¿The Secret History¿ still on my mind, I didn¿t hesitate to read Donna Tartts` ¿The Goldfinch¿. Now turning the last page I don¿t regret spending my time with Theo Decker.Theo himself tells his story, he reviews his life, a life full of yearnings, secrets, friendship, failures, lies and lessons to be learned. At the age of thirteen, Theo and his beloved mother get caught in a destructive catastrophe in their favorite museum. Just a few moments before the blast of a bomb, Theo was watching at the tiny painting ¿The Goldfinch¿ of the painter Fabritius with his mother. She told him her love for this small piece of art, she told him the story of Fabritius, a pupil of Rembrandt who died in an explosion in Delft himself. Everything of his art was destroyed besides this little piece of art. Now, a few minutes later, Theos¿ life has changed upside down. He is hurt, confused, alone. Between all the noise, mess and destruction, the only person near him is an old man, he has just noticed in the rooms of the museum because of the red haired girl in his company. The man is badly hurt, Theo can¿t help him besides taking a ring and a message from him. And the severe request to evacuate the ¿Goldfinch¿ painting. It takes Theo a long time to face the fact that he is now an art thief, it takes him some time, because there is so much else to face. The death of his mother, the fact that his grandparents don¿t want him to live with them, the absence of his father.Donna Tartt has created Theos story full of melancholy and self-destruction, but also full of suspense and love. A perfect, intelligent, long lasting story. Love it!
