Donna Tartt is an
American author and has won the Pulitzer award for the Goldfinch, her third novel. The robust reason to love this
novel is the beautifully words, some part of smart and elegant conversation and
narration. Words are in art. The 962-page bestseller was published by Back Bay
Books, New York in 2013.
The character development
is very neatly and beautifully. The author did fantastic job at creating character Boris, an Ukrainian boy to color the story (perhaps) in balancing
the melancholy main character Theo. Boris is vivid, wild, risk taker, and
funny. He grew up from continent to another continent with totally different culture
and nature. A city boy like Theo learns much on wild world from him. Once Boris
lived in Indonesia, a place where he did religious stuff. Boris recalled the frigid night on the street in Ukraine while he ran
away from his father. He dealt with heat in Australia. In Las Vegas Theo
eyewitnesses abusive father of Boris, but the two friends also have some good
time together in the heating desert.
As an
Indonesian, all I can say is what Ms. Tartt has depicted about Indonesia in this book is not far from reality.
It’s apparent that the author had been in Indonesia or at least she did deeply
research on it. The book also takes us on a journey to beautiful Amsterdam
and real life in Las Vegas desert.
What
I like least about the book was the excessive repeating, the inconsistency of using the past and present tense (it's quite distracted). The book seems like needing re-editing for allowing the reader can enjoy the stories while not becoming distracted by mistakes or errors. The editor also needs to pay more attention
on page 294, 295, and 303. It’s casual conversation between Theo and Boris
about Bami, the cook, and Boris's favorite place. What I got from the conversation: Papua
New Guinea (PNG) is part of Indonesia. In fact, Papua (the western part of Papua
Island) is part of Indonesia, and PNG (the eastern part of Papua Island) is
clearly an independently country.
Overall, I found
myself enjoying it more when it’s connected to painting. The author has review on
greatest painters: Adriaen Coorte (1665-1707), Rembrandt van Rijn (1609-1669), Vincent
van Gogh (1853-1890), Frans Hals (1580-1666), Johannes Vermer (1632-75), Carel Fabritius
(1622-1654), and Egbert van der Poel (1621-1664).
Carel Fabritius (a pupil of Rembrandt) was one of the greatest
painters of his day, in one of the greatest ages of painting. The famous
painter was killed tragically at the age of 32 in the explosion and his studio
was destroyed. Many of his works was missing in the blast and the survivor the Goldfinch
(1654) is his masterpiece. This fiction is linked to the famous the Goldfinch.
The tale isn’t all about the painting here, but more about life of a boy. The realistic
life around us, it isn’t always as we expected and planned.
The Goldfinch
(2013), Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Donna Tartt: summary
The story began
at a hotel room in Amsterdam. Narrator is Theodore Decker, and this is his
story since teenage days (13 years old) till turn to be a man in 27.
New York
He recalled his
youth life and his death mother. As it was she died when he was a kid. He
remembered everything a few weeks before she died. When she came to New York
fresh from Kansas, she worked part-time as a model though she was too uneasy in
front of camera to be very good at it; whatever she had, it didn’t translate to
film. She had black hair, fair skin that freckled in summer; and in the slant
of her cheekbones there was such an eccentric mixture of tribal and Celtic
Twilight that sometimes people guessed she was Icelandic. In fact, she was half
Irish, half Cherokee, from a town in Kansas near the Oklahoma border. Her
parents had unfairly died before Theo had a chance to know them. His grandparents
had been affable horse trainers. His father had run away and left his mother
and him.
She had never
seen a great painting in person until she was eighteen and moved to New York.
College was the second important to her in New York for her. And if not meet
and marry, she would almost certainly have finished her master’s and gone on
for her PhD. The mother worked for the advertising firm specialized in women’s
accessories. She supervised photo shoots where crystal earrings glisted on
drifts of fake holiday snow. She was good at what she did, she preferred
working behind the camera rather than in front of it, her work on subway
posters and on billboards in Times Square.
