The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Beautiful writing, ugly topic. I totally loved the first part of this book. It begins briefly near the end, then flashes back to when Theo Decker is 13 years old and his mother dies in a terrorist explosion in the Metropolitan Museum . That tragedy leads him to a friendship with an antique furniture restorer and to the possession of a small, but famous painting called The Goldfinch. After his mother's death, he lives with the family of a friend for a while and then has to go live with his alcoholic father in Las Vegas where he befriends Boris, a Russian/Ukrainian boy whose father is also an alcoholic. During his time with his father and Boris, Theo does lots of drugs and the drug use continues throughout the book. The writing in many places is beautifully descriptive like this part - "And the flavor of Pippa's kiss - bittersweet and strange - stayed with me all the way back uptown, swaying and sleepy as I sailed home on the bus, melting with sorrow and loveliness, a starry ache that lifted me up above the windswept city like a kite: my head in the rainclouds, my heart in the sky." There are fantastic descriptions and details, phrases in Spanish, Russian, German and perhaps Ukrainian, lovely descriptions of how to restore antique furniture and long, drawn out descriptions of how Theo felt on drugs. The drug thing got to be too much for me and I began skimming those parts because once I had read more than one description of his scattered, drugged-out thoughts, I pretty much have read enough of that. There is action, plot twists and romance.  There are wonderful themes in the book, of friendship, love, and fate. The writing is richly descriptive and a joy to read.