marianneiriss's reviews
181 reviews

I unfortunately had to leave this book part way through as I felt that I wasn’t enjoying it enough to keep reading. However, there were aspects to this book which I did enjoy, alongside those which I felt were disadvantages. As I don’t want to discourage others from reading this book (I think it may well be it just is not the book for me, and others may enjoy it far more), I do want to give useful/constructive feedback. I thought I would give three things I liked and three things which lead to me not continuing to read this book. 
3 things I liked about Death and The Sisters: 
- The premise of the book! I loved the idea of giving more time to Mary Shelley (née Godwin) before her marriage and subsequent overshadowing by Percy Bysshe Shelley 
- The cover art, which I thought was fantastic. Gothic, mysterious, and I thought the skull was a clever nod to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. 
- Some of the writing and descriptions, particularly the parts talking about Mary Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollenstonecraft 
3 things which I enjoyed less (but which will definitely not be disadvantages in everyone else’s opinions, so don’t let them dissuade you from reading this book!):
- The dialogue, which felt like a mixture of modern (for example “You are so right”) and period accurate (“Faith!”) phrases and I would have preferred it to have stuck to one or the other style
- The narration felt like it was almost switching between first and third person without meaning to, so at times it was hard to tell whose point of view was being described, and I found that this made the writing and descriptions less clear/readable
- The way that Mary’s relationship with her stepmother and sisters was portrayed felt a bit Cinderella-esque, which for me spoilt the book a bit as it felt rather clichéd, however I do understand that this is personal preference of mine to not read that style of writing and therefore I wouldn’t not recommend it because of this, it just wasn’t the right book for me
I really hope this review comes across in the way I mean it to - it’s not a negative criticism of the book or the author, just my personal opinions and a few things which I lead to me not continuing reading it! However, I’m really great full nonetheless for the opportunity to read and review this - many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley!

Should you read The Goldfinch? Yes, but also no:

If you’ve read and enjoyed other long, slow, and at times frustrating books (for example, Crime and Punishment!), you like to read books with entirely unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators, and you don’t mind forays into odd, illogical, trains of thought and extremely long sentences - yes, definitely read The Goldfinch! 

If you’ve read and enjoyed The Secret History, and you are hoping for something in the same vein of content/themes from The Goldfinch - I probably wouldn’t recommend it to you, because it’s honestly nothing like TSH, and I think you might be disappointed if you go into expecting it to be similar!

Personally, I thought that although it’s not an easy read, it was worth it. I’ve not been able to stop thinking about The Goldfinch since I finished last month. 

I loved the lyrical writing - Donna Tartt has beautiful prose. And she captures this feeling of a kind of resigned despair so well, it pervades the entire book. I actually had to take a bit of a break from reading it at one point just to read something a bit less unhappy (I wouldn’t class this as ‘a sad book’ necessarily, but it is an unhappy book, at times desperately so). I’ve included some content warnings at the end of this review, and I would recommend looking into them before you decide to commit to reading The Goldfinch, as it does deal with heavy subject matter. 

All this being said, I did think that it is a fantastic book overall, and if you’re currently battling through it I would recommend sticking with it, as you’ll be glad by the end that you did. Despite how frustrating it feels at times - I certainly felt like yelling at Theo “please, just don’t do that, just don’t” at multiple points! - it is well worth persevering with it.

Did I understand what was happening for most of this book? No, not really. But did I enjoy being confused by it? Oh yes. 

Satan comes to Moscow to throw his annual ball, and in the process of organising this his entourage makes mischief across the city. Woven between chapters describing the effects of this devilry, there are chapters set in Biblical Yershalaim -Jerusalem- capturing the internal turmoil of Pontius Pilate as he pronounces judgement on criminals brought before him.  In addition to these two strands of the novel, Bulgakov incorporates a third theme- the romance between a woman called Margarita and the man who she calls the Master, a struggling writer. As the book progresses, these three stories intertwine in a surreal, and often humorous, but still at times extremely poignant, tale. 

I can understand that this book is not for everyone: the satirical portrayal of the literary and bureaucratic circles in Bulgakov's Moscow does not make for easy reading. I would recommend taking the time to check the footnotes if your edition includes them, as without the context they provide (unless you are an expert in '30s Soviet intellectuals) some of the humour may go over your head! 

In contrast, the tomfoolery between Satan's cat Behemoth, who has a penchant for vodka and primus stoves, and Koroviev, the man who organises most of the mischief in the devil's name, is amusing even without flipping back and forth to the footnotes - I thought the chapters focussing on them were some of the best in the book (alongside the story of Pontius Pilate, which whilst entirely different in tone, is also extremely well portrayed) 

Overall, an extremely strange book, but  well worth the effort it requires to understand it. If you enjoy Russian literature, surrealism, satire, talking cats and naked witches, and even a bit of Biblical retelling, you will enjoy this!