Theo was relief
to have his father out of their apartment. He and his mother didn’t seem miss
him, though it was sad they had to let out the house keeper go because they
couldn’t afford to pay her. Even though the apartment was rented stabilized,
getting without his father’s salary was a month-by-month adventure, since whatever
new life he had fashioned for himself elsewhere did not include sending money
for child support. Basically they were content enough doing their own laundry
down in basement, eating day-old baked goods, and cheap Chinese carry-out and
counting out the nickles and dimes for bus fare.
He was a part
from his mother when bomb blasted at the gallery, a museum guard ran across the
open doorway of the exhibition shop beyond. Before the blast, he noticed a girl
observing his mother. Pippa was with an old man. He recognized him - his mother.
He was wounded, asking Theo to take a drawing and his ring. Before he died he
uttered Hobart and Blackwell. Theo left bomb’s debris with a painting. The
trauma still was haunting him, and blaming himself for her mother’s death.
According to the
television, they now knew who was responsible for the explosion. The right
wings extremists. They had worked with a moving and storage company; with help
from unknown accomplices inside the museum, they had concealed the explosives
without hollow. The paper believed the
Goldfinch, the famous painting of Carel Fabritius burnt in the explosion.
Fabritius (a
pupil of Rembrandt) was one of the greatest painters of his day, in one of the
greatest ages of painting. The famous painter was killed tragically at the age
of 32 in the explosion and his studio was destroyed. Many of his works was
missing in the blast and the survivor the Golfinch (1654) is his masterpiece.
Technically he
had a set of living grandparents – his father’s dad and stepmother, in
Maryland. Relations were barely civil between her father and his stepmother,
Dorothy, an immigrant from East Germany who cleaned office buildings for living
before marrying his grandfather. He had met Grandpa Decker and Dorothy only
twice in his life. No picnic was the primary phrase he associated with Grandpa
Decker as his father saying living with the bastard was no picnic.
A social worker
in Department of Child and Family Services informed him, his mother, Audrey
Decker, was one of the victims in the museum blast. She had died instantly. Theo
was now minor without a guardian. He was removed immediately from his home. The
social worker needed some temporary arrangements until they the people who
loved and cared about him. They would arrange him a temporary custody, but Theo
didn’t want a foster family. Off the top of his head, he gave them the
telephone number of his old friend Andy Barbour. Though Andy and he had been good
friends in elementary school, he wasn’t quite sure why his name was the first
to fall out of his mouth, since they weren’t such a good friends any more. They
had drifted apart at the start junior high.
Living with the Barbours
Andy had been
his best friend since third grade. His father had a big job on Wall Street. His
mother and Theo’s mother were friends. Mrs. Barbour was a stay-at-home mother
and did charity work on the Antique Show. Mrs. Barbour was from society family
with an old Dutch name, so cool and blonde and monotone that sometimes she
seemed partially drained of blood. She was the masterpiece of composure;
nothing ever ruffled her or made her upset, though she was not beautiful.
People stopped
by to see him- his social workers, pro-bono psyciatrist, people from his
mother’s work, his old housekeeper. Around him, the life of the household went
on. Everyday, the doorbell rang many times: house keepers, nannies, caterers,
tutors, the piano instructors, social-pages ladies and tassel loafer business
guys connected with Mrs. Barbour’s charities. Andy’s younger siblings, Toddy
and Kitsey, raced through the gloomy halls with their school friends.
Social Service
had contacted his Decker grandparents. Everyone seemed profoundly shocked at
the hotel idea, as if Grandpa Decker and Dorothy had suggested he moved into a
shed in their back yard. He wanted to live in a hotel, but he was only
thirteen. It could not possibly live on his own at a budget hotel in a suburban
Maryland.
The Barbours lived on Park Avenue. Though the Barbours’ apartment was enormous by New York standards, it was on a low floor and practically lightless, even on the Park
Avenue side. He began trying especially hard to be a guest: to make his bed
every mornings, to always thank please and thank you, and to do everything he
knew his mother wanted him to do. Unfortunately the Barbours didn’t exactly
have the kind of household where you can show appreciation by babysitting, the
younger siblings or pitching in with the dishes.
