Plot
A twelve-year-old boy in New York City, Theodore "Theo" Decker, survives a terrorist bombing attack in an art museum that takes the life of his mother (and dozens of other art-loving citizens). His father wasn't there, having deserted the family some time prior to these events. Theo adored his energetic, beautiful mother - as did many other people in Manhattan - and thinks of his father as an alcoholic, occasionally abusive, and as a thief.
Theo accepts a ring and an enigmatic message given to him by a man dying in the rubble of the explosion. Theo is willing to unravel the puzzle, because (before the bomb went off) he had found himself fascinated by a red-headed girl, Pippa, also at the Museum that day and who was somehow related to the old man, and on her account, he will grant the dying man's last request. Believing that the old man, Welty, is pointing at a painting on the wall, Theo takes that also in his panicked escape. The taking of these items - one handed over freely, a family heirloom, the other a literally "priceless" painting by Carel Fabritius - was done with Theo in a state of terror, concussion, and shock, with no ability to reason how these minor-seeming actions would influence the rest of his life.
Alone and determined to avoid being taken in by the city as an orphan, Theo lives with a school friend, Andy Barbour, and his family. (The family: Mr. Barbour, a pleasant man as long as he takes his prescribed medication; Mrs. Barbour, involved in charity work and always hostessing parties in their lovely home; Platt, the oldest son, away at boarding school but sometimes sent home for hushed-up scandals; Andy, 14, a genius nerd with dozens of allergies; Kitsey, 9, "a candyfloss Disney Princess"; and Toddy, the youngest, who, Theo learns many years later, decided at an early age to join local government to assist disadvantaged youths, because he was impressed by Theo's disastrous background. Theo lives in the Barbours' elegant house for several months, and is fairly happy there (despite his continuing nightmares and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder). Unbeknownst to the Barbours, Theo has carried out the last wishes of the dying man ("Welty") and becomes friends with James "Hobie" Hobart, Welty's partner. Mrs. Barbour, who has always seemed rather "icy" to Theo, but is much fonder of him than he realized, generously invites him to join the family for their summer holidays in Maine. Theo is delighted.
These dreams, of reading books and goofing off with Andy, shatter when his deadbeat dad, Larry Decker, along with Larry's new girlfriend, Xandra, show up at the Barbours' estate and whisks him away to Las Vegas. Theo becomes obsessed with the major thing that reminds him of his mother: the small, captivating painting (The Goldfinch) that, some years later, draws him into the art underworld and lands him in Amsterdam.
In Las Vegas, Theo feels rootless. He is surprised by the new chumminess of his father, who earns a living and pays for a large home outside Vegas with gambling wins. He is also pleased to make a new friend, Boris, who sits next to him in literature class. After a discussion in class of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which they like and many classmates dislike, they become best friends. This means that, in light of the fact that they both have absentee parents, they spend most of their afternoons drinking beer or vodka, feeding themselves from shoplifted store groceries, using marijuana and other illegal drugs, talking from night to dawn, and giving friendship to Popper, Xandra's neglected Maltese puppy.
But Larry Decker, the gambling father, who is generous while winning, finds himself in debt to a crime syndicate to the amount of $50,000. He begs Theo to phone a New York attorney in order to request some funds; the attorney, Mr. Bracegirdle, smells a rat and tells Theo that he cannot release any funds. Events move rapidly then: Knowing that thugs are after him, Larry gets drunk and heads west from Vegas, then dies in a car collision. It is unclear whether this is mere poor luck or whether the organized crime ring arranged it. At any rate, Theo knows he must leave town at once, or be trapped in some Nevada Family Services nightmare. Theo and Boris steal some money from Xandra (Theo also reclaims some earrings belonging to his own mother, which his father had stolen and given to Xandra), and Boris finds a stash of cocaine, which Boris steals. Theo is determined to run away that night. Boris begs him to stay one more day (for excellent reasons explained hundreds of pages later), but Theo wants to return to New York, and his friends, that minute. When his pleas go unheard, Boris kisses Theo and lets him go.
After a bus ride across the country, filled with tension because Theo has decided to bring Popper (No animals on the bus!), Theo returns to New York. He sees Mr. Barbour on the street and has great relief and hope, but Barbour (no longer on his medications), acts wildly and shuns him. Theo then shows up at Hobie's door, and at this point is shivering and delirious with influenza. Pippa is there, as well as Hobie, and they welcome him and give him a place to stay. Years later, Theo has become a full partner in Hobart's antiques and furniture-repairing business.
