The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I finished reading The Goldfinch yesterday afternoon. I was blown away by this novel. I am a fan of Donna Tartt's work, I hugely enjoyed The Secret History and The Little Friend. My wife (who's a bookseller) also loves her work and the publication of a new Donna Tartt novel is a cause for celebration in our household.

I don't want to offer a potted summary of the story and I cannot really do any kind of justice to the writing of this incredible book. I'll settle for a couple of comparisons.

Firstly, since this is a first-person narrative voiced by someone who is (at least for the first part of the novel) a teenager mourning the loss of a loved one, Theo Decker reminded me of Holden Caulfield in Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.

Next, the presence (or, more often, absent presence) of the painting "The Goldfinch" reminded me of a couple of novels. First, The Golden Bowl - probably my favourite James novel (if not this, then it has to be The Ambassadors). In both books, a precious object plays a crucial role in the events of the novel.

The painting cannot be reduced to a symbol of this or that but keeps demanding the attention of the characters, and ourselves. The painting haunts the whole novel, unseen most of the time.

The other novel is Underworld by Don DeLillo. I was reminded this time of the baseball.

This is a wonderful book. I am planning to re-read the other two Tartt novels quite soon. If I look up and to my right, I cannot see the copy of The Secret History that I have borrowed from the library (I have got two copies of it of my own somewhere. But who knows where?). I can't see it because it's behind an awkward corner of my wardrobe. But I know it is there.