"The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt~Incomparable!

SUMMARY :


The author of the classic bestsellers The Secret History and The Little Friend returns with a brilliant, highly anticipated new novel.

Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthralling force and acuity.

It begins with a boy. Theo Decker, a thirteen-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his unbearable longing for his mother, he clings to one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.

As an adult, Theo moves silkily between the drawing rooms of the rich and the dusty labyrinth of an antiques store where he works. He is alienated and in love-and at the center of a narrowing, ever more dangerous circle.

The Goldfinch is a novel of shocking narrative energy and power. It combines unforgettably vivid characters, mesmerizing language, and breathtaking suspense, while plumbing with a philosopher's calm the deepest mysteries of love, identity, and art. It is a beautiful, stay-up-all-night and tell-all-your-friends triumph, an old-fashioned story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the ruthless machinations of fate.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :

Published by:  Little, Brown & Co.
Pages:  784
Genre:  Fiction
Author:  Donna Tartt
Website:  http://donnatartt.com


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 Donna Tartt is a novelist, essayist and critic. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's and The Oxford American. She is the author of the novels The Secret History (1992) and The Little Friend (2002). She lives in New York.

Biography

Donna Tartt excels at turning places of ordinary privilege into places tinged by anxiety and death. In her first novel, The Secret History, a small liberal arts college in New England becomes the playground for a dangerous, elite clique of scholars; in her next novel, The Little Friend, Mother’s Day in a small Mississippi town serves as the backdrop for the discovery of a nine-year-old boy’s hanging.

Though she has written several short stories and essays for magazines such as Harper’s and the Oxford American, little has been seen of Tartt since the publicity blitz that accompanied The Secret History’s publication in 1992. The book became a bestseller, and critics were reservedly enthusiastic.

Tartt had taken on a lot in The Secret History. It was partly a thriller, partly a critique of academe, and was densely packed with literary references from both classical Greek and contemporary literature. Some thought Tartt had bitten off more than she could chew, but she still earned praise for her sheer thematic ambition and her ability to create atmosphere and a driving pace. Ultimately, the book was enough to establish the Mississippi writer as a talent worth watching, and to inspire a handful of devotional web sites that dutifully enumerated her few-and-far-between publications. The Tartt short stories that have since appeared in magazines show a glimpse of the talent that wowed professors at University of Mississippi – a Christmas pageant goes criminally awry, a former child star goes on what he considers a doomed visit to a hospitalized child – and her essays further reveal her skewed perspective. Finally, in 2002 and a decade after the debut that made her a sensation, Tartt published The Little Friend. The premise, a 12-year-old girl’s effort to avenge the murder of her older brother, shows that Tartt has not shied away from her exploration of the darknesses that lie underneath seemingly harmless facades.

Good To Know

Tartt's classmates at Bennington College included the writers Bret Easton Ellis and Jill Eisenstadt. It was Ellis who introduced Tartt to his agent, Amanda "Binky" Urban; and it was Urban who started a bidding war for The Secret History that scored Tartt a reported $450,000 advance.

Southern writer Willie Morris was a mentor for Tartt at University of Mississippi, where she spent her freshman year. Morris, who had read some stories of Tartt’s, introduced himself and told her, “I think you’re a genius.” He got her enrolled in a graduate writing seminar, and later encouraged her to transfer to Bennington. Drawing on their college days, when Tartt would hold alcoholic "teas" in her dorm room, Ellis called his classmate "the only person I know who could drink me under the table" in a 1992 Vanity Fair article. Perhaps Tartt's stamina had something to do with her early "medicine" for the frequent illnesses caused by tonsils that were overdue for removal. Presiding as her nurse, Tartt's great-grandfather gave her regular doses of whiskey and cough syrup containing codeine. "Between the fever and the whiskey and the codeine," wrote Tartt in a Harper's essay, "I spent nearly two years of my childhood submerged in a pretty powerfully altered state of consciousness." Signed first editions of The Secret History now run around $100.

Film rights to The Secret History were sold to director Alan Pakula; but Pakula died in 1998, and the project languished until Gwyneth Paltrow expressed interest. The film is now reportedly in production at Miramax under the actress, with Paltrow's brother Jake set to direct.

Tartt on the delay between books, to the BBC: "I can't write quickly. If I could write a book a year and maintain the same quality I'd be happy. I'd love to write a book a year but I don't think I'd have any fans.”

