The Goldfinch

This novel by Donna Tartt has been on a lot of bestseller lists. The painting at the center of this story is a real one that was on display at the Frick last fall. In the story, 13 year old Theo Decker and his mother had taken a side trip to MOMA on their way to a meeting with Theo's teachers at school. Just after they had viewed the painting in question, Theo's mom moves away to another part of the gallery while Theo lingers to ponder an intriguing red-headed girl, who has been making eye contact throughout their somewhat parallel wanderings through the museum. Suddenly a bomb explodes and life is changed forever for Theo. Immediately after the blast, Theo crawls toward the older man who had been accompanying the red-hair girl. The dying man hands Theo a ring and gives him a somewhat garbled message. As Theo crawls through the rubble, he finds the painting lying on the floor and "rescues" it. After all his losses, though, Theo cannot bring himself to return the famous painting and he becomes a captive to it, just as the subject bird is shown chained. Theo temporarily lands at the home of a school chum, but life takes another bad turn when Theo's gambler, alcoholic father shows up to take him to Las Vegas. Theo makes his way back to Manhattan when his father dies in a drunken car wreck and hooks up with the partner of the deceased man at the museum. He continues to make bad decisions, a legacy of his father, not his mother. I admit I skipped about 150 pages and jumped to the last chapter of this 700+ page book, because it was due back at the library. Her writing is beautiful with captivating imagery and detail. The story is heartbreaking; so much damage and opportunity lost. I wouldn't seek out other books by this author, but obviously a lot of people liked this work...see the comments here.