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)

wonderfully written but such a sad story.

wonderfully written but overwritten. did not understand the point to the story other than the main character had a bad life

The "what?" of the main character.

Short and sweet and to the part of the book that drove me insane. The rest of the book was just okay .
A lot very this books story is just a bunch of unnecessary noise that could have gone somewhere interesting , but instead fell flat and became just fillers .

By the middle of the book . Whenever I heard the main character answers. It was always, always an annoying, irritating, immature "what?" to someone or anyone's question's,
accusations or explanations.
He never understands just basic conversations. Even as he grew older, which just exaserbated my annoyance with him. He was introduced in the beginning of the book as some type of child prodigy with a higher set of common sense or education.
So this infuriated me that she made him seem so ill equipped for small talk with anyone.
I iked the ending. The Speech about the lovers of art and I appreciated that very much . I felt that did give him a place in that piece of arts history . (Ficticious history of course)

long, but good

beautifuly written. A gem for bookclub. however, it was unnecessary long and didn't get exciting until the last 1/4 of the book. if it were condensed down to half it would still pack the same lunch.

Amazing Book

The Goldfinch is an epic tale of a teenage boy who experiences tragedy which follows him for the rest of his life. This book is long, but never seemed so; I couldn’t listen to it fast enough because I wanted to find out what was happening next!
The reader was incredible! I loved his delivery, especially the Russian voices! He greatly contributed to my enjoyment of the book.

Unbelievable

I found numerous foundational incidents just too unbelievable to enjoy this novel. It is not bad, but I did not believe any of the characters except the mother (who is not there very long). The rest of the characters seemed 80% real but had attributes that were very hard to believe. The last chapter is the best written and seems to be the reason the rest of the book exists...unfortunately, for me, the ending was not quite worth the slog.

The narration was excellent giving life and personality to each character.

Amazing! Narration superb!

Sucked me in from the very start, and I found myself thinking about listening all the time!

A great ride of the imagination

This book took me on a wonderful trip of the imagination that I will not soon forget. One of the best books by far.

thanks

Amazing Life Journey

Theo's run thru life drew me from the beginning. Beautiful story of challenges and consequences presented and lived. With the added reality that life is really a choice.

The Goldfinch is a great Dickensian story.

And even if you’ve read it, you should listen to David Pittu’s performance. He somehow manages to give every character their own distinct and believable voice...young or old, male or female. Pittu stands out as a wonderful reader.

Wonderful book.

I very much enjoyed this book. I love how intricate the story is. Definitely one of my favorites.