[ 2019 reread review ]
As a young boy, Theo Decker survives an explosion in an art gallery that kills his mother. This sets off a chain of events that will last decades. Theo is bounced around between friends and relatives as he grows up, making and losing friends along the way, all while he desperately tries to keep a major secret about the explosion.

I first read THE GOLDFINCH in 2016. I could not remember many plot details, but I remember being completely absorbed in Theo and Boris' world. On rereading, this absolutely held true for me. This book gets dinged a lot for being overly long and descriptive, but I find myself drawn in, losing track of time as I fall into Theo's thoughts. It's one of the most detailed and immersive portraits of grief I've ever read - especially interesting given that the main character barely understands that he has spent his whole life in this state.

There's been much discussion leading up to the movie release about THE GOLDFINCH's shortcomings, specifically the way the supporting characters are virtually all racial and ethnic caricatures. I'll be totally honest - I did not clock this at all when I first read the book and I am grateful to those who spoke up about this. It's a reminder that we can all do better and read harder, and I hope I'm better attuned to this sort of thing in the future so the burden of pushing back does not rest solely on people of color.

[ 2016 first read review ]
A little overly long, but in a way that you often didn't realize right away we'd been on a topic for ten pages: the best kind of long, twisty tale that keeps you hooked.