Trigger Warning for abuse, violence, depression, suicidal thoughts, drug abuse, addiction
I’ve had a copy of this book for years, knowing from its blurb and from what I’ve read about it that I would probably love it, but at 960 pages, it’s a brick and a bit intimidating to start. I finally decided to tackle it, and I finished it in less than a week. I would have finished within days if not for the pesky need for sleep and doing laundry and the like. “The Goldfinch” in this work of fiction is a painting, a small internationally beloved masterpiece over 400 years old that has somehow survived disasters and is on temporary display at an exhibit in New York. Thirteen year-old Theo Decker and his mother happen to be at the museum one fateful morning when a horrific act of terrorism upends his world. The novel follows Theo through the aftermath of the explosion, which killed his mother and many others, and into his adulthood when choices that he made on that day have come back to haunt him.
Theo is a child of New York City. He and his mother, who works in the publishing industry and is a great lover of art, have been living pretty happily for the past year, largely because Theo’s alcoholic and violent father abandoned them without a forwarding address. Theo attends a good school and has a friend Andy who is incredibly smart and from a wealthy, connected NY family. But Theo has been bullied and has become friends with a boy who has a knack for getting them into trouble. Theo and his mother are on their way to school one morning for a disciplinary meeting when his mother decides they should stop at the art museum. They have time and there is an exhibition there featuring works of Dutch masters and including one of her favorite paintings, “The Goldfinch”. Theo is far less interested in this work and the others around it than his mother, but he is intrigued by the presence of an elderly man and a girl his age who are also taking in the exhibit. The girl is pale with red hair, and Theo wants very much to talk to her and thinks he has his chance when his mother says she wants to head back to look at a Rembrandt one more time. Theo begs off and agrees to meet his mother at the gift shop. Moments later, in an act of terrorism, a bomb explodes at the museum. Tartt’s description of Theo’s experience of the bombing and its aftermath is harrowing. He is in pain, disoriented, ears ringing, but the elderly man is there with him, dying. His conversation with this man leads to Theo taking his ring and “The Goldfinch”.
Tartt’s description of Theo’s days following the bombing is incredibly moving. We experience Theo’s fear, his disbelief, and his overwhelming grief when he finds out that his mother is indeed amongst the dead. Child Protective Services and counselors are soon involved in Theo’s life; while they mean well, Theo clearly has PTSD and a concussion, and is terrified of what will happen to him, especially if it is discovered that he took a painting. Eventually, Theo is taken in by his friend Andy’s family. The Barbours are wealthy society people; they take good care of Theo but eventually, he is reunited with his father and has to move out to Vegas. There, we learn that Theo’s dad has traded one addiction (alcohol) for another (gambling). The situation seems incredibly bleak, but it is in Vegas that Theo makes a friend who will change his life. Boris, a Ukrainian/Pole/Russian, has lived all over the world. Like Theo, he is motherless and has a father who drinks too much and gets violent. Both boys are pretty much abandoned by their fathers for long stretches of time, which the boys fill with drugs, booze and petty theft. The descriptions of drug use/abuse are disturbing, and both boys clearly are living on the edge, but their bond is deep and abiding. Theo has never addressed his PTSD and grief over the death of his mother; he and Boris choose to numb themselves instead. But more tragedy is on the horizon for Theo.
All the while, hovering over Theo is a dark storm cloud, which is “The Goldfinch”. He has taken great pains to keep it with him and protect it, and the thought that he could be arrested and sent to jail for having it nags at him always. As he grows older, that fear is magnified as stories of recovered art and the punishment of art thieves make headlines. Back in NYC, Theo becomes a kind of apprentice to Hobie, a man who restores furniture and is connected to the NY art world. He was the partner of Welty, the old man who died in the museum and who gave Theo his ring. Hobie also is connected to Pippa, the pretty girl from the museum that Theo has obsessed over for years. In New York, Theo’s expertise as Hobie’s assistant, his drug problem, his grief, and the appearance of men who seem to know what he has done lead to big problems that seem to have no solution.
One of the first blurbs in this novel is from Michiko Kakutani’s New York Times review of The Goldfinch, and she uses the word “Dickensian” to describe it. It really is the perfect word. So many characters and situations in The Goldfinch are reminiscent of Dickens — orphans, homeless poor, criminals who maybe aren’t as bad as you think, rich folk who might take pity on the “disadvantaged,” and truly bad men. There are nods to Great Expectations, Oliver Twist, and even A Christmas Carol in this story. While I did enjoy this aspect of Tartt’s writing, what really blew me away was her treatment of grief, the human condition and art, which is expressed so beautifully through Theo and Boris’ friendship. Boris, who is deeply flawed and more than a little dangerous, is also surprisingly well adjusted, especially compared to Theo. He does some terrible things, but he is a good friend and offers helpful advice which is hard for Theo to hear. Theo is a complex character as well; he, like Boris, is deeply flawed but he is devoted to Hobie, Mrs. Barbour and Pippa. He sometimes makes bad choices but he is also in terrible pain and tries to make things right.
This book was absolutely amazing, one of the best things I have ever read. I highly recommend it. Do not be put off by the length. It is hard to put down once you start.