Spoiler: Purity aka Pip is a recent college graduate laden with $130,000 in student loans and self doubt. She is very close with her troubled mother, who has never revealed the identity of Purity's dad. But the mother's identify is far more interesting than the father's. The mother changed her identity when Purity was born to escape her family and her billion dollar inheritance.
That is the secret that the novel very cleverly dances around. Pip doesn't believe her mentally ill roommate's claim that the Germans sharing their Oakland squatter house are spies. How beautifully implausible. No less plausible is it for Pip to move into her father's house when neither father nor daughter know that they are family, unless you consider an Eastern German bred Julian Assange type's twisted hope that Pip's father with seduce her.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is the best novel I've read in recent years. I am grateful she wrote a book as powerful as her breakout, The Secret History--a book that turned me upside down.
There is something The Goldfinch has that Purity lacks. What is it? What makes the difference between a good novel and a great one? I feel like Franzen reaches for greatness, but only Tartt achieves it.
Is it because Andreas's suicide in Purity feel contrived, but every word of The Goldfinches feels true? I would suggest that Franzen fails at writing from a 23-year old girl's perspective. But heck, DONNA Tartt's masterpieces are written from the point of view of young men.
Yeah, I love The Goldfinch.
No comments:
Post a Comment