Why does nobody talk about the ending of 'The Goldfinch' ruining the whole book

I finished 'The Goldfinch' last month for my book club in Portland and I still can't get over how the ending completely fell apart. We spent six weeks reading 700 pages of detailed character building and then it just wraps up with a long lecture about art and life in a hotel room. I was so frustrated I almost threw the book across the room. Three of the six people in my group agreed with me but the other three thought it was brilliant and deep. Our debate got so heated that Margaret actually left early because she felt personally attacked for liking it. Has anyone else had their book club split right down the middle like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

dylan_thompson6d ago

Heard about this from my buddy Mike in Seattle who runs a sci-fi book club. They had a total meltdown over "The Three-Body Problem" where three members walked out because one guy started rewriting the ending on a whiteboard. Margaret leaving early is brutal though, that kind of thing kills the vibe for weeks. Did your group ever manage to get back together after that?

gonzalez.vera6d ago

Oh, I really feel for Margaret in that situation. It's so hard when someone tries to take over like that, it just drains the whole energy out of a gathering. Our group had something similar a few years back over a Barbara Kingsolver novel, and it took us a good three months before everyone felt comfortable enough to meet again. We ended up having to set some very simple ground rules about keeping comments focused on the book as written, not what we would change. It sounds silly, but sometimes you really do need to spell out the basics for people.