#RIGHT THE GOLDFINCH

[rottedlilacs]

what am i doing? mourning the finn wolfhard cinematic universe

WHAT ELSE WOULD I BE DOING AT THIS HOUR ???

[theotherwoman69]

I am convinced that half of Theo's existential crisis would be solved if someone would just show him born this way by lady gaga

[diivinesmite]

experiencing fatal art block. take some old sketches

[catenpointe]

I just love getting into a piece of media and just enjoying it casually. Then one day it consumes my every waking moment. I just think it is beautiful that a piece of media can be that impactful.

[gooch-cancer]

just discovered that donna tartt is from my family's hometown and WENT TO MY COUSINS SCHOOL

i'm losing my mind i'm utterly losing it THATS WHY HER ACCENT WAS SO FAMILIAR WHEN I LISTENED TO TSH AUDIOBOOK!!!!

[butterflysonnets]

all i can imagine right now is teenage theo’s stupid gay ass listening to the 2004 re-release of mr. brightside by the killers (because, yknow, vegas) on repeat while bitching about kotku in his stupider gayer journal and then having an internal crisis wondering why mr. brightside speaks to him so viscerally

[girlhunk]

i've been marathoning Donna Tartt's books per my girlfriend's excellent recommendation. she's not on Tumblr or Tiktok or any of that, and i told her that people online don't seem to like The Little Friend as much, and in fact there are memes about it

and she said, "what, because there's no yaoi?"

[sarastellasari]

wait guys how old was Popchyk 😭

cause Xandra owned him for at least a little bit before Theo went to Vegas right (I don’t think he was a puppy?) and then Theo was there for a year

and then there’s the time skip to like 10/12 years later ish right? So hes like around 12/13 years old I think?

According to Google the average lifespan of a dog is 11-13 years (I’m sure it depends on the breed and stuff but like… I don’t think it was ever stated)

So would he have died soon after the book ended?

[kakerutori]

Just a blue and yellow bird ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[tarobumma]

there are so many things u can say about the goldfinch (2019) movie but my personal nitpick of it that i will never get over is how they made kitsey not wear the emerald earrings at the engagement party. i feel like its such a small but important moment in characterising her and theo’s relationship. 

it takes place after theo confronts kitsey about cheating, so at this point they’re both fully aware how much of an act their relationship/engagement is, and how much they both don’t love each other, at least not the way they should. 

theres something so uncharacteristically tender about it. i truly think this is the only moment of actual real understanding and vulnerability between them. the fact that kitsey chooses to wear them, even though she was right - they don’t suit her - but she’s decided that the fact that they mean something to theo is more important. 

for kitsey, willingly choosing something that blemishes her perfect appearance is so at odds to what we’ve seen of her until now. kitsey’s entire reason for being in a sham relationship with theo is to do with keeping up appearances. 

i think people tend to overlook that kitsey is also dealing with a lot of trauma (in recently losing andy and her dad) and i just feel that this tiny excerpt lifts so much weight in characterising and deepening our perspective of her and her relationship with theo. 

in wearing the earrings, kitsey is acknowledging theo’s vulnerabilities, and i almost feel that in recognising his grief and loss, she exposes her own. and its so fascinating because really this shared experience is what binds them, but is the one thing they never directly acknowledge. this is their one moment of actual honest tenderness and transparency towards each other, and i also love how its immediately followed by everyone at the engagement party interpreting it as a romantic moment and being like, ‘omg finally the happy couple interacting!’ and taking photos of them, etc. the reader is immediately taken out of the intimacy of the moment and swept back into the glaringly contrasting performativity and facade of their relationship. 

[kikuism]

the thing i love about reading long books is that i never quite know what part is going to stick with me afterward.....what i took right after i finished the goldfinch was its meditations on the legacy of art but lately i've been thinking about boris's dialogue specifically and like. how did she do that. i mean it's donna tartt so i'm not surprised but to write dialogue with such cutting specificity is no small feat. like out of hundreds of characters i could pick him out instantly just by the way he speaks. writing compelling dialogue is hard enough but to do it with a character whose first language isn't english and to incorporate all of the nuances that come with that in a way that isn't the least bit clumsy or heavy handed? where can i sign up for the masterclass

[rosemarytales]

what's with society's obsession with young boys??

tell me why I had to search for "adult boris pavlikovsky" to see the slightest hint of aneurin

[h0rnsbydraws]

Theo and Boris are both terrible people therefore they are perfect for each other your honor

[diivinesmite]

something about both of Theo’s former boy best friends fitting the same archetype in the story and therefore both being Kitsey’s type

[crowinthecorner]

rare non speedrunner art but i've had the goldfinch on the brain

[izar-tarazed]

✨ !