There were eight
people working for them – the woman to look after the plant, rearranging the
closet and the china collection. Luckily, Andy’s parents were around so little
that his presence didn’t seem inconvenience them very much. By far biggest
issue he faced was Andy’s siblings. Platt was the older sent away for school,
Theo occupied his room. Toddy was only seven, Kitsey was the only sister.
Theo was
investigated for museum explosion, he was an important witness. The
interrogation had disturbed him greatly, kicking up the wall of disjointed
sensations that crashed over him unexpected moments: a chocking burn of
chemical or smoke, sparks and wires, the balanced chill of emergency lights,
overpowering enough to blank him out. He had bad dreams and crying out in his
sleep. A psychiatrist has sent to heal his trauma, he dreaded his sessions with
Dave, a twice-weekly ordeal. He felt guilty for not liking him.
The Last Weeks in New York
He visited the
Hobart and Blackwell. James Hobart and Blackwell ran furniture and art business.
He brought Welty Blackwell’s ring to Hobie, but he kept the painting to
himself. He didn’t steal the Golfinch,
but he never reported it to art police. The girl who caught his eyes at the
museum, Pippa, was now on her medical care. She didn’t know him, but she only
can hear his voice and name. The girl at the gallery survived but not Blackwell,
her father. The blast waves were liked sounds waves. He frequently paid visit
to Hobie’s house and became friend to the old man. Pippa was motherless and her
nearest relative brought her back to the family in Texas. He hated to think her
leaving, he woke feeling heartsick.
Hobie studied
the story about Theo in the paper, he knew Theo was staying with the Barbours.
He had done some work for Samantha Barbour and her family in the past. Every
art dealer an antiquario in New York
knew Samantha Barbour.
He stood
speechless with shock to meet his father in the Barbours’ apartment. It was him,
though he had changed since. He had looked a bit-worn and seedy but out in the
rippling heat his white sportcoat and his cult-leader sunglasses. The boy found
himself confronted by strange woman is father and a woman, tan, and very fit-looking.
Although she was older than his mother, or any rate older-looking, she was
dressed like someone younger, she declared her name Xandra, Larry’s girlfriend.
Audrey Decker
had played her cards way too close to the vest. She was often uncommunicative.
When she was upset it was difficult to tell what she was thinking. His father
never blamed her after all. Before leaving his old apartment, he took the painting
with him. The painting, though small, was getting heavy, and his face felt
frozen with the effort of concealing his discomfort. The doorman at his old
apartment, Goldie, gave him money, as he said paid back his debt to his mother.
They was out for
dinner, Xandra gave him champagne. Platt found Theo came home drunk, when back
to Barbour’ apartment, before he left New York. Not only champagne, on the
flight to Vegas, Xandra also gave him a pill that kept him high and happy.
He was so
disoriented in the glare when his father stopped in front of a new luxury car.
The desert air had magnetized him. His father lived in Xandra’s house, he saw
the painting for the first time.
Two years in End Desert Road, Las Vegas
Theo’s father was
minor actor, he had played guest roles on several TV show. He was drunk even to
pick up Theo from school. He often heard his mother told how she and his father
were dating. Larry Decker had turned up a Porsche he had borrowed from a friend
to impress her.
In the weeks in
Las Vegas before school started, he learned a number of interesting facts. His
father’s former job had not involved nearly much business travel as he led his
mother and him to believe, he had been flying out to Vegas, in a bar had met Xandra.
In the house on Desert End Road, which super expensive cable television package
his mother would never let them get, he drew the blinds against the glare and
sat smoking in front of television, glassy as opium addict watching TV with the
sound off. What wasn’t clear was if his dad had a job.
