thegoldfinchh

[thegoldfinchh]

I wish someone loved me as much as Theo loved that fucking painting

[thegoldfinchh]

get to know me: [2/5] favourite books → the secret history by donna tartt

some things are too terrible to grasp at once. other things - naked, sputtering, indelible in their horror - are too terrible to really grasp ever at all. it is only later, in solitude, in memory that the realization dawns: when the ashes are cold; when the mourners have departed; when one looks around and finds oneself - quite to one’s surprise - in an entirely different world.

[thegoldfinchh]

[thegoldfinchh]

my yearning compilation

[thegoldfinchh]

Fascinating things that come to light in The Goldfinch (2019) movie and just things I liked

The most distinct thing to me was all of the parallels between characters in Theo’s life (mostly Boris and everyone else)

Theo wakes up alone in a nightmare both at his stay with the Barbours and during his engagement to Kitsey, paralleled with the scene where Boris comforts him and urges him back to sleep (a scene that is actually much longer than I would have expected Cr*wley to do)

Blurring Kitsey and focusing on Boris in the background at his engagement party

Theo finding out about Kitsey cheating on him, only to come to terms with the fact that neither of them loved each other and their relationship is a relationship of convenience, only to run into Boris– someone he actually loves and knows that he does. Kitsey proposes they stay together to make other people (like her mother) happy. In the car that night with Boris, Boris can only focus on what would make Theo happy. 

“I have no family, no friends-” vs. “I took conversational Russian. Because of you. It made me think of you.”

Pippa crying about how they can’t lean on each other and then Theo going off to Amsterdam with Boris based on pure trust, followed by literally being supported by Boris during his attempted suicide.

Ansel acting his goddamn HEART out for two and a half hours because book Theo is so fucking closed off  and always internally monologuing but the movie needs a way to indicate reactions to things, unlike book Theo who’s go-to is the this is fine meme

It’s much easier to see how Theo would get hooked on drugs when you watch the movie compared to the spaced-out incidents in the book. The morphine lollipop, the pill from Ms. Barbour, and the pills from Xandra. Boris’ encouragement was just icing on a cake that was already there.

I’m sorry but Finn Wolfhard’s little “ha!” is so cute and there’s a scene where Aneurin does it too lmao

Finn’s accent isn’t even bad lmao the movie even mentions that Boris comes from all over. He’s gotta fucked up accent anyways. 

John Cr*wley said boreo is reductive yet left out all the straightest parts about Boris??? No kotku, talks about sleeping with girls, or the weird ass scene about his “wife and kids” (put in quotes because there’s discourse about whether Boris was lying or not. Just a half-assed scene of Boris staring at Xandra and commenting how hot she is. Finn Wolfhard really tried with that one but boy was that awkward to watch. 

In the movie the only people that kiss Theo are the people he actually loves and that’s Mrs. Barbour (on the cheek) and Boris send tweet

This is something that other people have already talked about on here in regards to book analysis but the parallels between all of the dead things, old things, lifeless things (antiques, the barbours, engagement to kitsey) and Boris being a feral yet tender force of motion is oof. Book Theo speaks about how he loves Boris because of how alive he really is, and how he doesn’t feel defined by his surroundings or his actions. Ansel Elgort’s shy yet excited expressions really show the awe that Theo feels surrounded by so much life (Aneurin’s Boris). 

“Theo. Swim.”

“Theo. Stand.”

Finn Wolfhard and Aneurin Barnard’s lonnggg looks at Theo bye Alexa play Codex by Radiohead

The hand touching by the pool. 

Boris rubbing Theo’s back when he made him throw up.

Vibe check (the really long forehead touch thing)

Boris and Theo holding hands and crying during Boris’ good vs bad speech at the end. Ansel and Aneurin really said fuck John Cr*wley huh.

Playing Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex during the Pippa and Theo dinner scene is homophobic

Phenomenal casting. They all fucking killed it. But here are the scenes I felt everyone did the best in

Oakes: “It was my fault” scene by the pool

Finn: “I need to tell you something” and his trying to beg Theo to stay. Honorable mention from the strong switch from relaxed boy watching movies to angsty child facing his dad. That scene kicked my ass I wanted to throw up when his dad started literally kicking the crap out of him. God.

Ansel: He was truly great, I can’t imagine how hard it must be playing Theo fucking Decker. But he shined in the Civics Textbook reveal scene.

Aneurin: The car scene. Talking about how guilty he is then going from devastated to disbelief to anger to devastated again. Jesus christ. Also his little smiles in the movie? The small one that he uses only half his mouth for. Welsh excellence.

Ashleigh: The dinner date. Of course. Girl had me wanting to cry in the club.

