My Book Shelves (3): 'The Goldfinch,' by Donna Tartt [21 Oct 2022]

 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt *****

 Thirty years have passed since Donna Tartt’s jaw-dropping debut, ‘The Secret History,’ in which a seductively erudite group of Latin scholars at an ivy league university conspire to conceal a murder. The novel was smartly marketed in Britain (and possibly elsewhere) by wrapping it in a paper sleeve you would have to rip away before opening the book, strongly suggesting that secrets lay within that should not be allowed to escape. But the novel was even better than its marketing. It was a book so measured in its construction, so skilfully assembled and so beautifully written, it was destined from day one to become a modern classic. Which it duly became.  

And so we waited for another Donna Tartt novel. We had to wait ten years. When ‘The Little Friend,’ launched in 2002 it was almost an anti-climax. Yes, it was good. It was very good. But was it good enough? I notice that ‘The Secret History,’ earns 4.16 stars on Goodreads.com (it deserves better but, hey, Goodreads is famously brutal) while ‘The Little Friend’ only scores 3.47. That is perhaps a fair reflection of the disappointment.

Eleven years went by. In 2013 we were rewarded for our patience, and our reward was ‘The Goldfinch.’

 'The Goldfinch.' *****

I suppose for completeness I should say that ‘The Goldfinch’ scores 3.93 on Goodreads. I would give it five stars. But it is a demanding read – and the 11% of readers who hated it (and whose ratings bring down the total) probably struggled to get through its 770 pages. For me, it is an almost perfect book. I calculated once that Donna Tartt’s writing pace seems to be around 70 words a day. I’m not suggesting that she sits down and bashes out seventy words and then takes the rest of the day off. No writer works like that. But I am suggesting that she crafts her words with a kind of absolute precision, as if she was a jeweller working on a ruby rather than a painter working on a house. You get the sense that every word has been examined and every sentence weighed so you can tap them like a wine glass and hear them hum.

I like life stories in fiction. (See My Book List no 2 on John Irving). It is wonderful to watch a character develop from innocence into adulthood, a journey always laden with narrative potential. Tartt gives us the coming of age of Theo Decker who loses his mother in a terrorist bombing at a New York gallery, but who remarkably ends up rescuing and concealing a painting from the ruins. The painting is “The Goldfinch” by Carel Fabritius. We follow Theo’s life from here, to a soulless estate outside Las Vegas, to New York society, to the underworld of Amsterdam. It’s a love story. It’s a tale of personal loss and self-destruction. It’s a story of redemption. Of a sort. Perhaps it is a little too long (see also John Irving). Perhaps the ending is a little too Hollywood. But it feels right nonetheless. I loved it.    

And once you finish reading, I suggest we pencil 2025 into the calendar to start looking for the next Donna Tartt novel. I hope.

Please check out my website for more information on my books. https://www.johnironmonger.com 

'The Secret History.' *****

'The Little Friend.' ****

My Book Shelves. (1) ‘The World According to Garp,’ by John Irving

I’ve always been a pretty avid reader. And I do so love books. When we moved home in 2017, from Shropshire into Cheshire, we brought with us 52 boxes of my books, much to the dismay of the removal men. But it could have been worse. Before we moved, in an effort to down-size my library, I gave 27 boxes of books to charity shops and, gulp, threw 12 boxes away. And over the years I have probably lent, given away, or simply lost almost as many books as I now possess. But that’s the thing with books. They are curious possessions. I rarely read a book twice (unless it’s a very special book) – so why do I keep them? If you were to steal a book a day from my shelves, I probably wouldn’t notice. Not for quite a while. And yet I love them all. They feel, to me, as if they are part of my memory – a kind of off-line archive – a record of who I am and what I’ve read for more than half a century.

I don’t want to turn this blog into a book-blog. There are book bloggers who do a really good job and I’ll never compete.  But what I thought I might do is to share some of my favourite books and authors. In no particular order, you understand. So, without further ado, let’s unchain the first contender. I give you, ‘The World According to Garp.’

 The World According to Garp by John Irving *****

My rather well-read copy of 'Garp.' 

