The plot of the novel is recounted by Theo Decker, a young man who has secretly kept the titular painting for the past 14 years of his life. However, “The Goldfinch” is so lovingly crammed with memorable characters, wicked sendups of modern society, beautiful descriptive passages, and bold ideas that it is still a fine achievement. Though Tartt gives her work the intelligence to apprehend its own limitations, she does not quite fully compensate for them. Its plot tends towards the improbable its style, frequently too diffuse and apologetically self-aware. Like this painting, which glows modestly but lacks the full fire of a large Old Masters tableau, the novel is impressive but not overwhelming in artistry. Before the novel begins, readers are greeted in the title pages by a scaled-down color print of the 9x13” piece: a lone goldfinch, chained to part of a wall, quietly stands and returns the gaze of its viewer. Tartt’s title “character” is not a fictional person but rather a 17th century Dutch trompe l’oeil painting of the same name. Paintings, antique furniture, literature: in Donna Tartt’s latest novel, “The Goldfinch,” the believability of these art objects invariably surpasses that of the human characters.
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