Book 4 Review: The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

My fourth book to review of 52 books for 2014 is Donna Tartt’s epic Novel, ‘The Goldfinch’. It is a novel that is epic in size (771 pages in the hardcover edition) and in content, traversing a huge scope of human emotions, desires and follies. The Goldfinch follows the story of the narrator, teenager Theodore Decker from the moment his mother dies in a bomb blast at a New York art museum. Theo survives the blast, walking out of the building with a ring given to him by a dying man, a priceless 17th century painting of a small goldfinch, and a sense of turbulence and catastrophe that never leaves him. 
This novel truly managed to transport me, keep me guessing, keep the (electronic) pages flying through my fingers and has been one of the best novels I have read in a long time.

The Goldfinch By Donna Tartt, Book Cover

The novel deals with big, complex themes; the blurred definition between good and bad, whether our personalities are inbuilt or nurtured by events and situations in our lives, whether if is possible or advisable to repress one's true personality, and the impact one action can have on the outcome of a whole life. It would be easy to get bogged down discussing these complex subjects, by Tartt avoids this almost altogether. The novel is quick, interesting, current and Theo's voice is incredibly authentic. Although Theo's life revolves around the painting of the Goldfinch, and spends his adult life as an antiques dealer, he is far from stuffy. He reels between nurturing and then rejecting various drug addictions, he spends his teenage years in a drunken, drugged haze in the sandy glitz of Las Vegas and he clashes with various shady gangster types. 

Tartt has a brilliant descriptive voice and as a reader you are taken from the bustle yet somehow homeliness of New York City, to the desolation and lawlessness of the outskirts of Las Vegas, to the inside of Theo's head with his spiraling emotions. The book is often funny, cutting edge and full of beautiful descriptions of life. 

"[He was] unlike the Hobie of my first visit, with his bedraggled aspect of an elegant but mistreated polar bear" (page 168 on the Kindle)

"Maybe this is one instance where you can't boil down to pure 'good' or pure 'bad' like you always want to do-? Like, your two different piles?..Maybe not quite so simple" (page 863)

Although it was an incredible novel, it was really really long. It didn’t at all feel like a tedious book when I was reading it and was easy to read quickly, especially as I was so engrossed in the story. I was however conscious of the fact I only had a week to read it in (I cheated- took me a week and a half). I felt a bit like this guy when I managed to finish it in under two weeks. 

If I didn't have another 48 books to read this year, I would right away re-read The Goldfinch. No-one should let the length of this book dissuade them from reading it. Reading this novel was also a good reminder to me not to shy away from any book because of its length.

As the title of the book suggests, the novel centres around a 17th century painting by Fabritius of a small, chained Goldfinch. I didn't look at the painting before I read the book and I am now very glad I didn’t. Donna Tartt describes the painting in a way that transcends what most of us will do; a quick glance at the painting on the internet before going back to Facebook. The cover of Tartt's book shows only a sliver of the painting, alluding to how the painting remains hidden, a secret constantly eating away at Theo. However, more practically the cover doesn't show the reader the painting before they have had the chance to view it through Theo's eyes first. 

If you would really still like to look at the image that so totally captures Theo, have a look at it here. You have been warned. 

Ultimately there will be many more in-depth, intellectual reviews of this book elsewhere online, describing it as Dickensian, arguing against describing at Dickensian (if anyone cares visit here and then here), or using pretentious sentences like "There is Holden Caulfield’s eye for the inauthentic, the perilous interactions with the adult world transpiring in a dreamscape New York — the specter of the dead" (yes it's a Catcher in the Rye reference). However this review is not one of those. In essence this was a great book, it was worth the read and is the sort of novel that you will be thinking about for weeks after. Read it. 

 

 

On my travels through twitter I found this beautiful review of The Goldfinch, written and illustrated by Kevin Thomas. He did my job in 8 pictures. Sigh. 

 

The Good Bits

The Secret History was Donna Tartt’s first novel and was one of a few books that I never fail to suggest to others. It was my favourite novel for many years. Tartt’s second novel ‘The Little Friend’ I didn’t enjoy anywhere near as much. So it is very good to have another novel by Tartt that compares to the brilliance of The Secret History.

This has been the first book this year that I didn’t think about how I was going to review it while reading it. Which is a testament to how engrossed I was in the book. But also makes it really hard at this stage to try and sound like I actually read the book when reviewing it. 

The Not So Good Bits 

The ending of the novel languished in several pages of contemplation upon the nature of good and bad deeds, which lead me to tune out right at the very end, only half concentrating on the ending. 

If you don't like reading about drug use, this is probably not the book for you. 

Rating 

Four and a half out of five elegant polar bears

The Next Book 

'A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers' by Xiaolu Guo. A novel about a young Chinese Woman who moves to England to study English, and finds that studying love is just as tricky. (Gosh how corny does that summary sound). This is a suggestion from a friend and am really enjoying it.

