(Sept 2014 Meetup)

The book…
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which is an epic story following the lives of some very interesting characters, and revolves around the painting of the same name.

We loved….
…her storytelling, and we all, well nearly all, persevered to the end, and wanted to find out what happened.
…the after party where Mansel, Paul, and Sam joined us and we had Michelle, who hadn’t read the book, asking her questions to these three, who hadn’t read the book. Their answers were remarkably realistic however, and I’m wondering whether there is much point in reading the books at all in the future.

We didn’t love….
…the length of the book, and a few of us weren’t that taken in by the characters. One person didn’t even start the book because they were put off by the cover. We also didn’t love that the Kindle edition doesn’t show the full painting, only the small section through ripped paper.
…One person chose not to read the book based on the cover, one person got to chapter 2 and wasn’t hooked enough to continue, and others felt the characters weren’t believable.

We agreed…
…that she can tell a great story, and that it was worth continuing to the end.

We disagreed….
…about Tartt’s descriptive writing. Some of us felt that she put in too much padding in parts, and that her philosophies were a bit too prescribed to us. Others felt that the amount of detail that she put in really made the story, and that her ‘drip, drip’ way of adding detail effectively built up the whole picture.

We digressed….
… and talked about art as therapy, right/left wing brain, a form of meditation.