Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt Little Brown and co (Courtesy the publisher) Cover (Left) and Painting by Carel Fabritius (Right) I don't recall if I have mentioned this before, but Donna Tartt's second novel The Little Friend was possibly one of the more disappointing novels I have ever read. Exciting and well written, it is let down by it's strange manipulation of genre; a murder mystery in which the murder is, frustratingly, never solved. No wonder, then, that I approached this novel, Tartt's third offering in something like 20 years, with trepidation. I had heard from several people whom I respect greatly that this was an unputdownable novel, exciting, clever and what have you. The proof copy was no easy acquisition. And finally, last Friday when I began to read, I was put under it's spell for myself. The story begins when Theo Decker is thirteen. Having fallen in with a bad crowd, he's managed to get himself suspended and he and his love...