The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

It's Tartt, but is it art? In this edition of Book Talk, host Paul Gallagher is joined by journalist and broadcaster Jane Graham and Scottish Book Trust's Head of Reader Development to delve into the themes, characters and preoccupations of Donna Tartt's bestselling third novel, The Goldfinch. Centred around the life of Theo Dekker, a New Yorker whose mother is tragically killed in a bomb blast at a prominent Manhattan art gallery, the book is a dense, detailed work, 11 years in the making. The Book Talk panel discuss whether they felt Tartt's ambitions with the novel paid off; it is clearly a book with much to say about the connections between art and life, but is it a compelling read too? They also discuss the many characters that populate The Goldfinch, and question whether Tartt's female characters are as fully-formed as the men, as well as considering the book's parallels with Dickens, Dostoevsky and other literary titans. If you have read The Goldfinch, we’d love to hear what you thought - add your comments on our Book Talk web page at ScottishBookTrust.com, on Twitter @ScottishBkTrust or on Facebook.