The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

If you're looking for a happy, fun book, then The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is NOT it.  It's going to be hard not to give away certain things, but I'll try not to.  There is a lot of excessive drinking and drug use with drug lingo with which I'm unfamiliar.  When Theo (the main character) loses his mother, there is a scene that is so weird, and I felt it never fully got explained.  The main character is supposed to be this smart, gifted kid, but he just makes such stupid decisions.  I guess you're supposed to just brush that off as a kid who lost his mother and his father is a deadbeat.  It just annoyed me.  I wanted to like Theo, but he annoyed me.  There were many characters that annoyed me.  I spent more time thinking, "why am I reading this book" than enjoying it.  In the end, it all ends up being a moment of catharsis, but that was totally expected.  The whole time I was reading it I felt as though the author was going for some sort of deep, thought-provoking book, but it was missing the mark for me.  I just didn't relate to it.  I'm sure there are people out there who do though... people who feel as though nothing ever goes their way.  Part of it even felt very juvenile, as though this were a young adult novel.  It's not.  I don't know.  I just felt as though this book was reaching for something meaningful and deep, but it fell way short.  Even the love story tangled within the mess annoyed me.  I just found it all very annoying.  I give it 2 out of 5 stars because I thought it was pretty well written style-wise.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

I decided to read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson because it was on a reading list for the magnet high school I'm hoping my child can attend in a few years.  I hope they take it off the list before he gets there.  It was incredibly boring.  One synopsis of the book mentions the "unbearable beauty of an ordinary life."  That's exactly what this book is.  It's told from a father's point of view as he writes letters to his son because he is old and dying.  I got so bored my mind wandered MANY times.  I'm not even sure I could give you a good enough account of the book if I wanted to.  However, there is a twist at the end (I think, as I said my mind wandered) that made me wish I had paid more attention to certain parts of the story.  However, I didn't care enough to go back and decipher if what I thought it was saying was accurate.  So, if your touched by mundane, daily life stories with characters that you don't grow to feel anything for all told from one perspective, then go for it.  Read this book.  I think the ending was trying to be profound, but if your mind wanders too often, you'll miss it.  I give this book 1 out of 5 stars.