The book under review is a magical adventure of a thirteen-year-old boy, Theo Decker, after he lost his mother in a bomb attack. The Goldfinch is compared to a “a haunted odyssey through present-day America” and it conveys the “enthralling power” of art to human beings.[1] With the theme of artistic beauty, profound but delicate relationships and individual destiny, the Goldfinch is the deepest mystery of “loss and obsession”,[3] survival and self-redemption. Attractively vivid characters, beautiful language and slow tempo are employed instead of the prevalent compact story plot, for the sake of creating a “thrilling suspense”.[2] As a result of “endlessly propulsive plot”,[4] the boy’s journey is mainly divided into five episodes, namely, the bomb accident, life with the Barbours, moving to Las Vages, reunion with Hobie and criminal activities in Amsterdam. The first part of the book (Part 1-2) reveals the helplessness and loneliness of a near-orphan adolescent, while the second half (Part 3-5) explores his metamorphosis. Part 1, with four chapters, serves as a lead-in of this young modern-time odyssey's journey. At the beginning, aged thirteen, deserted by his father who is a drunkard, Theo Decker lives with his respectable and beautiful mother in New York. Unfortunately, his life is tore apart as his mother lost her life in a terrorist bomb explosion when they are sheltering from a sudden thunderstorm in the Met. Homeless and grief-stricken, with a painting taken from the museum, he lodges in …show more content…
Some have argued that this is a thoroughly modern novel with Victorian Dickensian tenor. A large number of critics even purport it as another "Great Expectations". There are several elements in this novel, such as vivid characters, touching relationships, adolescent anxieties and emotional struggle, that do shine, nonetheless, there also exist some tedious points that are worth