• The Goldfinch

  • By: Donna Tartt
  • Narrated by: David Pittu
  • Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (41,226 ratings)

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The Goldfinch  By  cover art

The Goldfinch

By: Donna Tartt
Narrated by: David Pittu
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Editorial review


By Sam Danis, Audible Editor

THE GOLDFINCH IS A COMING-OF-AGE EPIC THAT WILL STEAL YOUR HE(ART)

The Goldfinch was one of the first novels I listened to when I started working at Audible nearly a decade ago. I joined the team in September, and with this title releasing in a month’s time, I remember what a very big deal it was that a new Donna Tartt book was forthcoming (she only publishes about once a decade, after all). The plot is gripping: During a bombing at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, two events alter the course of 13-year-old Theo Decker’s life. His mother—the most prominent figure in his life—is killed, and he grabs the painting they were there to see (the titular Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius), thereby becoming an accidental art thief. What follows is a coming-of-age story of epic proportions—about fate, loss, consequences, and the intangibility of home and family. It is at turns sentimental, suspenseful, melancholy, and hopeful.

I watched as the glowing reviews poured in, with no real intention to listen myself. A 32-hour audiobook seemed incredibly daunting when I was new to the world of audio entertainment—primarily, a podcast and short audiobook listener. And this, after all, was literary fiction.

Why did I ultimately decide to pick it up? I can’t recall exactly, but I imagine it had something to do with peer pressure. My fellow editors and I influence each other in the best of ways—nobody wants to be the last one to hear something truly amazing—and I think it was our fiction editor, Tricia, who first sung the praises of this one. So, I buckled in (read: put on my headphones) and prepared for whatever was to come.

Continue reading Sam's review >

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Winner, Solo Narration - Male, 2014

Audie Award Winner, Literary Fiction, 2014

The author of the classic best-sellers The Secret History and The Little Friend returns with a brilliant, highly anticipated new novel.

Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity.

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love - and at the center of a narrowing, ever-more-dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

©2013 Donna Tartt (P)2013 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

Narrator David Pittu accepts the task of turning this immense volume into an excellent listening experience. Pittu portrays 13-year-old orphan Theo Decker with compassion, portraying his growing maturity in this story of grief and suspense…Pittu adds pathos to his depiction of the troubled Theo as he deals with addiction and finds himself in a dance with gangsters and the art world's darker dealers. ( AudioFile)
"Dazzling....[A] glorious, Dickensian novel, a novel that pulls together all Ms. Tartt's remarkable storytelling talents into a rapturous, symphonic whole and reminds the reader of the immersive, stay-up-all-night pleasures of reading." ( New York Times)
"A long-awaited, elegant meditation on love, memory, and the haunting power of art....Eloquent and assured, with memorable characters....A standout-and well-worth the wait." ( Kirkus, Starred Review)

Featured Article: The Audible Essentials Top 100


The spirited (but friendly) debate over these titles could have gone on indefinitely. With years of listening, countless customer reviews, and a catalog of seemingly infinite great listens, 100 suddenly felt like a very small number. What we know for sure—each title that made it to this collection is elevated and made special in some way by audio, whether by a layered performance from a single narrator, a brilliantly cohesive full cast, original music, or immersive sound effects. Discover an audio experience for the ages.

What listeners say about The Goldfinch

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    24,109
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
    4,320
  • 2 Stars
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Performance
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    6,369
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Story
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    20,921
  • 4 Stars
    8,892
  • 3 Stars
    4,344
  • 2 Stars
    1,711
  • 1 Stars
    1,250

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    5 out of 5 stars

I don't know why I waited so long!

The characters, story and drama are stellar. The narrator was superb. A must read/listen book!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

It's soooooooo long.

That's it. I feel as if some of the story could of been cut out. Also Donna over explains everything. Most of the scenes with Boris are drawn out. So it makes the book some frustrating to get through. And you don't know why it's so long and detailed until the very end, which was even more annoying because if I had know in the beginning I wouldn't have let it bother me so much and I could of enjoyed the story even more. David Pittu on the other hand did an amazing job in the audio book!!! Wow!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great Story

I thought this book had a great story that needed a better editor. It gets bogged down in its own details at times but it is still a worthy read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Wow

Amazing tale wound through various areas of life from loss to love and so much more

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • SF
  • 03-06-15

Absolutely GREAT!

Astonishing, riveting, couldn't bear to tear myself away from this audiobook. Incredible story and powerfully deep and resonant, one unexpected turn after another. Beautifully written, read and acted. Fabulous!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great performance; book very depressing

Would you try another book from Donna Tartt and/or David Pittu?

The performance by David Pittu was exceptional and I will look for his narration again in audio book choices. The story, however, started out tragic, got miserable and ended still pretty depressingly. After wading through a lot of verbose internal dialog on the part of the main character throughout the story, I kept hoping for a strong ending to make it all worthwhile. Unfortunately, it also ended with another long-winded and negative philosophical rant that did nothing to make the book "worth it in the end".

Would you be willing to try another book from Donna Tartt? Why or why not?

There was truly great prose and the author was good at describing scenes quite vividly. It dealt with a life poorly lived and was very good in that depiction - so good perhaps that I couldn't shake the despair that it left me feeling each time I listened to it. Maybe with a different subject and less 'beating of a dead horse' on certain scenes in the book, I'd enjoy the author more.

What does David Pittu bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrator was a genius at changing characters. His range of "voices" and accents was pretty phenomenal.

Do you think The Goldfinch needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. I couldn't live through another one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

*Warning* you will complete honey-do lists!

Many books just help pass the time time while completing domestic duties, this book inspired me to continue and add chores so I could keep listening! My house has never looked better. Thanks Donna Tartt and David Pittu for the fresh stain on my deck and painted trim on my house!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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I didn't want it to be over....

Any additional comments?

The Goldfinch rekindled my love of art history, made me nostalgic of the time I spent living in NYC, and reminds us all that life is imperfect, catastrophic, and not even the best of us can plan our fates. The writing was excellent, narration was perfect, and before I even read the reviews I thought the same, very Charles Dickens. Theo and Pippa reminded me of Pip and Estella (a much nicer version of Estella). I loved this book and can honestly say it was the best book I've read (listened to) all year and will definitely be on my top ten list of contemporary fiction.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Overly focused on drug use

The narrator was great but there was just too much focus on the drug usage for my taste-but not too bad overall

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Mos def in my top 10

Just read or listen (excellent narration Sir) to this book. Post haste.

*Now this system's word counter is forcing further. Annoying.

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