The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Movie watched: March 24th, 2026
Book read: April 13th, 2026
Photo credit: this Reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/IReadABookAndAdoredIt/comments/1i0j1zz/the_goldfinch_by_donna_tartt/
Thoughts as I read (beware spoilers):
So far it's reminding me of White Oleander by Janet Fitch: a traumatic event in Theo's life, the immediate intervention of the social workers, the uncertainty of where he will live, no close family members around... And his situation at home not the most stable, with his father leaving. Feeling very sorry for Theo, I hope everything goes well for him, but it probably won't so soon. 😞
Thoughts from 29% (page 248)
The Barbours were thinking of adopting Theo, which would have been the best solution for him. Having him grow up with other children, without worrying about money, studying in the same school, with people who cared for him at least a bit. And allowing him to talk to Hobie, who had become almost a mentor and father figure to him. Going to live with his father is the worst that could happen (well, I suppose with his grandfather would not be good either), because not only does he not care for Theo, but it's a whole different city, climate, school, and he has no friends or anyone he knows there. It's a drastic change for someone who just had a traumatic thing happen to them. 😔
Thoughts from 37% (page 321)
What kind of father gives his son and best friend 500 dollars each for Christmas... The absolute disregard he has for Theo and his health, his grades, what he does in his free time and leaving him alone at night most of of the time... We don't even know if he is saving up to send him to college, but most likely not. And Boris, even though being so unique and lovable, is not the greatest person to hang around. Theo is on a dangerous road, I hope he can 'wake up' and find some sort of meaning to his life... Maybe he could visit Hobie in New York, or write him more letters.
Thoughts from 43% (page 372)
Oh wow, not only did his father not set up a savings account for him, BUT, tried to put his humongous gambling debt in his son's name. AND tries to steal money saved for his education (not for the first time) to pay said debt, lying to his son about it, and hitting him. Father of the year award. 🙃
Thoughts from 46% (page 395)
That goodbye between Boris and Theo made me cry, it was so sudden and rushed. 😥 I wish Theo had waited longer before leaving, he was not thinking straight. And he could have tried harder to convince Boris to go with him to New York. If Boris was planning on running away, being with a friend would work out better than alone, or with Kotku. His future does not seem so good right now. As for Theo, I suppose he will stay with Hobie for a while. That's the best for him, but it depends on what child services thinks... I haven't felt so emotional because of a book and so attached to the characters in a while, usually it's a very good sign it will be a favourite.
Thoughts from 49% (page 426)
Hobie is such a nice person, I'm scared to think what would have happened if Theo had never met him... I'm not sure the Barbours would have agreed to take him in again, as nice as they are, they seem to have their own problems now. At this point, he needs some stability in his life, some normality, and staying with Hobie and Pippa allows him just that. But I can't help but feel sorry for Boris, his life will be very hard without any support or friends. 😔
Thoughts from 56% (page 480)
Loved the contrast the author made here: the relief and happiness Theo feels right after leaving the painting in the storage facility, a weight pulled off his shoulders; in between, the giddiness of being able to visit his old home in the street nearby, meet his old doorman friends; to finally the horror of finding out the whole building was sold and is now irrecognizable and empty. Theo might be one of the unluckiest characters I've read about, and I'm barely halfway through the book... 😞
Thoughts from 60% (page 521)
Oh my, Theo is a complete mess as an adult... Doing drugs, deceiving people at the antiques shop, sleeping with random women, and obsessing over Pippa, who clearly moved on with her life and is not interested in him the slightest. 😓 Not a lot of things went well in his life, but I had hoped Hobie would be a positive influence on him, and that he would be happier.
Thoughts from 65% (page 558)
Reading the conversation between Theo and Hobie about him admitting to selling the counterfeits is like watching a trainwreck, it's terrible, but you just can't look away... It's the trust of the person that took him him that he compromised. 😔 And the issue with the painting has escalated to such a big problem, he should have returned it to the museum as soon as he went to live with the Barbours. It has weighed on him to such an extent that it ruined his life more than he deserved.
Thoughts from 70% (page 607)
Donna Tartt, you're telling me Popchik the dog remembers Boris, after not seeing him for a decade? Wow, crying right now, he was so happy to see him.. 😭
Thoughts from 72% (page 625)
So Boris switched the painting... which means Theo suffered under the weight of it for years, paying for a storage room for a decade, being blackmailed and threatened and he never had the real thing in the first place! Wow, Boris really should have tried to find him sooner and explained, Theo was living in hell all these years mostly because of the painting and Boris was just filthy rich in the meantime. 🤯 This was a great twist, I never saw it coming. I mean we knew these boys were up to no good being drunk all the time in Vegas, but the things Boris told about Theo?! Just wow. A bit of a miracle how he survived...
Thoughts from 79% (page 682)
Hmm, could Hobie secretly wish Theo and Pippa were together? He knows Theo loves her, for many years now, Theo can't really hide his feelings. He could have gone to the theater with them, but left them alone and even prompted Theo to go and wash up before meeting Pippa. I think he does wish for them to be together, both because he likes Theo and also because that would bring Pippa back to New York, closer to him.
Thoughts from 83% (page 721)
At this point, I think the only reason Theo has that justifies flying to Europe after the painting is the sense of responsibility and the attachment he has for it, because getting it back in his possession is just outright dangerous and stupid...
Thoughts from 100% (page 864)
Well that ending was perfect, one of the best I've read. It was so profound and beautiful, so real and eye-opening. So many great quotes. A new favourite book! I hope Donna Tartt publishes a new book soon. She takes a long time to write, but I think writers today don't take enough time to think of the message they want to pass on with their books (if any at all). So to have someone really take their time writing something, have it be so well thought out, and meaningful, is very valuable.
A new favourite. Donna Tartt takes a long time (compared to other writers only; I don't think it's that long, writing a book shouldn't really have a deadline) to write a book. But I understand why she does, The Goldfinch is very well thought out, full of meaning, the characters all exist for a reason and everything wraps up perfectly in the end. The end is one of the best I've read, made me very emotional. In fact I had not felt so connected to a book and characters in a long time. The people in this book are not perfect, far from it, and what they experience is nothing I've had to deal with before, but being able to feel such empathy and to care so much for them, to me is just an example of what great writing does.
"To understand the world at all, sometimes you could only focus on a tiny bit of it, look very hard at what was close to hand and make it stand in for the whole;"
"Caring too much for objects can destroy you. Only—if you care for a thing enough, it takes on a life of its own, doesn’t it? And isn’t the whole point of things—beautiful things—that they connect you to some larger beauty?"
"What if — is more complicated than that? What if maybe opposite is true as well? Because, if bad can sometimes come from good actions—? where does it ever say, anywhere, that only bad can come from bad actions? Maybe sometimes — the wrong way is the right way? You can take the wrong path and it still comes out where you want to be? Or, spin it another way, sometimes you can do everything wrong and it still turns out to be right?"
"That life - whatever else it is - is short. That fate is cruel but maybe not random. That Nature (meaning Death) always wins but that doesn’t mean we have to bow and grovel to it. That maybe even if we’re not always so glad to be here, it’s our task to immerse ourselves anyway: wade straight through it, right through the cesspool, while keeping eyes and hearts open. And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn’t touch. For if disaster and oblivion have followed this painting down through time—so too has love. Insofar as it is immortal (and it is) I have a small, bright, immutable part in that immortality. It exists; and it keeps on existing. And I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next."
