The Goldfinch

By: Donna Tartt

Narrated by: David Pittu

Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins

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)

This is my second listen.

The movie is out, you see, and I wanted to be intimate again with the themes and nuances of this precious novel before I went to see it. I have no expectations, because no one could possibly make just one film from The Goldfinch, and because I realize that, I"ll be able to enjoy it with curiosity, and not automatic harsh judgment.

It's words that have no limitations when they come into our consciousness, and Donna Tartt's words resonate and call, release and constrict, for me like no others. I'm more alive in this world after this second reading, neither despairing nor joyous. Just more alive.

The narration is top-notch!

Great story. Characters are well-developed and mostly relatable. Sometimes I found myself thinking, "Oh, come ON" because the main character just wouldn't learn his lesson but I reminded myself he was a kid and then a young man. People probably thought the same about me, the immaturity! The story was excellent but I was able to predict some of the action, but not the kicker - that was a surprise. If I can't see it coming, I consider that a big bonus. I would give it 4.5 stars overall but I was occasionally frustrated by Theo being so slow on the uptake. I almost preferred Boris even though he wasn't the main character.

Brilliant!

Brilliant modern classic read with exquisite finesse. A sad, and lonely journey of a young man's coming of age amid tragic events.

Can’t reconcile mixed feelings about this book

I DID like the storyline, and the narration was fabulous, but many parts of the story dragged and went into too much unnecessary detail, which made it easy to get distracted. It would have taken me FOREVER to read , rather than listen, as I would have gotten bored and put the book down many times...

Do not recommend

The book was much too long and rambling. I have never had to make myself finish a book before as I did with this one.

Great narration... Decent story but arduously long

Apparently writing thousands of useless but flowery words in the most pretentious way possible is what you need to win a pulitzer. The plot itself was creative, unique and interesting and during the hour long spurts of random nothingness I drifted into thoughts of how the story could have been told in a much more captivating way. It's saving grace was the fantastic narration... My favorite narratation so far.

Adverbs ending in "ly" don't get hyphens

Adverbs ending in "ly" don't get hyphens, and this book is unfortunately plagued with them.

The Longest Book I Never Wanted to End

This book took me through every emotion. Highs and the lowest of lows. A great book that induces some really difficult thinking.

Love love love

I really enjoyed all aspects of this book- I hate that it had to end.

A Masterpiece about a Masterpiece

The exceptional narration by David Pittu has spoiled me for future Audible books. He brings the characters to life by giving each of them an individual voice, accent, dialect and emotional tone. The book is brilliantly written with well-crafted prose very deserving of the Pulitzer. Some reviewers reported they felt the descriptions were too lengthy, but I believe the book would not be as noteworthy without them. The Goldfinch gives us a front row glimpse of undeniable ugliness in life (tragedy, loss, abuse, addiction), only to help us appreciate the eternal beauty that also exists in the world (in nature & objects), along with love and the tenacious human spirit within us with the power to transcend the ugliness. The book also presents the notion that good can often come from bad. For this reason, I’m particularly glad I chose to listen to The Goldfinch during the pandemic. I found this literary masterpiece to be one of the best-written contemporary works of literature I’ve read. I plan to now purchase the hard cover version.