Donna Tartt Interviewed:      Fascinating!!!

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

 

Any book of Donna Tartt's is like a miracle of reading.  She is the closest thing to reading a Dickens sort of novel today with its density of characters and storyline, mysteries and details of the most minute and miracles of writing.  To read one of her books is to experience a travel that's like no other. Reading "The Goldfinch" is like that.  It's her best effort thus far, I think.  It's simply the most amazing.  And, that doesn't mean I don't think you should read her other two books!

 

 

I found myself jumping up several times in glee and forcing my husband just to listen to small descriptions of the otherwise mundane in this novel.  She writes so beautifully that the union suit of a miner hanging on a bathroom shower curtain becomes iconic and gorgeous!  It actually is so real, it lives and breathes!!  Amazing stuff...so you can imagine how the rest of her story comes to life.  The repair and care of antique furniture becomes so precious and such an act of love, it reaches your soul.

 

 

Tartt's characters are to love, hate, to sympathize with, to disparage, to want to reach out for.  They are pitiful, disgusting, harmful, harmless and worthy of your most tender feelings.  She runs the gamut.  You become fully engaged...it's impossible not to.  They are so alive.

 

This is a story about relationships of all kinds: parenting, friendship, love.  There's fear and selfishness and other emotions from basic relationships.  It's a story of redemption and finding ones place in the world.  It's an exploration of the world from many sides of life.

 

I will admit there is so much to take in in this novel that I couldn't just sit down and read it fast like some books.  I had to take it in parcels.  I wanted to savor the words and the journey of its characters, particularly the primary one, Theo.   I've always felt that way about Tartt's books.  They are the kind you don't want to finish quickly because when you do, they'll be all gone!  I hate to turn the last page.

 

I would welcome you on this journey of a special read.  It's unusual.  It's one that will charm you and touch your heart.  It will cause you to stop and smile, laugh, cry out in surprise, feel hurt and even offended for the characters.  I'd be very surprised if you don't love it as much as I do.

 

Donna Tartt is a genius author of our times.  Not to read her is like not reading Joyce Carol Oates.

 

 

5+ stars                         Deborah/TheBookishDame



 

Author Lisa April Smith tours "Exceeding Expectations" and Sequel with Interview!

SUMMARY :

It's 1961 and Palm Beach socialite, irresistible rascal and devoted father Jack Morgan encounters genuine danger while staging his suicide to shield his beloved daughters from scandal and disgrace. Next, meet his daughter Charlotte (Charlie), an over-indulged 23 year-old struggling to cope with the loss of her beloved father, her sister's resulting mental breakdown and the discovery that she's now penniless. Fortunately Raul, an admiring young attorney, offers assistance to the traumatized young woman, who can joke about her inadequacies. As terrified as she is about paying for her sister's costly treatment and her own daily survival, Charlie soon realizes that she must learn what drove her father to kill himself. With Raul's much needed ego-bolstering, she pursues a career that makes practical use of her lanky 5' 11" frame. Despite roadblocks and emotional upheavals, she embarks on an ocean-spanning journey that leads to a family she doesn't know, distressing truths about her father, crimes great and small, a diabolical villain and a fireworks of surprise...


Buy Exceeding Expectations the E-book at Amazon.com  or Barnes&Noble.com                                            


Buy Exceeding Expectations in Paperback at Amazon.com




FIND AN EXCERPT OF CHAPTER ONE ON THE AUTHOR'S WEBSITE HERE:

http://www.lisaaprilsmith.com





ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Lisa April Smith lives with her husband, He-who-wishes-to-remain-anonymous, in Eternal Playland, Florida, a delightful spot just off I-95. Ms. Smith describes Eternal Playland as: "a little piece of level heaven with occasional dampness, where the bugs are plentiful but respectful, and even the smallest strip mall contains at least one pizza place and a nail salon."

 Past work experience includes designing software and managing projects for IBM, selling plumbing and heating and antiques, teaching ballroom dancing and modeling. Lately, in addition to writing page-turners, this author enjoys corresponding with fans, spending time with her family, encouraging her fiercely independent orchids and rearranging antiques. (Having run out of space, Ms. Smith no longer permits herself to add to her collection.)




A BOOKISH LIBRARIA HAPPILY BRINGS YOU THIS INTERVIEW OF MS SMITH TODAY!!