Tartt informs her readers that eight years have passed - making Theo 26 years old at the time he is writing the confessional novel - and Theo has new troubles. He is addicted to prescribed medications, which he buys on the street. He has saved Hobie from bankruptcy, but he did so by selling faked pieces of furniture, and now one of those buyers (Lucius Reeve) is attempting blackmail. Reeve has figured out that Theo was in the same museum room with The Goldfinch and wants it for himself.
Theo is racked by guilt over selling fakes, but he is also preoccupied with his wedding arrangements with Kitsey Barbour. (Theo never stopped loving Pippa, but he learns that Kitsey has never stopped loving Tom Cable, a criminal teenager with whom Theo attended high school.)
While these nerve-wracking events occur, Boris reappears in Theo's life. Boris admits that he had stolen the painting The Goldfinch back in high school, which Theo never realized, as he'd stashed what he thought was the painting in a storage facility. Boris honestly believes that the painting deserves to remain with Theo, who for a long time has been racking his brains to figure out how to return The Goldfinch to the proper authorities.
Now Boris has a plan to return The Goldfinch to Theo. The plan involves flying to Amsterdam and meeting with some shady characters who are holding the painting; Boris and his henchmen show up with guns and take both the painting and the bad guys' guns. However, when they return to their rendezvous point, worse enemies appear: There are shoot-outs, Boris is shot in the arm, and Theo shoots the killer. Despite this dramatic, almost cinematic climax to the novel, both Boris and Theo end up wealthy because they are able to announce to the art recovery police that they have information about some of the missing paintings from that long-ago museum, and they are richly rewarded.
Reception
The Dutch translation of The Goldfinch, Het puttertje, was published a full month before the English edition, to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Daily newspaper de Volkskrant printed a five star review and called it 'a Bildungsroman written in a beautiful and often scintilating style. (...) A rich novel and an impressive reflection on sadness and solace. And about the crucial, timeless role of art therein.' [4] De Limburger and Cutting Edge[5] also gave five star reviews with De Limburger suggesting "Donna Tartt has written the best novel of 2013. It will completely blow you away." [6] Another Dutch newspaper, Het Parool [7] sums it up as a 'beautiful, exciting novel, filled with fascinating characters'. Belgian weekly magazine HUMO [8] called it the book of the year and the news website NU.nl praised Tartt as a 'writing magician who is generous with detours, reflections and characters.'[9] Praise also comes from Elsevier notes "Donna Tartt’s third novel is worth all the commotion. The master storyteller is back! Het puttertje is superior literary entertainment." [10] Nederlands Dagblad also commends the writing in the novel, saying "In Donna Tartt’s new novel, nothing is just there. Everything is connected in a subtle way, every detail matters. This is a beautifully written tragedy, with some lighter moments." [11] While Trouw [12] compares The Goldfinch to the The Secret History and The Little Friend—"Donna Tartt’s new novel, like her two previous books, is filled with strong emotions and experiences, caused by human interactions and drinking and drug abuse. Tartt writes about these matters in a breathtakingly elegant manner." However, NRC Handelsblad only rated the book two out of five stars,[13] writing that it was 'like reading a twenty-first-century variant on Dickens', with the characters being 'cliché' and not fleshed-out.[14] Vrij Nederland and De Groene Amsterdammer were also critical, arguing that the book was too drawn out.[15] "De Telegraaf" argues that it is a "rich, very readable novel." [16] This is echoed by Financieele Dagblad's assessment that "Donna Tartt is an extraordinary writer and Het puttertje is a beautiful and rich novel." [17]
The Goldfinch was published in the English language by Little, Brown and Company on the 22nd October [18] with the Swedish edition also publishing in October.[19] Publication in Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain will follow next year.[20] Early reviews from the US have praised the novel, with the trade publications Kirkus and Booklist both giving starred reviews. Kirkus describes The Goldfinch as “a standout” [21] while Booklist comments “Drenched in sensory detail, infused with Theo’s churning thoughts and feelings, sparked by nimble dialogue, and propelled by escalating cosmic angst and thriller action, Tartt’s trenchant, defiant, engrossing, and rocketing novel conducts a grand inquiry into the mystery and sorrow of survival, beauty and obsession, and the promise of art.” [22] Stephen King has also admired the novel writing "Donna Tartt is an amazingly good writer ... it’s very good".[23] Further reviews in the US have celebrated The Goldfinch, with Michiko Kakutani praising the Dickensian elements in her rave review for The New York Times commenting "Ms. Tartt has made Fabritius’s bird the MacGuffin at the center of her glorious, Dickensian novel, a novel that pulls together all her remarkable storytelling talents into a rapturous, symphonic whole and reminds the reader of the immersive, stay-up-all-night pleasures of reading."[24]
