Yeah that appears to be the consensus..or so I've discovered. Everyone I've talked to or has reviewed it appears to have liked the first half - right up to the section in Vegas, but did not like the second half. (Well, except for Stephen King who adored all of it...but considering I have similar issues with Stephen King's novels..)
abigail_nussbaum stated in regards to the ending:
But by the time one approaches the end of the novel--in which Theo's criminal acts, his concealment of the painting, and his emotional instability all lead him to a self-imposed exile in Amsterdam and a violent crescendo to the story--it's hard not to wonder what the point of all this was. Did the world really need another baggy coming-of-age novel about a middle class white guy who struggles with self-absorption and self-loathing? Even more importantly, did it really need a novel that is as obvious a retelling of Great Expectations as The Goldfinch is?
And..
Tartt is known for taking years--just over a decade, in this case--to produce her novels, and especially given that weight of investment it's hard to look at The Goldfinch and not wonder what it was all for. In its closing chapter, The Goldfinch launches into several pages of Theo trying to explain his new life philosophy, but though this creed is unobjectionable--don't get hung up on labels like good or bad, or waste your life obsessing about which one describes you; just be kind and loving to other people--it's also thin enough to drive home that there's really nothing at the heart of this novel. And its failures when it comes to race, class, and gender only reaffirm how shallow and unnecessary it is.
-http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/
And nussbaum appeared to like The Goldfinch and seems to recommend it with reservations.
My difficulty? It sounds like a retelling of Great Expectations. I hate Great Expectations. Dang it. Why, Donna Tartt, Why??? (LOL!)
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branchandroot
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Date: 2014-12-16 01:12 am (UTC)(Well, except for Stephen King who adored all of it...but considering I have similar issues with Stephen King's novels..)
abigail_nussbaum stated in regards to the ending:
But by the time one approaches the end of the novel--in which Theo's criminal acts, his concealment of the painting, and his emotional instability all lead him to a self-imposed exile in Amsterdam and a violent crescendo to the story--it's hard not to wonder what the point of all this was. Did the world really need another baggy coming-of-age novel about a middle class white guy who struggles with self-absorption and self-loathing? Even more importantly, did it really need a novel that is as obvious a retelling of Great Expectations as The Goldfinch is?
And..
Tartt is known for taking years--just over a decade, in this case--to produce her novels, and especially given that weight of investment it's hard to look at The Goldfinch and not wonder what it was all for. In its closing chapter, The Goldfinch launches into several pages of Theo trying to explain his new life philosophy, but though this creed is unobjectionable--don't get hung up on labels like good or bad, or waste your life obsessing about which one describes you; just be kind and loving to other people--it's also thin enough to drive home that there's really nothing at the heart of this novel. And its failures when it comes to race, class, and gender only reaffirm how shallow and unnecessary it is.
-http://wrongquestions.blogspot.com/
And nussbaum appeared to like The Goldfinch and seems to recommend it with reservations.
My difficulty? It sounds like a retelling of Great Expectations. I hate Great Expectations. Dang it. Why, Donna Tartt, Why??? (LOL!)