So, Lisa, it's so good to have you back with us this summer for an interview about your fantastic "Exceeding Expectations" series.  I need to mention the second book of that series, "Paradise Misplaced," which just topped the whole mystery off.  I loved the story and wish you would keep it going!!  But, I know you're moving on to other exciting things.  Let's talk about you and your plans...

1. Tell us something about yourself, please.  How do most people describe you?

Lisa: Depending on how well they know me and in what context, they would describe me as a diligent (compulsive), disciplined (obsessive), eager to learn (academic geek), motivated (impatient), ordinary woman who adores her family (and can’t stop bragging about them).

 

2. Briefly, where did the idea for your novel germinate?

Lisa: My first three books began with fascinating characters I’ve read about in newspapers. I didn’t use their childhoods, physical appearances or personalities.  I’ve never met any of them. There’s was just something about their stories that sent my imagination into overdrive. I wasn’t going to do something that I’ve seen before. No naïve/good-hearted hookers, like the protagonists in Pretty Woman or Sweet Charity.      

Take Exceeding Expectations as an example. Back a few years, Florida television and newspapers were reporting a story of a local Palm Beach socialite (Stephen Fagan) arrested for kidnapping his daughters eighteen years earlier, when they were 2 and 5 years old. The primary reason that it had taken eighteen years to find Fagan was that he had successfully reinvented himself. As William S. Martin, a handsome widower with two young daughters and no apparent means of support, Fagan had met and married a wealthy Palm Beach widow. After their divorce, another affluent woman agreed to wed and maintain his family’s plush lifestyle.

Neighbors, friends and the teachers at the girls’ tony  private school all described him as “likeable,” “charming” and “devoted father.” Throughout his arrest and subsequent proceedings, his loyal third wife steadfastly stood by him, as did both daughters. Perhaps what most surprised people who followed the case was that the girls’ mother, a research scientist teaching at the University of Virginia, through the media and her attorney, repeatedly begged her daughters to meet with her and they refused. To my knowledge, that continues to this day.

As I was following the case I found myself thinking that there was an even juicier story using a few core facts. A man with an invented name and history, twice married to wealthy widows, living in Palm Beach, playground of the mega-rich and famous, and involved in a crime. Two adoring daughters unaware of their true identities. Over time my imagination happily supplied the rest. A townhouse off Fifth Avenue. A sprawling estate in Virginia. Romantic Paris in the years prior to WWII. A riveting past for Jack Morgan: skilled lover, lack-luster artist and irresistible rascal. A full-blown range of challenges and hard-wrought triumphs for his traumatized daughter Charlotte (Charlie).     

 

Who first told you that you could write well, and how did it affect you?

Lisa:  One of my elementary school teachers. Probably in 5th or 6th grade. I showed her a play I had written and she insisted on my class performing it for the entire school. (A very small school.) How did that affect me? I don’t know. I think I already knew that I wrote well for a kid and not nearly as well as authors of the books I loved. I was more concerned that I was dreadful in geography. Other kids knew that Italy was in Europe and that Europe wasn’t a country. I had no clue. 

 

Which contemporary authors do you most admire?

Lisa: Khaled Hosseini: favorite book, The Kite Runner

  Edward Rutherford: favorite book, Russka

  Sara Gruen: favorite book, Water for Elephants (I adore anything to do with the circus, side-shows and carnivals, but NOT Disneyland. Disneyland is too antiseptic to me).

 

Which are your favorite classical authors?

Lisa: Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Marcel Proust, Guy de Maupassant – if you like pithy wry, read his short stories, and Louisa May Alcott. When I was kid I read and loved everything she wrote. I absolutely saw myself in Jo March. I was the independent tomboy who enjoyed staging plays and “scribbling.”   

 

Jump into any book which character would you be?

Lisa:  While I saw myself as Jo March, Little Women, she didn’t have the adventurous life that I dream about. I hope this doesn’t sound too egotistical, but I would like to be Charlie, at the end of Paradise Misplaced. She’s going to travel the world, hobnob with the rich, famous and infamous, be knee-deep in fabulous art, expose theft and fraud, win respect for her expertise, love passionately, be hurt many times and recover, all the while keeping a self-deprecating view of herself.

 

If you could have 5 historical people to dinner, who would they be?  What would you have to eat?

