This was another book that I picked up randomly from the library because I didn’t have anything else to read. I knew that my mom and grandma had really enjoyed reading it, but that was about all that I knew. It is a long saga, but a really compelling story spanning several years culminating in a statement about art and the power of art. So honestly this was right up my alley!
The story follows Theo who starts off as a young boy in New York City in the relatively recent past. He is living with his mother and has also been suspended from school. They have to go in and talk to the school administration together. On the way they stop by the art museum to check out an exhibit on the Dutch masters which happens to include the masterpiece “The Goldfinch.” Just then, a bomb goes off in the museum, separating Theo from his mom. When Theo wakes up, he’s covered in dust. And old man he saw before the blast is nearby and he talks to him and stays with him as he passes. The old man hands Theo a ring, and tells him to grab a nearby rectangular object. (This of course turns out to be the painting “The Goldfinch.”) Theo accepts both without thinking. Eventually Theo makes his way out and back to his apartment, where he starts panicking over where his mother is, and after a while he learns that she died. Theo then goes to stay with his friend Andy Barbour, who has a really rich family, and he almost becomes part of the family. While there, Theo manages to find out who to return the ring to and gives it to the old man’s business partner who repairs antique furniture, Hobie. He also meets Pippa, who was practically raised by Hobie and his partner. Theo falls hopelessly in love with her of course. But then his father returns for Theo.
Theo’s father is an alcoholic and not a great guy. He takes Theo back to Las Vegas with his new girlfriend. There Theo is an outcast but he manages to befriend Boris, another student from Russia. Together the two embark on a journey to be each other’s support, they feed each other what snacks they can find and get absolutely drunk together. This goes on until Theo’s dad dies while he’s drunk driving away from his debts. Theo knows what comes next, so he packs up the painting and the dog, says goodbye to Boris, and gets on a bus back to New York. There he finds Hobie and ends up staying with him.
Time passes, Theo becomes Hobie’s new business partner. He accidentally gets himself addicted to painkillers to self-medicate the anxiety. He gets engaged to Kelsie Barbour, who he grew up with. Then Boris reappears in his life and reveals that he stole “The Goldfinch” from Theo back in Las Vegas. He drags Theo with him to Amsterdam to recover the painting, they get it back but then are set upon. Theo ends up shooting one of the guys but they are unable to recover the painting. Boris disappears again and Theo spends about a week in his hotel high and anxious. Boris then comes back with a sack of cash for Theo, turns out that Boris took Theo’s advice and called the art cops and they recovered a ton of stolen paintings. Theo then returns to New York and tries to explain all of this to Hobie. The book ends with Hobie and Theo talking about art and Theo revealing that the whole book was his writings to his mother, and to Pippa, to try and recover their love.
Alright so there are a lot of things going on in this book! I left out a number of plot points and characters and that summary is still so long. The main gist of the plot is pretty depressing though, there’s a lot of characters that die and leave Theo depressed. It’s been called Dickensian and it certainly is that. There’s always the possibility that things will turn around for Theo and he is always such a charming narrator that you can’t help but hope for him. This is really what drives the narrative forward.
The most interesting part, to me anyways, is the end talking about art. Because really the whole book is about how art can keep you going, and as it turns out the titular painting is absent from the vast majority of the book. Boris steals it like halfway through and then it isn’t physically there, even at the end it gets returned and Theo doesn’t have it anymore. But nearly everything that happens is a result of the painting being in Theo’s hands. It’s all for the sake of this gorgeous painting.
The conversation at the end is about how paintings can be reproductions but still carry the impact of the original, like how the absence of the painting still drives things forward. And this beauty from art really only hits you at certain times from certain works, but it never truly leaves you. It stays with you forever and impacts how you see everything else. It’s present in the lighting and in other works you encounter. This beauty, it’s so hard to find and so hard to hang onto, but it drives you to try and find it everywhere, whether that’s reproductions or other works of art.
I think that there are certain works of art that stay with you forever. I know that I have a few. And I am constantly chasing after that high of seeing a beautiful work of art, that’s why there’s the “This Is Beautiful” series on this blog. You never know where it is or where you’ll find it.
This was such a lovely book to read, I would highly
recommend it. I know that there’s a movie as well, apparently it is not very
good though. Likely I won’t watch it unless there’s some level of chance
involved, but definitely pick up the book if you get the chance!
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