The Librarian's Guide to Book Programs and Author Events by Brad Hooper

Author:Brad Hooper [Hooper, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: LAN025010 Language Arts & Disciplines / Library & Information Science / Administration & Management
ISBN: 978-0-8389-1399-4
Publisher: American Library Association
Published: 2016-07-29T04:00:00+00:00

Discussion questions for The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt:

1. Tartt has noted that the purposeful destruction of the giant sandstone Buddhas of Bamiyan Valley Afghanistan in March 2001 inspired her to begin her novel with an explosion. Does this statement, by Theo’s mother, speak to this?: “People die, sure,” my mother was saying, “But it’s so heartbreaking and unnecessary how we lose things. From pure carelessness. Fires, wars. The Parthenon, used as a munitions storehouse. I guess that anything we manage to save from history is a miracle.” Talk about the lost, recovery, and loss and recovery again of the painting The Goldfinch. Is it a miracle? What else is lost in this story?

2. How many ways is Theo tied to the Goldfinch, which is “forced, always, to land in the same hopeless place.” What are the similarities between the aching of the boy and the chains on the bird?

3. Coincidentally, Fabritius’s painting The Goldfinch came to New York City and opened at the Frick on the same day Tartt’s book was released. Also coincidentally, Tartt received the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction in Las Vegas in June 2014. Some readers have expressed public dismay about the rather long middle section of the book that takes place in Las Vegas. Do you think this section was important? Why or why not?

4. For an orphan, Theo actually participated in a number of flawed family units. What were the advantages and disadvantages of each?

5. In the tradition of the Bildungsroman, we observe Theo’s growth and development. Pippa is sure he is suffering from PTSD. What evidence do we have that Theo actually grows out of his 13-year-old self?

6. Theo asks how can you follow your heart if your heart cannot be trusted. Are there situations in this story where you would advise him to follow his heart? His head? Why?

7. Stephen King called The Goldfinch a smartly written literary novel. In the sense that great art is timeless, what clues do you get about the time period in which the story takes place, and do these references (Bon Jovi, iPods) make it more or less likely that the book itself will become a classic in a future literary canon?

8. There are many literary references in this book, not the least of which is Boris’ habit of calling Theo “Potter.” What are some similarities between Theo and Harry? Or Theo and Oliver Twist? Or Pippa and Estella from Dickens’ Great Expectations? Can you find more similarities with literary themes? For example, the theme of unrequited love?

9. If you read for language, you will have found some beautiful passages in this book. Reviewers have called it “flawless,” “sparkling,” “eloquent and assured.” Do you have a favorite paragraph, or one to share? How do you feel about the attention to detail her descriptions of people, places, and situations offer?

10. What connections do you read into the fact that Hobie calls his remade furniture “changelings”? Tartt uses that phrase in relation to Xerox machines and “the line of beauty.

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