Lisa:  Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth I and Woody Allen. I could rely on Woody to ask far better questions than I could. He and Samuel Clemens would bond immediately. As for food, it would have to catered. I wouldn’t want to waste a single minute in the kitchen and I’d serve twenty courses, like a Chinese feast, so that the meal would go on for hours.    

 

Read any good books in the past 6 months?

Lisa: One comes to mind immediately - New York: The Novel, by Edward Rutherford

       

Favorite two tv shows:

Lisa:  How about three favorites? “So You Think You Can Dance,” “Fashion Star” and “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” How’s that for an eclectic range? Maybe not. The first two showcase incredibly talented creative people – dancers, choreographers and dress designers. But “Alaska: TLF” is decidedly outside the box. Life in Alaska is a contact sport. The program appeals to both my love of adventure and my admiration for the resourceful, determined, kind, intelligent people. 

 

Favorite movie of all time:

Lisa:  I adore good movies. Some plots and characters stay with me forever. I love almost every Woody Allen film that I’ve seen. “Sweet and Low Down” might be my favorite, or “Radio Days” or “Hanahh and Her Sisters.” Regrettably, I’ve missed a few. He’s done 61 to date. And I also have to include “The Man with Two Brains” a wacky hilarious movie. (After rereading this I know I should’ve chosen a serious movie (“To Kill a Mockingbird” “Gone with the Wind”) or a musical, I adore musicals (“Gigi”, “Chicago”) . . .  I’d better stop. You did ask for only one. 

    

Are you working on a new book?

Lisa:  Positively. Of course, it’s going to be my best to date. It’s an epic novel set in ancient China tentatively titled The Storytellers. 

 

Anything else you would like to add or share with us?

Lisa:  Thank you for asking, Deb. I’d like readers to know that Exceeding Expectations has a sequel, Paradise Misplaced, which also received amazing reviews. 

 

 

Thanks for this witty and thoughtful interview, Lisa.  I have to go back and watch some of those old Woody Allen movies.  They are classics...  I can see that type of quick  humor in your books.

 

 

******************************************************************************

THE DAME'S REVIEW OF "EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS" :

 

Charlie, a girl in her early 20's, is just another over-indulged, wealthy daughter of Palm Beach who's major concerns are horses, parties and gossip. Then, her father commits suicide, her sister has a mental breakdown and her posh step-mother leaves them penniless. The beautiful life comes to a dead halt, and Charlie, who never even learned to wash dishes, has to get a job.

When Charlie sets out to discover why her beloved, pampering father would abandon them, knowingly leaving her sister and her without a means of support, she discovers more than she ever could image about him, herself and her abilities to "exceed expectations." She also discovers that PB society may not always get it right about love and class, when she meets and gets help from the brilliant young lawyer, Andy Garcia clone, Raul. Armed with Raul's encouragement, her own pride and tenacity, Charlie uses her only skill; modelling, to help finance herself and her sister while she travels from Palm Beach to NYC, across the US and to Paris in search of some answers.

I appreciate Lisa Smith as a seasoned author with astute writing skills after having read and reviewed her "Dangerous Lies" last year. She has a brilliance for conveying characters, and the intellectual capacity to place them in historical settings that sparkle with glamorous detail.

In fact, it's the authentic details of the time-periods that make it fun to read Lisa's book as it skips from Charlie's current days of the late 1950's and early '60's to the past Palm Beach and Manhattan, with hints of Sister Parish's posh interior designs, famous museums and artists, the fashions of different eras, vintage cars and high society parties. Her historical and fictitious characters work in sync as they are perfectly set in these time frames, and midst the transitory madness of WWs I and II Paris.

Lisa Smith's writing isn't over-blown with emotion and sappy romance; rather, it is sophisticated and subtle. It's witty, fun and sassy. There's love of family; and, there are affairs of the heart, pain and anxieties that accompany romantic relationships in difficult times, intrigue and madness. I loved this kettle of mystery and suspense that dominates her characters.

I'm a fan of Ms Smith's. I love a good story with interesting characters, a mystery and a romance that's not over-the-top but that rests securely in reality. I like foreign intrigue and the sophistication of art and society. Most of all, I so appreciate an intelligent author of worldly experience! If you do, too, you'll love "Exceeding Expectations." This book has a sequel which I'm dying to read!

5 soaring stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

       

Please follow this link to find my full review of this book last year on A Bookish Libraria: 
http://abookishlibraria.blogspot.com/2012/09/paradise-misplaced-by-lisa-april-smith.html