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)

Density and Speed

The prose is superbly crafted, with the brilliance and clarity of an unflawed gem. Richly, sumptuously detailed, with seductive restraint. By the end, I was wishing it was twice as long (even though, of course, it is the perfect length). Many sentences are like fine paintings which invite the reader to luxuriate in admiration of their beauty and contemplation of their meaning. Definitely one for repeat reading, as latter realizations reframe earlier events. Pitch-perfect narration never interferes with the characterization. A read that will live in my mind long after the final chapter is read.

I wish it didn't end

I have loved every aspect of this book, and I regret that it is time for me to move on to something new. I really didn't want it to end. I absolutely loved this book.

This book was the true gray everything

First of all the narration was brilliant. Seamlessly transitioning with constant familiarity and attachment.
The writing itself was truly remarkable. The fantastic spaces created. The timelines. The landscapes of physical and soul. Almost like dimension jumping.
The story beautifully rolling while creating such intimate relationships with characters. And a story that has you involved from the first chapter on.
I loved this book. Smart gritty philosophical emotion drizzled with the decadence of art and one’s appreciation for. Contoured by the darker sides of realities loss confusions and attachments.

Thrilling

Though the beginning makes the book seem as if it's a YA novel, keep listening! The narrator is definitely on point and I found myself imitating and talking back. You are taken on a journey -- within, and outside of the U.S. The tidbits of information on artists/painting was not of particular interest to me, but aids in relating with Theo and his obsession with this painting. There is all the pathos and life of real life described in this novel and it makes me rethink some things. I love criminal drama, and this book even has that in it. It's a stellar book. I've listened twice and know that I will listen again.

Loved this, but when will Audible learn?

Please spare us the music at the end of the book. We readers recognize when a book is ending and quite frankly wish to savor those last lines. Your stupid music detracts from a 37 hour journey and ruins the experience.
Somebody cue the house lights and refund my money. Better off to stop listening before the music cues and draw your own conclusions.

Narrator was excellent. Book was excellent.
Music gets negative stars.

Sad and Beautiful

I loved it -- even as crushingly sad as it could be, this book is full of beautiful things to love. the prose is absolutely stunning.

Good

A PP-winning author who repeatedly writes “ the reason…is because”? Depressing. Is there an editor in the house? Because it’s also bloated with redundant detail and a lot of run-on too-precious intellectual masturbation. Otherwise, an impressive, almost epic, novel with complex characters, a layered story, interesting story arcs.

Narrator and story fantastic!

I sometimes worry that the narrator can ruin the picture of the story that the author is trying to portray. The book is incredibly well written and descriptive. The narrator of this book did such incredible job reading it, I found it hard to stop listening at the end of every session. I normally listen to electric house music or some type of pop or hip-hop when I run or ride my bike, or workout. The way this author wrote and the way the narrator read the story I could not stop listening to it, even while I worked out.

A bit too self-aggrandizing

Narration was absolutely brilliant. The writing is magnificent. However, I got a bit weary at the end of hearing the protagonist’s philosophy of life. I felt as though it might be the author’s chance to “be heard“ and, to be honest, I was bored with it. I understood where Theo was without drowning in his laborious philosophy of life.

Incredibly Beautiful Story

So moving and beautiful that I ordered the physical book to reread in a few months.