Book club discussion over The Goldfinch went well. Even though there were only three of us, we had much to say and found an hour was not enough time. Attending was Nancy Biffle, Elaine Neal, and Earleen Huff
So....the three of us have decided to allow for 1 1/2 hour time from now on.
We reviewed some guidelines found on the internet.
Here are some basic rules to guide our club. You may have to cut and paste them in your browser.
www.bookbundlz.com/BBArticle.aspx?articleId=7
My favorite suggestions come from the Book Queen - Oprah. Check this article in her magazine. www.oprah.com/omagazine/How-to-Have-a-Succesful-Book-Club
Here is the link to the questions we also used as a guide. For fun, we drew numbers and answered the questions that matched our number. We did not make it all the way through the 14 questions, but we had a great discussion and interesting views on the story line, characters and message of the book.
www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/9396-goldfinch-tartt?start=3
We took the questions from Lit Lovers and this website
www.litlovers.com has loads of information to assist book clubs. If you are worried about any aspect when hosting or coming to book club, check out this site to assist you.
As for the book, The Goldfinch:
Overall, it is safe to say we all felt this was a difficult read at times as Theo's situation and lifestyle in Vegas was painful. We all greed that the Goldfinch picture was what held Theo to his past and ruled his decisions for 14 years. We all felt the book was off to a great start and then....a sudden turn with many more that followed. We all felt Theo needed to snap out of it and wanted to tell him to "grow up" and get over it so he could get on with his life. We also all agreed we wanted him to get rid of the painting so he could move on. Elaine was the only one that suspected Borus took the painting way before the book revealed this. We did not always agree on some aspects, but that is the salty part of the club....hearing the different viewpoints and growing in understanding of the story. Finally, we all found parts of her writing beautifully done and at other times overdone.
Oh....by the way, we all loved the cupcakes!!!
Donna Tartt