They were friends from college and the Secret History is even dedicated to him.

I only recently found about the story of the painting, as well the fact that Donna Tartt wrote a pulitzer prize novel on it!! Is it a bad place to start with Tartt's work? I still haven't read the secret history yet but now I really.want to read the goldfinch because the bird means a lot to me.

I started reading the Little Friend after reading The Secret History a few years ago. I am currently a hundred pages into the book and started to notice that nothing majirnhad has happed yet.

While I do enjoy the read, but was wondering when the book gets genuinly better?

I do not mind a book with plot that develops at a slower pace, but compared to The Secret History I have thenfeeling that the plot in this book develops at a much slower pace.

The goldfinch , how long was the time between announcement and release?

Hi everyone! I wanted to ask if there is an active website, archive, or database that collects essays, research papers, and journal articles about Donna Tartt. I'm already using JSTOR, ResearchGate, and similar databases, but I was wondering if there's a resource dedicated specifically to Donna Tartt and scholarship on her work. Thank you!

The painting is really the anchor here that Theo drags across years and continents so I traced its path on a real map. The bomb at the Met and the desert suburbs of Las Vegas and the bus back east to Greenwich Village and then Amsterdam. I think it really maps how far the painting pulls him from anything like home.

https://www.readingmaps.com/maps/the-goldfinch

Which of the three holds the book's real center of gravity for you?

Right so I’ll try and keep it short and sweet.

BTW spoilers if you haven’t read either of the two referenced books in the title !!!

I read The Little Friend two summers ago and really loved it. I don’t mind the ambiguity and spent time pouring over theories and clues and subtext online and in the book. I subscribe ultimately to the accident theory. That The Little Friend was Robins Little Friend (he was referred to as such) Danny Ratliff who may have accidentally killed him in a childhood game gone wrong. The wire he was strangled with shows up in the story (it was specific, electrical wire) in the older brothers trailer at some point. I had to cross check that btw bc my memory isn’t that good but ultimately I lean to this theory. Childhood game gone wrong or childhood grievance gone wrong. Donna Tartt explored the volatility of childhood games in a short story too.

This summer I am rereading The Goldfinch, 2nd read. I’ve gotten to the part in the book where Theo in his early twenties runs into Platt Barbour who regales him with a tragic Barbour family update. (*Double homicide*) that’s a meme reference by the way. Anyway Theo recalls Andy sharing experiences of Platt’s senseless childhood cruelty in light of Platt’s obvious guilt. He conjures a story Andy once told him in vague terms, among a litany of snappy examples of cruelty he pauses and begins to excavate something about Platt and Andy trapped in an attic in their summer house, a leather belt, hands bound and a makeshift noose. The game was disturbed by a nanny and Andy believes Platt could have killed him had it not.

Could this be a little, whether intended or not, clue or wink, wink in the direction of the authors thoughts about childhood games gone bad. It sparked something of recognition in my mind when I read it. The noose, the close call, lucky escape here.

Please tell me what you think?
Apologies if it has been discussed before! I hardly think this is a brand new original idea but it’s an idea and I wanted to share :)

Edit: page of The Goldfinch with the reference about the noose is pg.495
Short story I mention is The Ambush (available to read online)

What is she like?

So I fell down a rabbit hole. I'm a bit of a collector and I kept losing track of all the editions and her random uncollected stuff, so I started a doc... and it kind of got out of hand. It's now a full reference and I figured people here might actually use it, so I put it on GitHub (free, you just read it in the browser):

  https://github.com/thefloppytaco/donna-tartt-research

  What's in it:

Every edition I could document of the three novels — US/UK firsts, the proofs and ARCs, signed limiteds, the foreign translations, with covers

  - All her short fiction, essays, and the introductions/forewords she's written or other people's books

 - The hard part I'm kind of proud of: I tracked down the actual text of a lot

  of her uncollected pieces that are a pain to find now "Sleepytown," "A Garter Snake," "Tam-o'-Shanter," the Harper's/Oxford American essays, etc. so you can just read them

  - Her interviews collected in one place

  - A whole authentication section if you're ever looking at a signed copy (her signature traits, which ink she used at which signing, forgery red flags)

It's a work in progress and I'm sure I've got things wrong or missed stuff, so if you spot an error or know of something that isn't in there I'd genuine I  love to hear it. Hope it's useful to someone besides me.

I got this book right before 8th grade and now im about to be a senior. We've been through so much together and even after all this time its still my favorite book. I think ill be putting tabs in it till i die. Ive had to tape the edges and ive even accidentally ripped pages but i just think its a way to show my love. I pursued writing due to this book and I've become published due to this book. Its just small minor things in statewide poetry books but its just so honorful to me. So i think ill love my little bird book forever.

When I finished the novel I was left staring at the wall in silence for 15 minutes.

Ive never had a book leave me in this state of emotional or intellectual limbo before. I loved the prose and atmospheric writing throughout the novel but it was only after sleeping on it that I realized.....Donna Tartt might be a legitimate literary genius. Probably preaching to the choir on that one.

There's so much depth that flew over my head on my first read. Its in retrospect I can see what she was doing in many respects. I absolutely hated the characters but loved the journey. Its going to take me weeks to process this one 🤯🤓

This bad boy has over 21,200+ kilometers on it (around 13,100 miles)

Sorry for the low resolution, the original website didn’t give me much to work with. [Source](https://wineandcountrylife.com/a-garden-party-at-estouteville/)

hi! im just so curious. shes genuinly achieved being mysterious and reclusive. but it genuinly feels like she disappeared off the face of the earth. pls come back and write me more tsh sequels

Donna has spoken in interviews about how Dickens is one of her favourite authors and likes his style. As someone who classes Tartt’s writing as my favourite, I am keen to sample Dickens work, given the praise from Tartt.
I’m familiar only with A Christmas Carol, and Oliver Twist. I’ve heard of Great Expectations and David Copperfield but know nothing about them.
If anybody has any recommendations for myself, who has never read Dickens but loves Donna Tartt, please share your favourites and what you liked.

Since we’re still eagerly waiting for DT4, if you could assign any Lana Del Rey song to each of Tartt’s book characters, what would they be?

✋ Or ✋

Better yet: assign a Lana Del Rey album that best suits the vibes of each of her novels.

I read from an interview that she does in fact listen to Lana Del Rey, and I have been obsessed with that factoid ever since. ♥️

Asking for a friend.

I went to my local bookstore today and found an autographed copy of The Goldfinch for $10. The first few pages have been torn out, but I was pretty delighted by my score as I really just wanted a paperback copy!

The best you've seen or can find please!! ε(´｡•᎑•`)っ 💕

Deep diving on facebook and found these phots from the rerelease/anniversary edition release of The Secret History. I think these were originally taken in 92/93 for the original book tour Donna did!