#18

I have been working on my New Year's Resolution of completing the 2015 Reading Challenge and decided to take on #18 which  asked me to read a Pulitzer Prize winner.  I chose the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning book 'The Goldfinch' by Donna Tartt.

It was not a wise decision.

A bit of a warning, if you are a fan of Donna Tartt or 'The Goldfinch', run away.  This is not going to be pretty.

I got the book on my Kindle from the library and started.

I read for hours and only got 20% complete and I'm a pretty fast reader.

My first foray into finding information began and it turns out this book is 775 pages long.  Great, I already have a 500 page adventure on my list, and now I had another one on my hands.

For those first couple of hours, my thoughts were I knew this book was a work of fiction, but some facts have to be acknowledged.  A lesson in physics, explosions, and just general architecture would of been helpful, because a major portion of the 'plot' I COULD NOT BUY because it was sooooooooooooooo inconceivable.

I chugged along for a couple of days and got to 50% complete.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah is the only way I can describe this novel.

Where was her editor?  Was there a red pen shortage that made her editor call in sick?  There was A LOT of useless information, characters, drug use, incidents, etc. that bogged down the novel and hid information you needed.  Do not get me wrong, there are glimmers of an amazing writer buried in the 775 pages. There are amazingly crafted sentences so pure and full of emotion, I would stop and just absorb them and made me even more frustrated with the rest of the novel.  The problem is this, they are so few and far between.

I went to a party during this time and a lot of my friends who read were there and I mentioned that I was reading 'The Goldfinch' but didn't mention the author.  I said that I could decide if I was going to like the book by the end or struggle to even finish it because it drove me that crazy.....and a friend immediately said, "It must be written by Donna Tartt!"  She had stopped reading another novel by her 50 pages before the end, because she could not take another word.  50 pages...from the end.  

A discussion began about books that people either LOVELOVELOVE or ABSOLUTELY CANNOT STAND with no middle ground.  You either love it or hate it....  Donna Tartt's books lead this list.

I went on Goodreads, a great book site, and did something I rarely do while reading a book, I read reader reviews and they were either "This is the best book ever!" or "How did this win?".  I was feeling like I was going to be in the second category....

I continued onward,

or I should say, I procrastinated until my phone, computer and anything else was exhausted, then I would read.

Me, the person who normally looks forward to reading was avoiding it.  Sad day....

I plugged onward and finished....

I read my Pulitzer Prize winning book and really, really did not like it.  I  picked one that did not mesh with me, but I still have faith in the Pulitzer Prize because some of my all time favorite books are winners. 

I still think this 2015 Reading Challenge is a good idea, even though #18 was a disaster.  

Oh well,

onto the next book.......

Melissa

PS, Thank you for all of your ideas for books on the numbers I did not have a book for!  :)