03

I have read 2 outstanding novels in the last 12 months. The Goldfinch I found to be an old fashioned novel in the best sense; great depth;humour;
very well written with exceptional descriptive passages and fine characterisation of the main protagonists. Her style and technique just bowled me along so that I read it far into the night sometimes, not being able to put it down. No wonder that one of her models is R.L.Stevenson.The other novel is The Cazalets which we have discussed earlier.

rosesarered Sat 29-Mar-14 15:37:04

I have bought The Goldfinch to read on my Kindle, so look forward to reading it now, I find her an excellent author [although thought her other books needed editing down a bit.]

noodles Sat 29-Mar-14 16:06:42

Coincidence! I am downloading this from Audible now, read by Daniel Weyman. He's an excellent narrator.

Rosannie Sat 29-Mar-14 16:51:02

I'm in the middle of reading this huge novel at the moment, I have the hardback copy which is difficult to carry around so I have it on my kindle as well! I'm really engrossed in the excellent writing, I loved Secret History and have waited the full 10 years for another novel by Donna Tartt.

Pollyjo Mon 05-May-14 20:55:23

I absolutely loved this novel. It took me a while (200 pages or so) to get into it but I can honestly say I couldn't put it down afterwards Looking forward to her next book.

mrshat Mon 05-May-14 21:13:37

I thoroughly enjoyed it too!

Ana Mon 05-May-14 21:19:19

I loved 'The Secret History'. Will have to give this one a go...

petallus Mon 05-May-14 21:19:45

A friend of mine is mad about this book. Think I'll go and download a sample onto my Kindle now.

Eloethan Tue 06-May-14 00:44:00

She's a great writer and I loved the first half to three quarters of The Goldfinch but, to me, the story lost its way towards the end.

I think Secret History is a brilliant book.

BAnanas Tue 06-May-14 13:50:08

A friend has just lent me this book she tells me it's really good and we usually agree on books. I read "The Secret History when it was first published and really liked it. I'm currently wading my way through another tome, "The Luminaries" 300 pages in and a mere 500 to go. It's a bit slow and over descriptive for my liking, so I might go back to it, I'm eager to start this new book by Donna Tartt.

rosesarered Fri 13-Jun-14 13:49:43

I am just reading it now and a fair few chapters into it. Very well written, but with this author, that's a given.However, and this is just a personal view, all her books need the serious editing they never got, and I am left thinking, 'bored now' please move on.Less gripped by this novel than any of the others.

Mamar2 Sat 14-Jun-14 10:04:13

noodles....this is my first post on here. There's just so much to read over the whole site, it's a job to know where to start. You wrote about 'Audible' is this a site like Amazon? I love listening to stories to help me to sleep. I'd really like to find an alternative to Amazon. If you reply to this I hope I can find this thread again, [ wink]

petallus Sat 14-Jun-14 11:24:53

rosesarered I am agreeing with you again this morning. A friend is mad about the book but I wish it had been edited. I don't find the writing style good enough to wade through loads of description of surroundings.

Has anybody read John Banville? A bit dated but he really captures things for me.

rosesarered Sat 14-Jun-14 16:58:29

Well, petallus it's always nice to be agreed with! grin
I have heard of John Banville but not read anything by him, can you reccommend one?

wallers5 Thu 26-Jun-14 11:22:31

Clever idea & very captivating.

tanith Thu 26-Jun-14 12:10:48

Loved the book but struggled with the overlong descriptive passages too I am halfway through and now hope the rest of the book doesn't let me down.

rosesarered Thu 10-Jul-14 20:19:06

Only just finished reading The Goldfinch, as I had several other books on the go.Brilliant in certain chapters, you want to keep reading to see what happens, but oh so boring in many other chapters, so much so that I missed out great chunks of it, just skimmed the pages.Boris was a great character and the chapters with him in it were more animated. Too much devotion to describing furniture and feelings, was there ever a more wet character than the main one.Having read her other books, I felt the same, she needs a ruthless editor.