BOOK CLUB BEAT
THE BOOK
with Sherry Hemingway
The Goldfinch: A Novel
Author Donna Tartt
T
his intriguing book is a bit of a
commitment. At 771 pages, it is
not only daunting, but it is also
not casual summer reading fare. Among
its several honors, The Goldfinch earned
the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2013. At
one point I marveled at a perfectly-crafted
sentence that was a full page in length. It
deserved that amount of space. In short,
The Goldfinch is a novel you settle in with
when you have the time for a good,
long read.
The story launches with a jolt. An
art-savvy mother and her young son
are browsing the galleries in New York’s
Metropolitan Museum of Art. They pause
at one of her favorites, The Goldfinch, a
bird painting done by Rembrandt’s pupil
Carel Fabritius in 1654. Within minutes,
a terrorist’s bomb guts the museum,
resulting in massive destruction and loss
of life. In that moment, 13-year-old Theo
Decker loses his mother and his world.
The boy, the painting and tragedy become
inextricably bonded.
Orphaned Theo narrowly avoids the
foster system when he is taken in by a
wealthy society family, only to be yanked
to Las Vegas by his flim-flam father, who
had abandoned him and his mother. Theo
is a young, traumatized child turned loose
in the world with little adult guidance
and considerable negative influences
around him.
The book is written almost as a series
of short novels as Theo moves through
the eras of his life, from New York society,
to seamy Las Vegas, back to a different
New York, and eventually into the inter-
national underworld of stolen art.
Theo is a damaged child who gets no
counseling, and in a maelstrom of good
and bad influences, becomes a little bit of
both. He grows up to be charming, dis-
honest and beset with unwise choices.
The Goldfinch is Donna Tartt’s third
novel and was 11 years in the making.
Clearly her focus was on developing
fascinating characters that pull the reader
into becoming invested with each one. A
long book can deliver that depth.
This is a book that the reader is
unlikely to set aside, because they must
find the answer to the question through-
out the novel: How will this end?
(Spoiler Alert: Even redemption can
be complicated.)
SHERRY HEMINGWAY
spent her childhood after
lights out with a book
and flashlight under the
covers. With degrees from
Kent State University and
Harvard University, her life-
long career was in journal-
ism and public relations.
Her hobbies are travel in
(very) remote countries,
volunteering, and two
book clubs.
AAUW Gilroy
Fiction Book Club
RECENT FAVORITES
Boys in the Boat
by Daniel James Brown
Maisie Dobbs (series)
by Jacqueline Winspear
The #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
(series)
by Alexander McCall Smith
Founded more than a half century ago, the American Association of University Women
(AAUW) fiction book club in Gilroy has 21 members including (1st row, left to right) Carol
Smith, Susan Sterchi, Marian Yoder; (2nd row, left to right) Sabra Dupree, Kathy Earnshaw,
Connie Doty, Bonnie Carrol, Donna Pettit and Margie Enger. Instead of everyone selecting
and reading a single book, each member reviews the book they personally are reading to
inspire others to borrow their copy and enjoy reading it.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016
All the Light We Cannot See
by Anthony Doerr
Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
gmhtoday.com
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