The book talks about this in a way that might seem odd or strange for someone to hear, but the movie actually makes it make more sense

After the death of his mother, everyone treats Theo with a light touch and kid gloves and hushed voices. Like he is very fragile. You can tell he wants to pretend things are normal with the conversation he strikes up with  Tom Cable– like nothing has happened. The way Boris responds to hearing about the death of Theo’s mother is very relaxed. He cares, sure, but Boris’ life is so equally fucked up that he’s like eh that’s life. He doesn’t think Theo is weaker for what has happened to him. He takes Theo’s trauma in stride– seeing it as a way they’re connected rather than separated. In the book, Theo is grateful for Boris’ blasé way of handling the news and the movie really highlights that scene well, with Boris’ little “ha!” and subject change followed with Oakes’ little smile of relief.

I hope this doesn’t suggest that Boris doesn’t care about what happened to Theo, that is blatantly untrue and counteracted by Boris’careful listening of Theo’s “secret”, his gentle inquiring if Theo misses his Mom at their Thanksgiving, and of course with his patience and physical comfort regarding Theo’s nightmares.

I could talk even longer about the nuances that are missed in the movie without the book but I wanted to be positive :)

[thegoldfinchh]

my yearning compilation

[thegoldfinchh]

if you close the door, the night could last forever

[thegoldfinchh]

gay people never flirt normally it’s always gotta be shit like this

[thegoldfinchh]

character appreciation | francis abernathy (the secret history by donna tartt)

“Angular and elegant, he was precariously thin, with nervous hands and a shrewd albino face and a short, fiery mop of the reddest hair I had ever seen. I thought (erroneously) that he dressed like Alfred Douglas, or the Comte de Montesquiou: beautifully starchy shirts with French cuffs; magnificent neckties; a black greatcoat that billowed behind him as he walked and made him look like a cross between a student prince and Jack the Ripper.”

[thegoldfinchh]

There is to me about this place a smell of rot, the smell of rot that ripe fruit makes. Nowhere, ever, have the hideous mechanics of birth and copulation and death  — those monstrous upheavals of life that the Greeks call miasma, defilement — been so brutal or been painted up to look so pretty; have so many people put so much faith in lies and mutability and death death death.  

[thegoldfinchh]

@inkedpagesnet creation meme: favorite  standalone books

the secret history, donna tartt

“But how,” said Charles, who was close to tears, “how can you possibly justify cold-blooded murder?’ Henry lit a cigarette. “I prefer to think of it,” he had said, “as redistribution of matter.”

insp.

[thegoldfinchh]

the secret history by donna tartt

[thegoldfinchh]

taking a moment to remind you all of the goldfinch subreddit on Reddit! Sub’s been a bit quiet recently, so come hang out with us on r/the_goldfinch!

[thegoldfinchh]

I’m very proud of this playlist ive started up for Boreo v much the music duuude all the songs ugh so perf for them (idk what that says about me and my music taste of how easily this accumulated together quickly) but enjoy pls!!!! (Note my taste is all over but trust them lyrics are perfect for our boys)(haven’t had time to rearrange the order of songs much but I’ll try to work on it as I have time till then skip around or just take screenshots and put into YouTube if you don’t have Spotify premium like I do when I don’t want the add breaks. I may make a YT playlist if anyone wants me to that’s a lot of work so I gotta know)

My Boris playlist is long enough and I listened to most of it through again I think it’s good enough to share lol, whatever. Ignore songs that don’t go I might have added by accident. It’s got vibes for his whole life, him alone, with family after Theo and of course with Theo.

So, energetically, very all over the place. Some dark desolate vibes, mixed states of being in a place of distortion as well as, of course mania. Drugs, mental illness struggles, unhealthy coping mechanisms, disconnect, and overwhelm.

Also here is my Archive. Broreo series I just started but look forward to more this is just a lil side project

^still releasing updates. Second ch. recently. Long installment coming up.

(Forgot to share this little random but that came to me. Was my first post but it’s really just a bit of a poetic summary on things in a Boreo way)

The newest lil guy out here, my lil gay bbiiii. (I say but he’s the biggest boy I’ve had yet)

[thegoldfinchh]

nothing worse than seeing people try to fan cast the secret history

[thegoldfinchh]

Is it just me or was Aneurin Barnard really born to look like a Lana Del Rey's Song? 👀💗

[thegoldfinchh]

Now that I think about it, I’m sure that it’s Bunny who convinces Julian to accept Richard in his class. No one else would take up Richard’s cause. Certainly not Henry. Charles and Camilla probably forget Richard’s name as soon as they leave the library. And Francis doesn’t meet him until later.

No, it has to be Bunny. Bunny’s the one who’s impressed by Richard’s knowledge of Greek, who tells Richard, “Pity you aren’t in our class,” and encourages him to talk to Julian again. Meanwhile, Charles just sits there, “uncomfortably” making excuses for Julian being “funny about things like that.”

But Richard appealing to Julian a second time wouldn’t be enough if he didn’t have an advocate on the inside. Bunny’s just the sort of person who’s brash enough to tell Julian he ought to give this Richard fellow another chance.

So that just makes what happens all the worse. Richard probably would have never even made it into Julian’s class without Bunny. And then Richard helps murder him. 

This book. This book is like a haunted mansion full of closed doors, and every door leads to more doors and on and on and on. It goes on forever.