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)

Like Enjoying a Good Meal or Mulling Over a Great Cup of Tea

I would like to recommend this audio book to my friends, but alas, they mainly enjoy physical books. And although I have this on Kindle and may read it someday, I am so glad to have heard the audio.

The narrator, as master artist himself, with every nuance, accent and inflection, literally made the characters come alive. The only voice that I didn't like, is that of the main characters mother, but the rest were brilliant.

The author has deftly and graphically written a multi-layered story of what happens after a boy's mother is killed during a terrorist attack, while they are at an Art Museum.. The surrounding events and characters show themselves to be accents which to me, shine brighter than the main character. But isn't it largely those around us who help to make us who we are. A work of art.

Caution, there are quite a few detailed drinking and drugging scenes, but if anything, they make you not want to go there

Beautifully Written a bit wordily tiresome

Would you listen to The Goldfinch again? Why?

No, once was enough

Have you listened to any of David Pittu’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no

Any additional comments?

Great story, great writer, great narrator. Though the writing was excellent, I found myself saying "alright already" as some portions seemed to go on too long. Grateful though to have listened.

Drugs, Drink & Swearing Numb Readers

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Interesting plot but marred by characters' lifestyle of incessant drugs, drunkenness and gratuitous swearing.

Loved this book

If you could sum up The Goldfinch in three words, what would they be?

I've never written a review of a book before although I've listened to hundreds of Audible books, but after listening to The Goldfinch I feel compelled to try. The story is of a young boy who encounters tragedy in his young life that follows and shapes his existence. At times it becomes rather dark and disturbing as life can be but ultimately it is a statement of the realities of life and his acceptance of what shapes all of us. I was transfixed and to a degree transformed by this thought provoking work of art!

Amazing.

What did you love best about The Goldfinch?

I loved the growth of the main character & the tragedy he survived. It took a small turn that I did not expect, but I loved the book!!! I found myself sitting in the car until the next pause. A very, very great book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Goldfinch?

The ending.

Fragile beauty; twisting, cruel Fate; Love; Art

"The Goldfinch" is a beautifully written, entrancing narrative that takes its time to unfold. It is not driven by plot. It is not a "what's gonna happen next" page turner. Rather, my experience was one of being captive on a boat on a river without a paddle. No choice but to follow along and witness this sometimes beautiful, often painful, sad, always-heart-felt journey downstream: praying I didn't end up on the rocks. Could fate really be that cruel?
This book is masterfully crafted and georgeously written. Drew me in at once and made me "want" so much for all the characters.
David Pittu does an excellent job narrating and pacing the story and voicing the major characters with distinctive personalities.

At least it starts off great...

Maybe I am in the minority here but this book got really boring towards the end, though I must say Theo's revelations about the importance of art, of The Goldfinch specifically were beautiful and worth the time to get there. The writing was great and created wonderful imagery, and the performance was great also. I absolutely loved this story in the beginning, the death of his mother and the betrayal of his father were so hard to listen to. The author does an amazing job at creating this intense empathy, I felt myself wishing I could comfort Theo, a fictional character. He just seemed like such a real person, lonely, confused, self loathing, and at times completely helpless. I think it was when Theo was an adult when I started to really lose interest and the story started to lose its magic. I get it, when you are hurt or broken many turn to drugs but seriously, it was drugs, drugs, Boris, drugs. I guess I went into this book with higher expectations.

Really Great Story!

I have to admit this audiobook is the best one I listened in a long time! The story was amazing, very in depth with lots of twists and turns I highly recommend this book.

It's Ok

I like stories that teach me something, this story is just a story.
We could all do better with our time

Half of the story was about Theos drug use (boring)

The story is intriguing but it felt like there were so many long scenes detailing Theos drug use and how he felt while on drugs that everytime in the story he took drugs I was in for an excruciating 5 -10 minute of boring story line. Seriously some parts got so boring and I'd forward through. Also the introspective and artistic interpretation of art works was exhausting and probably too deep for an average reader. An art lover who likes to dissect works of art and why an artist painted what he painted and what was the message he was trying to portray could appreciate all the art babble but I just glazed over during this part and didn't feel connected to that portion of the story line . The performer was great .