Long, Cold Winter Makes Great Excuse to Read

You all know I don't need a reason to read. I always find time.

I just punched my way through The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I'm not going to give a summary of the novel here, just a few comments about style et cetera.

Some parts of the book are riveting, but about 200 pages should have been trimmed. There's a lot of repetition.I grew tired of Theo and Boris's antics in Las Vegas. Boris himself was a character I grew to despise. So he loves Theo and will do anything for him. He does bad things to his friend, including something I won't write about because it's near the end of  the book.

If you like to muse about the meaning of life, Tarrt gives you passage after passage through Theo's young-adult eyes. It seems a stretch that even though you've lived through a truly rotten teenagehood you would ponder these issues, even if you could.

I enjoyed the art history lessons, and Theo's travels through Amsterdam. I felt beaten over the head with the wetness metaphor, a thread throughout, and that it was always Christmas or Thanksgiving or a stormy night. This wasn't subtle enough for my tastes.

Since it's probably the most-read novel at the moment, even if it's not coming soon to your local book club, you might want to read it for water-cooler discussions. Or if you want important snippets about plot and character development, you can go to Cliff Notes. It's on-line for all I know, or at least a modern version of an English class's best friend.