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The Goldfinch

The Goldfinch

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The Goldfinch

by Tartt, Donna

  • Used
  • near fine
  • Hardcover
  • first
Condition
Near Fine/Very Good
ISBN 10
0316055433
ISBN 13
9780316055437
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Item Price
$22.00
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About This Item

New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013. Second printing. Lightly bumped on ends of spine, backstrip pulled away at head of spine, else near fine. Pages clean and binding firm. DJ lightly rubbed along top end bottom edge and front flap fold, thin red line at top right corner of front, else very good. Protected in mylar. Note: heavy book - 771 numbered pages.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Synopsis

Winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Donna Tartt's novel  The Goldfinch  enjoyed a meteoric rise since its debut in October 2013.  The Goldfinch  is Tartt's third novel after the very successful  The Secret History  (1992) and  The Little Friend  (2002) and enjoyed an initial printing of 75,000 copies by publisher Little, Brown, and Company. Frustratingly for fans of the author, it took Tartt almost 11 years to complete  The Goldfinch , but it became one of the most anticipated books of 2013, and it quickly became a best seller. Interestingly, although most Pulitzer Prize winning novels only become best sellers after they win the illustrious award,  The Goldfinch  was the oppositeit enjoyed a great critical and audience reception long before it was nominated for the Pulitzer. In a common pattern for Tartt,  The Goldfinch  is a long book, finishing at over 700 pages. The simple dust jacket design features the image of a painting of a goldfinch peeking through ripped paper. Later editions of the book will surely update the dust jacket to indicate its win of the Pulitzer Prize. Tartt is a quiet and very private writer, so signed, first edition copies of  The Goldfinch  are rare and will only continue to skyrocket in value. Further, if Tartt continues to write and publish such excellent and well-received novels, the overall value of her entire repertoire of novels will rise as well. Since  The Goldfinch  is such a large and thus heavy book, collectors wishing to maintain the highest quality will want to be especially careful not to bend or place any undue pressure on the spine.

Read More: Identifying first editions of The Goldfinch

Reviews

On Dec 10 2018, a reader said:
Award-winning American author, Donna Tartt begins her third novel with her twenty-seven-year-old protagonist, Theo Decker, in December, hiding out in an Amsterdam hotel room, reflecting on his life, while scanning newspapers for any available information about a recent murder. Over the next seven hundred plus pages, these in-depth reflections form a meticulously detailed account of the Theo's life, beginning with the circumstances, when he was just thirteen, of his mother's death, an event of which he says: "Things would have turned out better if she had lived." It was then that he acquired the eponymous Goldfinch, the single remaining painting by 17th century Dutch Master, Carel Fabritius.

The ride that Tartt takes the reader on starts with Theo a virtual orphan in pseudo-foster care, then in the care of his negligent father, consuming copious quantities of drugs and alcohol. When fifteen-year-old Theo looks in the mirror, he notes his resemblance to his (safe-to-say) despised father, Larry, and when Larry's girlfriend Xandra flings at him "You and your dad are a whole lot more alike than you might think. You're his kid, through and through", his denial is vehement. It becomes apparent from his later behaviour (drugs, alcohol, betrayal of good friends, criminal dishonesty) that she was indeed perceptive.

Readers familiar with Australian author Steve Toltz's epic debut novel, A Fraction of the Whole (2008) may notice similarities, both in the length (somewhat daunting), the careless parenting, the roller-coaster life, and the black humour (in lesser quantity), although Tartt's work is much less far-fetched. She certainly achieves a vivid portrayal of a thirteen-year-old boy's grief at the loss of his mother.

Tartt has a talent for character description: "I found myself blinking up in the late afternoon glare at a very tall, very very tanned, very thin man, of indeterminate age. He looked partly like a rodeo guy and partly like a fucked-up lounge entertainer. His gold-rimmed aviators were tinted purple at the top; he was wearing a white sports jacket over a red cowboy shirt with pearl snaps and black jeans, but the main thing I noticed was his hair: part toupee, part transplanted or sprayed-on, with a texture like fibreglass insulation and a dark brown color like shoe polish in the tin." A good literary read that would have benefited from some judicious editing.

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Details

Bookseller
Lindenlea Books CA (CA)
Bookseller's Inventory #
006365
Title
The Goldfinch
Author
Tartt, Donna
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Near Fine
Jacket Condition
Very Good
Edition
First Edition
ISBN 10
0316055433
ISBN 13
9780316055437
Publisher
Little, Brown and Company
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
2013
Size
8vo - over 7¾" - 9&f
Keywords
Donna Tartt, Young Men - Fiction, Self-Realization - Fiction

Terms of Sale

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We guarantee the condition of every book as it is described. If you are not satisfied with your purchase or if the order hasn't arrived, you are eligible for a refund within 30 days of the estimated delivery date.

About the Seller

Lindenlea Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2019
Ottawa, Ontario

About Lindenlea Books

We are located in Ottawa (Ontario, Canada), and started selling books online in 2009. We offer a wide range of topics, with a focus on signed modern Canadian first editions. Please feel free to contact us by email if you have a question regarding any of our books.

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Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...

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