The goldfinch (novel)

The goldfinch is a novel by American writer Donna Tartt . The original English title is The Goldfinch but the Dutch title in two senses is authentic. Firstly, the book refers to The goldfinch, a painting from 1654 by the Dutch painter Carel Fabritius , which plays an important role in the story. In addition, the book received in 2013 the world premiere in the Dutch translation, a month earlier than the English original. The book won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for literature .

The writer has worked ten years to more than 900-page book. Putter is another word for goldfinch (goldfinch). Tartt processed more Dutch elements in her book, mainly in New York playing. The main character who tells his story called Theo Decker; he is from New York but the crucial moments at the end of the story take place in Amsterdam . Tartt gives a lot of New York's Dutch family names (Decker, Van der Pleyn, De Peyster ...), and makes a lot of references to the Dutch painting (Fabritius, Rembrandt, Hals, Van Gogh ...).

Theo Decker survived a terrorist attack on a museum where his mother and many others are killed. His father had left them a few months earlier in the lurch. At the museum he had noticed a girl of his age, which gets very hurt. He also takes a small painting in the confusion. He hides it and is constantly afraid that the police will catch him; he does not intend to bring it back. For years he was seized by the fear of losing the valuable object, what will eventually happen. After this first robbery goes with him as a teenager and as a young adult from bad to worse: skipping school with a friend (Boris), abuse of alcohol and drugs, drug use, drug dealing, fraud, deceit, fraud. Later Theo by his friend Boris in the underworld of art justified. In an attempt in Amsterdam to get back the painting, he shoots two dangerous criminals dead. The operation fails if a third of the painting is going to run. Yet everything finally comes good. Boris knows the art thieves and leaves indicate the matter to the police. Which indeed find the painting in the location shown in Frankfurt, and by surprise a whole series of other stolen artifacts. Theo gets his friend most of all being praised rewards, and thereby makes all his good fraud.

The author lets her protagonist create a cursory comparison with the idiot of Dostoyevsky . Since the main character is a righteous man, but he does cause a lot of mischief. Here it is exactly the opposite.