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Can anyone tell me how The Goldfinch ends?

21 replies

wrenster · 10/02/2014 12:16

Please, I just can't carry on with it anymore! I am interested to know what happens but it feels like I will neve reach the end! I'm 82% of the way through, just got to where Theo is at his engagement party and Boris drags him off somewhere.

Thank you

OP posts:
DuchessofMalfi · 10/02/2014 13:08

Would it be too silly a suggestion that you flip to the end and read it? :o

louloutheshamed · 10/02/2014 13:53

Ok, Boris takes him to Amsterdam where he has set up a sort of heist to get the painting. They get it back but then are ambushed by two henchmen of one of the NYC art ganstas who get it off them, in the melee theo shoots and kills one of them.

Theo goes back to his hotel and Boris goes AWOL with Theo's passport.

Theo realises that he can't get out of holland without a passport, it is Xmas eve and the embassy is shutting. He contemplates suicide and starts writing notes to kitsey, Pippa, mrs Barbour and hobie.

Then he changed his mind (cabt remember why?) and decides to hand himself in, confessing to murder as well as the art theft.

Just then Boris reappears (on Xmas day) with a caseload of money. He explains he has contacted the art police and told them who has the goldfinch and while investigating the police find huge amounts of more stolen art. Boris had huge £££ sum in reward money which he gives to Theo, along with his passport.

Theo returns to NYC and explains all to hobie (hobie is cross with him for leaving Pippa an expensive necklace and confessing his love for her/ we find out later that Pippa loves him too but thinks they are both too damaged by the accident to be compatible).

Hobie reveals that Welty loved the goldfinch as he knew a replica of it as a child. Theo uses the reward money to travel the world buying back the antique forgeries he sold. His marriage to kitsey is sort of on hold but recognised by both of them as convenient....

Think that's it in terms of plot- there's a lot of philosophical musing on art, live etc at the end!

Hth!

Stokey · 10/02/2014 14:48

Good summary loulou - think he tries to commit suicide by necking loads of pills & booze & ends up throwing up instead

I quite liked the philosophical musings at the end but wanted to shake Theo from about half way through

louloutheshamed · 10/02/2014 14:51

Yes me too- when Boris told him
The painting was gone I though brilliant, that's it, problem solved and was very relieved!

Of course it would have been as good a story of it had ended there!

sydenhamhiller · 10/02/2014 14:59

Oh so glad I found this. Those that finished the book --what did you think? I can't make my mind up. I liked secret history a lot, so think I was initially underwhelmed. And I found it a little pretentious... But it could just be that I have 3 kids now and find it hard to concentrate on anything more than Peppa Pig.

OneHolyCow · 10/02/2014 16:11

I loved it, it was a great read.

HindsightisaMarvellousThing · 10/02/2014 16:17

I loved it, and was gripped by the story....but thought it would have benefitted by being cut down by a third and thereby being a lot more focussed and punchy. I enjoyed the first half of the story with Theo in his teens a great deal, the latter part slightly less.

louloutheshamed · 10/02/2014 16:37

I loved it too, prob as much as tsh.

I know everyone is saying its too long but I think it was almost Dickensian in the way it had a big cast of characters and such huge scope, in terms of time, geography etc, and maybe were just not used to 'big' books like that any more. Walls Lamb writes similar big books which I love too.

I felt the Vegas section was a not too long maybe but then once the twist with the painting emerged I understood why the trippy Vegas section was so important.

louloutheshamed · 10/02/2014 19:28

Also my heart broke when i read the part about andy. And xandra gave me rage!!

I didn't really like the bits towards the end with Horst, Sacha etc, it all got a bit gangsta and I sensed she wasn't as comfortable writing about that world as she was about art, antiques and, um, drugs...

Boris was a genius creation, an artful dodger of our times.

None of the female characters were v strong or likeable though,

Pippa wishes washy, kitsey manipulative, xandra vile, kotku pathetic, mrs Barbour too tragic...only the mother but then maybe that was part of the point, in terms of how tragic her loss was. Theo's dad was another well drawn character, he have me rage too!!

Loved popchyk!

WipsGlitter · 10/02/2014 19:34

I liked it and wanted to read to the end but felt it didn't know what it wanted to be as a book - coming of age novel, crime caper, staggering work of heartbreaking genius. So sort of fell a bit flat.

wrenster · 11/02/2014 00:04

Thanks so much Louloutheshamed, I feel very relieved now that I know! It didn't end like I thought it would at all. It's a shame as I did enjoy the book but I think because I only get tiny fractions of time to read everyday it seemed so disjointed and as if I would never finish.

Really appreciate you taking the time, I can now move on!

OP posts:
AmericasTorturedBrow · 12/02/2014 00:06

I was disappointed and underwhelmed and hated the pretentious self indulgent musings at the end (but had lost patience with it way before then) so horses for courses

And I adore long complicated books!!

saffronwblue · 12/02/2014 00:18

I loved it but got bored with the car chase/heist stuff. Did not seem real or necessary. So hated Theo's Dad and his partner.

BumgrapesofWrath · 12/02/2014 23:45

Just finished it! I enjoyed the first half, not so much the second. I was very tempted to read this spoiler thread as I had got tired of the book.

I think I struggled as it wasn't a particularly uplifting book, which is fine if you haven't got to plough through 700-odd pages. I also didn't really like Theo so wasn't particularly rooting for him. The book actually didn't make me feel much at all (apart from irritation towards the end). It was just relentless misery.

This does all seem rather negative, but I think I had really high expectations.

I think my next book is going to be a Wodehouse to cheer me up a bit.

MimsyBorogroves · 13/02/2014 17:31

I read it up to about 82% (like the OP) and really enjoyed it - but I've skim read the last of it over the past half an hour. Reviews have said that it needed a good editor and I'd agree - way too waffly towards the end and I couldn't be arsed, which is a shame as I'd enjoyed the rest of it.

It just felt like it went out with a little fizz - nothing happened. Amsterdam was tedious and his return to Hobie was underwhelming because it had taken me so long to get to it.

SicknSpan · 17/02/2014 11:58

Mimsy I felt the same- had been waiting for something to "happen" all the way through.

The end was underwhelming for me. Loved the teenaged Theo and everything up until he left Vegas- cried for him often! I just wanted to shake him afterwards though, he was such a victim and made awful choices.

I did manage to finish it but felt it was a book about showing off how clever the author is (some fantastic writing) rather than thinking about the reader.

Mixed feelings to sum up!

BlueLaceAgate · 25/07/2014 17:35

Loved the teenage Theo too, all the drugs and drink seemed quite understandable. But his later choices Confused I kept telling myself "He's got PTSD". But still...

I liked Boris, not as in "would like him to marry my daughter", more as a survivor.

Quite fancied living at Hobie's, waxing the furniture and listening to the tick tock of the clocks. Did she mention those or is that my imagination?

hellymelly · 25/07/2014 17:42

I took it to mean that he might well get together with Pippa eventually, but I am a hopeful sort!

BaconAndAvocado · 26/07/2014 22:59

I adored this book and shed many a tear for Theo.

Also loved Hobie, Pippa and Popchyk Smile

hellymelly · 26/07/2014 23:29

I loved Hobie, he is a wonderful character.

Kittymautz · 09/09/2014 18:44

I finished this last night. I generally liked the first 600 pages or so, didn't enjoy the gangster stuff towards the end. I didn't bother reading past the first paragraph of the philosophical musings but at the very end.

Overall I thought it started well, but could've been a lot shorter (and I usually love long books).

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