We met at friend Kate's home. Before we got down to the business of discussing the book, which was epic, we got a look at Kate's collection of Guatemalan textiles. She has three large bins of textiles -tops, pants, belts, runners, yardage- that we'd never seen. By the time I took this photo the pile of items had grown nearly higher than we could see over. In addition to many textiles she had several books documenting patterns from different parts of the Central American area.
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| No fear of pattern mixing here. |
Once we'd admired her textiles, and left them all a mess in her basement, we went on to discuss the book.
It had three major acts -initially in New York, another in Las Vegas, then the final set in New York and Amsterdam. The book was presented in the past tense through the first two acts, it's wasn't until nearly the end of the book when the narration came into the present. The narrator, and main character was the boy Theo. Theo lives with his mother in New York City, his father having left them earlier. .
To begin, Theo and his mother are killing time in a museum on their way to an appointment at his school when an explosion occurs. Theo has been lurking in a gallery admiring a young lady, and is separated from his mother -who dies in the explosion. He comes to in a gallery with the young lady and her older companion -Welty. Welty who is badly injured gives Theo his ring, instructions on where in Greenwich Village to go, and tells him to take a famous painting, the Goldfinch, that is strewn around the wreckage of the museum. Fearing another explosion Theo grabes the painting, stuffs it in a sack and escapes the museum. Like the survivors of 9/11 he wanders the streets of the city, eventually making his way back to his apartment in hopes his mother will be there.
His mother does not show up and concerned he calls a help number. This alerts social services, who show up and remove him from his apartment. Theo gets himself placed with the family of a friend. The family, a stereotypical East Side family, takes him in and helps him adjust. Eventually Theo makes it down to the Greenwich Village address, returns the ring, and makes the acquaintance of a furniture restorer, Hobie, and a young girl, Pippa, who live there. Pippa was the girl he admired at the museum..
In the second part of the book Theo's father and girlfriend appear, liquidate his mother's things and take him off to Las Vegas, Theo takes the famous painting, wrapped in newspapers, and shows it to no one. His father, a drug addict and gambler is after money left to Theo by his mother. Once in Las Vegas Theo, who isn't supervised by his father and girlfriend, goes to school, and befriends another odd fellow, Boris. Boris, who is also unsupervised, and Theo live out many exploits and form a lasting bond.
With mob thugs on his trail for back debts Theo's father dies in a car crash, and Theo, afraid of another intervention by social services, swipes money from his father's girlfriend and flees - back to New York. Back in New York he stays with Hobie. The novel shifts forward a number of years and we see that Theo is working in the antique business with Hobie, and has developed some sharp and fraudulent practices when selling restored furniture.
Eventually a buyer discovers he's been sold a fake and confronts Theo, alluding to his painting. Theo lives with the dread of his lies being uncovered, but brushes off talk of the painting because he knows it's in storage, where it's been ever since he returned from Las Vegas - or so he thinks.
Like a bad penny, Boris shows up in New York. Boris confesses that he took the painting when Theo was in Las Vegas, some years earlier - apparently Theo never opened the wrapped up package to see the painting, and had been using it as collateral in transactions between criminals. I'm going to stop in my description here, about 6/8 of the way through the book, so as not to spoil the ending.
If this plot seems a bit convoluted, it's because it is convoluted. As a literary novel it's full of parallels and similarities to classic authors and stories, as a novel to read it's wordy, taking pages to go through scenes and actions that many authors would polish off in a few paragraphs. The author, Donna Tartt is no Elmore Leonard.
One of the most interesting characters in the book was Boris - Theo's friend, a drug dealer, Russian thug, thief and ultimate redeemer (opps a spoiler) of Theos' beloved painting. To bring Elmore Leonard up again, husband and I have recently finished watching the TV series, Justified. In this series one of the most outrageous and interesting characters is Boyd Crowder. He's not a sidekick to the hero, he's usually an adversary of the main character. What makes Boyd and Boris fascinating is that unlike a main character, they are allowed fictional license to surprise us. They can be good and bad, friend and foe, alternatively delighting and annoying use with their human vulnerability.
I think it's always fun to find out a little more about our friends. Now I know that not only does Kate collect teapots, but also textiles.
