The Goldfinch
by Donna Tartt | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
ISBN: Global Overview for this book
1 journaler for this copy...
Found this 962 page (!) paperback down on the shelf at the general store.
25 August 2019 - after a kind of slow, disjointed start, it just got better and better.
"Because--what if that particular goldfinch (and it is very particular) had never been captured or born into captivity, displayed in some household where the painter Fabritius was able to see it? It can never have understood why it was forced to live such misery: bewildered by smoke, barking dogs, cooking smells, teased by drunkards and children, tethered to fly on the shortest of chains. Yet even a child can see its dignity: thimble of bravery, all fluff and brittle bone. Not timid, not even hopeless, but steady and holding its place. Refusing to pull back from the world.
And, increasingly, I find myself fixing on that refusal to pull back. Because I don't care what anyone says or how often or winningly they say it: no one will ever, ever be able to persuade me that life is some awesome, rewarding treat. Because here's the truth: life is catastrophe. The basic fact of existence--of walking around trying to feed ourselves and find friends and whatever else we do--is catastrophe. Forget all this ridiculous 'Our Town' nonsense everyone talks; the miracle of a newborn babe, the joy of one simple blossom, Life You Are Too Wonderful To Grasp, &c. For me--and I'll keep repeating it doggedly till I die, till I fall over on my ungrateful nihilistic face and am too weak to say it: better never born, than born into this cesspool. Sinkhole of hospital beds, coffins, and broken hearts. No release, no appeal, no "do-overs" to employ a favored phrase of Xandra's, no way forward but age and loss, and no way out but death.
...
And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn't touch."
25 August 2019 - after a kind of slow, disjointed start, it just got better and better.
"Because--what if that particular goldfinch (and it is very particular) had never been captured or born into captivity, displayed in some household where the painter Fabritius was able to see it? It can never have understood why it was forced to live such misery: bewildered by smoke, barking dogs, cooking smells, teased by drunkards and children, tethered to fly on the shortest of chains. Yet even a child can see its dignity: thimble of bravery, all fluff and brittle bone. Not timid, not even hopeless, but steady and holding its place. Refusing to pull back from the world.
And, increasingly, I find myself fixing on that refusal to pull back. Because I don't care what anyone says or how often or winningly they say it: no one will ever, ever be able to persuade me that life is some awesome, rewarding treat. Because here's the truth: life is catastrophe. The basic fact of existence--of walking around trying to feed ourselves and find friends and whatever else we do--is catastrophe. Forget all this ridiculous 'Our Town' nonsense everyone talks; the miracle of a newborn babe, the joy of one simple blossom, Life You Are Too Wonderful To Grasp, &c. For me--and I'll keep repeating it doggedly till I die, till I fall over on my ungrateful nihilistic face and am too weak to say it: better never born, than born into this cesspool. Sinkhole of hospital beds, coffins, and broken hearts. No release, no appeal, no "do-overs" to employ a favored phrase of Xandra's, no way forward but age and loss, and no way out but death.
...
And in the midst of our dying, as we rise from the organic and sink back ignominiously into the organic, it is a glory and a privilege to love what Death doesn't touch."
Journal Entry 2 by juliebarreto at Puako General Store in Waimea (Hawaii Island), Hawaii USA on Monday, September 2, 2019
Released 4 yrs ago (9/2/2019 UTC) at Puako General Store in Waimea (Hawaii Island), Hawaii USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
Back to the book swap shelf.
Journal Entry 3 by juliebarreto at Puako General Store in Waimea (Hawaii Island), Hawaii USA on Monday, September 16, 2019
Released 4 yrs ago (9/16/2019 UTC) at Puako General Store in Waimea (Hawaii Island), Hawaii USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
On the free book swap shelf on the front lanai.