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If I Can't Have You: Susan Powell, Her Mysterious Disappearance, and the Murder of Her Children
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The Goldfinch
2.5 Stars Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is one of those books that not only are you investing your hard earned money in you are investing a huge amount of reading time as this novel has just under 790 pages.
I rarely read novels that are more than 600 pages and if I do they really need to hold my interest and I have to be honest Goldfinch was a very long drawn out novel and the plot failed to impress me although I did finish the book but this was more out of my ability to stick with it than any great interest in how it would end.
There is a lot to admire about the novel as the writing is excellent and the characters are very well drawn and the sense of time and place is excellent. The first 100 pages were extremely well written and I was really engrossed with the story but then it just dragged on and on for me from there. I probably would have loved this novel if it was about two/three hundred pages shorter.
I really disliked constant reference to drugs in the story and I understand they belonged in the book but I got fed up of long descriptions of drug taking and types of drugs throughout the story. I was actually disappointed with how little the story was about the painting in the end.
The book fell down for me on the plot, just too many pages and not enough drama.
I know others have loved this book but this review is only my opinion and I would advise reading some of the 4/5 star reviews before deciding.
