My Review
Several years ago, I found a hard-bound copy of The Goldfinch (published in 2013) on an airplane where I was working. It won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for fiction but, after reading a chapter or so, I found its 700+ pages too much bulk for me to drag around in airports and hotels. I passed it on to another Flight Attendant. Then, recently, the audio version became available at my local library; 32+ hours of listening.
The story centers around a 13-year-old boy, Theo Decker, who lives in New York City with his divorced mother; his father having deserted them a few years earlier. Theo narrates the story that begins with the day his mother died.
Mother and son were on their way to a meeting with Theo’s principal and found they were early. Theo’s mother wanted to see an exhibit in the Metropolitan Museum. He’d rather have something to eat than go to the museum but doesn’t mention it because he feels nervous and guilty about the meeting with the principal. In the museum, he is distracted by a red-headed girl, about his age, who is looking at the Goldfinch painting. An elderly man, who is with the girl, is explaining the story behind the painting. Theo’s mother leaves him there so she can look at an exhibit in another salon. The two teens make eye contact. Then a bomb explodes.
Finding himself covered in rubble, Theo stumbles around in search of his mother. He finds the elderly man who had been with the girl. The man is bad shape but he points to the Goldfinch painting in the rubble. He insists Theo collect it and wrap it up, which Theo does as well as putting it in a shopping bag. The man insists that Theo take a ring from his finger and tells Theo where to deliver it. Theo stays with the man until he appears to fall asleep. He then takes the painting and goes in search of help and to find his mother. He finds neither and is, instead, pushed around and ignored in the chaos of the explosion.
That was the beginning of Theo’s path to self-loathing, guilt and self-destruction. He cannot get over the guilt of getting in trouble at school (the reason for the meeting with the principal). He can only think of all the “what if’s” associated with that day. All his conclusions point to him being the cause. He cannot get over the guilt of keeping the painting, wrapped and hidden away, a thing that has somehow replaced his mother.
Theo delivers the ring, as instructed, to an antique shop. He is greeted by another elderly man, Hobie, who was the business partner of the man from the museum. They bond and Theo discovers that the red-headed girl, Pippa, is alive and infirmed there. Pippa and Hobie become sources of hope for Theo. But his life is ever changing. He goes from living with the wealthy family of a school friend in Manhattan to his estranged father in Las Vegas. There he meets a Ukranian boy, Boris, from school who introduces Theo to shop lifting, drugs and alcohol. Two years later Theo’s father dies in a car crash. He leaves Las Vegas and heads back to New York City where Hobie takes him in and teaches him about the antique business.
This should have been a happy time for Theo but the self-loathing won out.
As you might imagine, the story is sad. There is a fascinating story behind the Goldfinch painting, which is real. There are a lot of insights into the antique business. The self-talk of Theo from his teen years to young adult are true to the times. I thoroughly enjoyed the dialogue between Theo and Boris. I believe the 700+ pages are well worth anyone’s time.
The HBO miniseries, however, would be difficult to follow if you have not read the book.