Send ✨for Izar to assign your muse a constellation and read their fate from the stars

Sometimes, her craft is especially intricate, with clear answers eluding her despite all her care, all her meticulous calculations and research and even despite whatever information she has been provided to work with in the first place. But Izar is nothing if not perseverant—maybe due to the flame of curiosity forever burning bright within; maybe due to her nature as a Tarnished, both blessed and curse to forever return for another try; and probably, in part, thanks to Ensha further encouraging her to never shy away from a challenge.

Be it as it may—a long time after Heysel’s casual inquiry and a handful of questions answered, Izar eventually finds her, eyes shining with triumph, with scrolls and books tucked under her arm.

‟I found it—I finally did. One could think that your stars and fate have mastered a darkwalking art of their own, dear friend. They’re tricky to read, as if bristling at the very notion of being understood; as if denying that there is someone they do hold meaning for. But with patience and gentleness, even the stars can be coaxed to reveal what they have in store. So this,” and she unrolls a small scroll with a handpainted star map, ‟is your constellation.”

‟The Feathered Dagger. You must know—this holds a collection of stars that few folks of the Lands Between even consider to be part of a constellation. But it is known in the tradition of Sellia; inspired, I believe, by the imagery and cosmovision of the Nox dwelling close. I know very little about them, but they seem to have a way of finding beauty in the unlikely and unexpected—things combined that should not go together; or things found where they should not be. Like a night sky trapped below the earth. Like a black moon beheld only in memories.

And this way of seeing the world and uncovering its beauty, combined with the traditions of a city versed in sorcery and the art of assassination… this led to a very unique way of understanding the night sky. There is a ring of constellations that can best be seen from Sellia’s towers, and the Feathered Dagger is one of them. The beauty of the blade; the gentleness of a feather; the dangerous sharpness of them both. Steel shouldn’t be as silken as a plume, and a feather shouldn’t be as deadly as a weapon—they should never be the same thing. Yet here they are.

Most constellations I know have stories attached to them; myths of origins explaining what they are, who they were, what role they played in long forgotten stories, or how they came to be in the night sky. I couldn’t find a story about the Feathered Dagger. It seems that the Sellian tradition rather holds on to ideas, and possibilities, and the implications of whatever unlikeliness their constellations evoke.

I think you’re like that Feathered Dagger in many ways, Heysel—unlikely to exist with all your contradictions and the skills you’ve mastered, reaching for the impossible and melding it into a thing of wonder. Beautiful to be in this world, and gentle and pleasant enought, but still with the unyielding vim of a blade; more swift and elegant than brute force, I assume, but still so gifted when it comes to spilling blood. Maybe a Feathered Dagger, if it existed quite like the people of Sellia envisioned it among the stars, would be exactly what an assassin would wield. And yet, being a weapon, it is wondrous and beautiful enough to compete with jewelry.

As for your fate—again. It’s very much like that dagger: unlikely in so many ways, like something that shouldn’t be in this world but chose to exist anyway, and thankfully so? When reading fate, it’s so easy to retreat into vagueness, so forgive me if this sounds like I’m doing that when I say: you are willing, and able, to carve your own path. But you do it in a way that defies reality itself, if need be, and relentlessly so; you are willing to drive your blade right into what is impossible, and wield the pain and the beauty, and slip between the finest fissures of what’s meant to be.

The Feathered Dagger is a thing of beauty, but beauty is also a thing of pain—the beauty of what could be, but is not; the beauty of what once might have been, but is lost. The beauty of the pain itself that it’s able to inflict. It’s a contradiction unravelling itself and held aloft by the very notion that it should not be. There is nothing you cannot be, especially because you know that it all comes at a price. You know the beauty, for you know the pain. The Feathered Dagger is beautiful to behold, and dangerous to wield, and beautiful to wield and dangerous to behold—like you are yourself, and whatever path you inscribe into the world with ink and blood and silk and steel.”