• The Goldfinch

  • By: Donna Tartt
  • Narrated by: David Pittu
  • Length: 32 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (41,258 ratings)

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The Goldfinch  By  cover art

The Goldfinch

By: Donna Tartt
Narrated by: David Pittu
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Editorial review


By Sam Danis, Audible Editor

THE GOLDFINCH IS A COMING-OF-AGE EPIC THAT WILL STEAL YOUR HE(ART)

The Goldfinch was one of the first novels I listened to when I started working at Audible nearly a decade ago. I joined the team in September, and with this title releasing in a month’s time, I remember what a very big deal it was that a new Donna Tartt book was forthcoming (she only publishes about once a decade, after all). The plot is gripping: During a bombing at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, two events alter the course of 13-year-old Theo Decker’s life. His mother—the most prominent figure in his life—is killed, and he grabs the painting they were there to see (the titular Goldfinch by Carel Fabritius), thereby becoming an accidental art thief. What follows is a coming-of-age story of epic proportions—about fate, loss, consequences, and the intangibility of home and family. It is at turns sentimental, suspenseful, melancholy, and hopeful.

I watched as the glowing reviews poured in, with no real intention to listen myself. A 32-hour audiobook seemed incredibly daunting when I was new to the world of audio entertainment—primarily, a podcast and short audiobook listener. And this, after all, was literary fiction.

Why did I ultimately decide to pick it up? I can’t recall exactly, but I imagine it had something to do with peer pressure. My fellow editors and I influence each other in the best of ways—nobody wants to be the last one to hear something truly amazing—and I think it was our fiction editor, Tricia, who first sung the praises of this one. So, I buckled in (read: put on my headphones) and prepared for whatever was to come.

Continue reading Sam's review >

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)

Featured Article: 10 Great Contemporary Fiction Authors


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What listeners say about The Goldfinch

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • MK
  • 05-20-20

Incredibly Beautiful Story

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

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing

In a moment of frustration in my life, I found this book, which whisked me away on a grand adventure. An adventure I will never forget, and will stay with me for a very long time!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

wow what a wonderful story and amazing voice actor

one of the greats of our generation this story is palpable. it's reminiscent of all the greats through history and I'm happy that they are making a movie from it. From an audio standpoint the voice actor is absolutely astounding and deserves an award for the brilliant accents.. he brought the characters to life

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good Story

Book is very laborious, but it is a good story. The End was rather anticlimactic

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story and message

I enjoyed every minute of this book. The narrator was excellent, the story kept me wondering what was going to happen next, and The Parting words of the main character hopefully make some people think about life and the quality of life.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book!

keeps you interested the whole way through. I would recommend this book to others. there is drug use in the book but I didn't think it was too extreme

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Complex exploration of multiple themes

The book is even more thought-provoking, because it does not try to resolve conflicts involving multiple themes. the reader is given situations involving areas such as art preservation, parenting, crime and other areas, but encouraged to think more about them because there are no easy answers given.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Profound book expertly performed.

This book is to be taken very seriously. It is literature to be studied, dissected, analyzed, compared. I enjoyed comparing it to Huckleberry Finn. Also, it is the best narration I’ve ever heard. There is so much dialogue in this book and Pittu captures each character perfectly.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Great character development but could use some editing

I really enjoyed much of the character development but this book was way too long. (And that’s from someone who loved War and Peace!) For example, the side story with Kitty added nothing to the plot and was a bit distracting. Narration was among the best however and that’s the only reason I stuck with the book to the end. I wanted to love it but it was just too rambling and unbelievable at times.

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