This is the book that made me want to be a writer. It was, I think, the first time I truly understood the extraordinary power and poetry of good writing. There is a scene, early in the novel, when Garp and his mother, Jenny Fields, visit the school gymnasium on a mission to find young Garp a sport. They settle on wrestling. But the scene the novel gives us is so vivid and multidimensional, the emotions so strong, the images so striking, that I found myself as a young man re-reading these pages over and over to try and figure out how Irving had done it.

Is this John Irving’s best book? Perhaps not. It is clearly the work of a young writer (Irving was in his early thirties when he wrote it) and it ranges rather loosely over a shopping-list of issues (single motherhood, writing, bereavement, feminism, mutilation) in a way that risks losing focus. Its hippy vibe may not have aged well. It was made into a rather mediocre film. It deals with tropes that have rather been left behind by contemporary novelists. The conceit of a strong single woman arranging her own insemination and raising her son to manhood is not especially radical these days. But. But. But. Irving has somehow created a character with such depth, and painted a landscape with such detail, we cannot help but be drawn in to Garp’s odd world and the curious cast of characters that surround him. There is something deliciously experimental about the novel. Garp is finding his voice as a writer and Irving shares with us whole tracts of his (Garp’s) writing. ‘The Pension Grillparzer,’ (very much like Irving’s later novel – ‘The Hotel New Hampshire,’) and ‘The World According to Bensenhaver,’ an angry piece of work – not unlike, er, ‘The World According to Garp.’ I can’t imagine a publisher these days letting all this through.  And I can’t imagine the older Irving toying with his readers like this. ‘The World According to Bensenhaver,’ is almost 40 pages long and it drops plumb into the manuscript at such a crucial point in Garp’s life you start by begging it to wind up and let you back into the story. Until it too has you in its clutches. If I was to lend you an Irving I would probably go for ‘The Hotel New Hampshire’ or ‘The Cider House Rules,’ or even the super-heavy ‘Until I Find You.’ But I have an enormous soft spot for Garp. 

If you've never read John Irving you've missed a real treat. There is something about his use of language - like Turner's use of paint - that enchants you. He's a fan of the semi colon, and italicised words. He writes with rhythm. He is unafraid of repetition. He digs deep into character. All those are good qualities. There are negatives too. He writes long. Probably too long. I suspect that no editor now would dare trim his work which is a shame because it needs it. My copy of 'Until I Find You,' is 820 pages. I love it, but I might have loved it more at 400 pages. 

I have yet to read Irving's latest 'The Last Chairlift.' (912 pages). But until I do, here are my other John Irving recommendations - with my star ratings.

Please check out my website for more information on my books. https://www.johnironmonger.com 

'A Prayer for Owen Meany.' *****

'The Hotel New Hampshire.' *****

'The Cider House Rules,' *****

'A Son of the Circus.' ***

'A Widow for One Year.' ***

'Last Night in Twisted River.' ****

'Setting Free the Bears.' **

'The 158lb Marriage.' ***

'The Fourth Hand.' **

'The Water Method Man.' ***

'Until I Find You.' *****

'In One Person.' **

'Avenue of Mysteries.' ***

 

My Map Pins (20): Nyhavn, Copenhagen (Tattoo Ole's) (Posted March 2021)

 

Sometimes you come across a place in a novel and you really want to visit. There’s a tattoo parlour that features in John Irving’s novel, ‘Until I Find You,’ called Tattoo Ole’s. It might help to know that the novel unfolds within the rather curious subculture of European nautical tattoo shops, and Tattoo Ole’s is one of these. (Great novel by the way – although it is 824 pages long and I did regret taking it on holiday; it was like carrying around a brick.) Irving describes the location of the tattoo shop in Nyhavn, Copenhagen, and I was left wondering if this was a place Irving had invented (perfectly allowable) or if, perhaps, it was real. Well it turns out that Irving does his research. Tattoo Ole’s is said to be the oldest tattoo shop in the world. I wasn’t even looking for it, I was just mooching (again – see my map pins no.18) but when I discovered it here on the waterfront. I was strangely delighted. What’s more it was exactly how I’d imagined it. Books can do that.

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Please check out my website to learn more about my books:  https://www.johnironmonger.com