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)

Difficult to rate

I am torn with this rating. There were many times that I thought this book amazing... so rich and deep...such an amazing look at how single events can change a person forever, and especially when one is young...how it clouds the way life is viewed and of thought and judgement throughout their life. How drugs can come into a person's life, and that it is not just an easy decision to walk away. So deep...so complex and in many areas beautiful.
My issue is that despite this there were a few times when I felt the author dragged on and on. Without going into too much detail, the chapters dealing with Theo's time in Las Vegas went on way too long... I was tempted to skip ahead, which I never do. A few other times the point was made and yet repeatedly made. (spoiler) But the most irritating was the ending. I am not talking about who ended up with whom but rather the long philosophical lecture ....it took what could have been a great book and made me just wonder why this had to have this long, ranting ending. Many gave it 5 stars, ok...but I just could not do that.

Loved the narrator

The narrator was great! Different voices for characters and he had a very easy voice to listen to. I enjoyed the story itself, although I could have been happy without the cursing. Just my personal opinion. But I did enjoy this audiobook.

The story was way too long

Honestly the description of this guys life for the first 30 hours of this book was BRUTAL. But the last two chapters summed it up beautifully and had great advice on life!

Best Narration EVER

fantastic narration, great story. loved every second of it. I highly recommend this. Time flew as i listened to it. Very addicting

What a great story!!!

This was such a great story. It made me feel as though I was a part of the story. There was so much dialogue and the description of different actions were very explicit so much as I could picture everything happening,

David Pittu is one of the best narrators I heard in a long time. He also had different tones and accents for every character,. I could listen to him for every book.

I highly recommend this audio book to anyone who likes drama or action. It sure kept one guessing.

a journey

I didn't care for the ending, but otherwise it was a well told, detailed story.

Love it so far

I’ve done half now, but so far, it’s perfect. From the start it grips me, and keeps that hold. Love the whole skeleton of the story, sad it’s gonna finish soon. Great recommend for Grade 7 boy.

This book might be my new favorite

Well favorite current era fiction.
A lot of emotions. A. Lot .

I’m mean…. Come on!!
I really liked all characters and yet they all had some major flaws, but yet I understood completely why, at least the boys, had those flaws.

But man.

I was scared half to death that someone was going to die, or worse for most of the book.

I didn’t know whether I liked or trusted Boris, yet part of me really wanted to.
I won’t say whether or not he turned out trustworthy, and I won’t say whether or not anyone dies but (***next sentence is a SPOILER****)
I’m going to say the dog does NOT die. So if that was a concern for you, there you go ( I had to have friend tell me at one point because I could go on if he got killed).

Anyway rambled.
Sorry .

Good book. I did cry a bit especially at the end I will never forget this book that is for sure!

Going to check out this author for more!

I love Boris

I loved this story but feel it could have been just as great told in 10 hours less. The author often over-describes, especially dream/thought sequences. I do however love the story and the characters were amazing. I thought Xandra was the best character every created until Boris came along :) The narration is very well done and I loved how he ascribed so much personality to each character.

Some parts hard to listen to

Enjoyed the overall story, but found myself begging for some parts to just end. Throughout the book it felt like the author found a dozen ways to say/repeat the same thing paragraph after paragraph. Multiple times I found myself saying out loud “Ok we get it, put the thesaurus down and move on”.
Most of the narrators performance was great, particularly Boris, but the way he did a drugged up, sick, or tired Theo (half of the book) sounded like he was reading while constipated and holding his breath. No one talks like that, and it made me want to scream