Book 3: A Season In Hell- Robert R Fowler

 

My third book of my 52 books in 52 weeks challenge has been ‘A Season in Hell’ by Robert Fowler. ‘A Season in Hell’ is the first non-fiction book I have read this year, and couldn’t be farther from the wishy washy romantic novel I started the year with. This is a book of hard facts, political analysis and lots and lots of sand. In the book, Robert Fowler recounts his 130 days in the Sahara desert as a Captive of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) along with his United Nations colleague Louis Guay. 

“A Season in Hell” was given to me by my mother last year as a present, and I had been half ignoring it and always finding another book to read first as I prefer reading fiction. However this year is not just about reading what I already like, it is about branching out and expanding my comfortable reading world. Overall the book was interesting, well written and insightful but it wasn't an especially quick read.

 

 

 

Robert R Fowler’s name is familiar to many Canadians, not simply because of his kidnapping but because of his career as a high profile diplomat and through his work at the UN as Canada’s representative to the UN, and more recently as a special envoy to Ban Ki Moon. In this book he recounts his capture in Niger in 2008, the extremely long and painful trip in the back of a ute into the middle of the Sahara, and his subsequent months spent in the desert with a hardy bunch of religious AQIM zealots.

 

As a westerner, my image of being hostage is being held in a camp or locked in some sort of room. Fowler and his fellow captive Louis Guay obviously thought likewise. However this does not at all conform to the reality of the extremely nomadic life that his Al Qaeda captors live. In fact, I was shocked to read that during his 130 days of capture Fowler and Guay not once were kept in a room or any kind of structure at all. They spent their time as hostages living as their captors did, in the desert, perhaps by a scraggly tree or a few rocks, and sleeping on the sand with a blanket. Only once did they sleep in a tent. 

 

This is similar terrain to where Fowler and Guay spent the majority of their captivity
 Imagine 130 days of really, really sandy undies

The book provides a very interesting insight into how Al Qaeda operates, the mindset of its members and the absolutely dogged determination of its members to succeed in removing the 'infidels' from Islamic lands, no matter how many generations it will take. Fowler's captors were extremely religious men, prescribing to a fatalistic view of the world, if Allah wishes it, it will be. If anyone narrowly misses death for any reason (a rocket propelled grenade misfiring for example), it is simply shrugged of as the will of Allah. Fowler describes how he had never encountered a group of men more dedicated to Allah; in all his time as their capture there were never any women and no suggestion of fun or games to pass the monotony of life in the Sahara as an Al Qaeda operative.

The descriptions of each of Fowler's captors serve as a reminder that no ‘terrorist’ is the same. The Western media portrays Al Qaeda as turbaned extremists in Afghanistan and it is rare that we are offered any greater insight. Fowler describes the different personalities of all of his captors, ranging from the extremely intelligent, to those full of hatred, to a few very young boys who mostly seemed scared, to those who were businesslike and respectful. Fowler emphasises that he did not like his captors; the extremism of their religious Zealotry made finding any common ground impossible, as did the constant threat (never followed through) of violence or execution.

An image of Fowler (middle), Guay and their driver taken from a proof of life video

 
It is not much of a spoiler if I say that Fowler was released after 130 days, as he wouldn't have been able to write this book if he had been executed as he feared. However what is surprising is who helped secure his release. Fowler is extremely critical of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade for which both he and Guay had worked, explaining that they both contributed little to the negotiations, and their bureaucracy and hubris greatly hindered the process. In fact the majority of assistance and bargaining for their release came from the most unlikely of African politicians, as Fowler discovers after his release.

 

 

 

 

Ultimately, if you are after facts, detail and geopolitical observations, this is the book for you. You can tell “A Season in Hell” is written by a diplomat as every word feels carefully chosen, and never inflammatory or provocative. Fowler’s tone is always measured and thought out, even when describing the extreme emotional and physical challenges he faces. The book would have perhaps be a quicker read if Fowler sensationalised the events surrounding his capture but it is a better account for his dedication to providing a truthful and measured account.

The Good Bits

Fowler's descriptions of West Africa before he is kidnapped at the very start of the book are fantastic, and they really transported me back to some time I spent in West Africa a few years back

The Not So Good Bits

I found this a slow read, and at times dry (duh, it was in the desert). I was not as drawn in by the story as I thought I would be, perhaps due to the sometimes dry and diplomatic tone used by Fowler.

Rating

 

Three  and a half out of Five sandy diplomats
 

The Next Book I am currently reading The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt (readers of The Secret History rejoice, she has written another novel!). It is incredibly good, but at around 1000 pages it is not short and taking me a long time to read.

 

 

Buy the book here if you like the sound of it.

Please let me know what you think of my review!