He might have
liked Xandra in other circumstances. She wasn’t pretty in the face still she
was in shape, she worked out, and her arms and legs were so glossy and tan that
they looked almost sprayed, as if she anointed herself with lots of creams and
oils. Living with them like was like living with roommates, he didn’t
practically get along with. When they were at home, Theo stayed in his room
with the door shut. Many of the rooms were bare of furniture, or almost bare,
and the open space, the uncurtained brightness. No one cared he that he never
changed his clothes. The houses around them were empty and no neighbors.
School and Best Friend Boris
At school, the
sense of transience was unsettling. There were a lot of army brats, a lot of
foreigners- many of them the children of executives who had come to Las Vegas
for big managerial and construction jobs. Some of them had live in nine or ten
different states in as many years, and many of them had lived abroad. There
were also a good many shy, half-invisible boys and girls whose parents had fled
rural hardship for jobs as hotel busboy and chambermaids.
The dark-haired
boy scowled and sank deeper in his seat. Somehow he found they were standing
together in the crowd that was waiting for bus after school. He looked like the
homeless-looking kids who stood around passing cigarettes – the scars on his
face. His name was Boris.
His New York
clothes made him look like a freak at school where most people dressed in tank
tops and flip flops. For his clothes and glasses, Boris called him Potter
(Harry Potter). He just was two months in Vegas, though he spoke English
fluently enough, with a strong Australian accent. Boris had lived in Russia,
Scotland, Australia, Poland, Indonesia, New Guinea, Canada, Saudi Arabia,
Sweden, and Ukraine. Mostly in three places: Australia, Russia, and Ukraine.
His first language is Polish.
His mother was
Polish, from a town near the Ukrainian border. He spoke Slavic languages - Russian,
Ukrainian, Polish, and even Czech. His father (born in Siberia, a Ukrainian
national from Novoagansk) was in mining and exploration. Boris mother’s was
dead. She was an alcoholic and drunk, fell out the window and died. His mother
was Polish, his dad was Ukrainian, and Boris himself was born in Australia.
But the place he
wanted to get back to was Indonesia. Before Boris, he had borne his solitude
stoically enough without realizing quite how alone he was. Boris had ridden a
camel; he had eaten witchetty grubs, played cricket, caught malaria, lived in the
street in Ukraine, swum in Australia rivers infested crocodiles. He had read
Chekhov in Russia. He had been converted to Islam and even had an Arabic name
in Indonesia. He was taught him the Koran and practiced that religion but he
wasn’t Muslim any more.
Boris’s father
was mysterious figure. As Boris explained his father was often on site in the
middle of nowhere, at his mine, where he stayed with his crew for weeks at the
time. Boris’s house was bad. He hit Boris because of the beer bottle. Though he
never seen anybody snorting drugs but Boris was pretty sure that Xandra took cocaine.
Boris and his father didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. Xandra and his father had
reservations for Thanksgiving in a restaurant, but Theo chose to be with his
friend, Boris.
Ever since Boris
had shown up with the bruised eye that had built Boris’s father into Theo’s
mind to be someone thick-necked Soviet with pig eyes and a buzz haircut. Theo
finally met him. He was a thin and pale as a starved poet. He smoked
incessantly, wore cheap shirts that had grayed in wash. Despite his shabby
clothes, he wore expensive shoes and lots of gold jewelry. Mr. Pavlikovsky
thanked him for letting Theo came into his family - in fact, term ‘family’ was
too exaggerated for Xandra’s house.
As fond as his
dad was of Boris, he was constantly trying to divert attention from the fact
that Boris had basically moved into the house with them. It wasn’t difficult as
between the gambling and the drug. Xandra was a bit tougher to negotiate, more
prone to complain about the expense, despite the supply of stolen snack food
Boris contributed to the household. They were drunk together a lot.
He wrote letter to
Hobie in New York, Theo was delighted when a letter arrived -- from none other
than Hobie. Though he knew Pippa was too ill to answer, he wrote a letter for
her in Texas, since most of the letters never sent. He tried to call the
Barbours.
In the late
afternoon, he glared at a very tall man, very tan, very thin, indeterminate age.
He looked partly like rodeo guy with a red cowboy hat. Bobo Silver, looked for
his dad, and left him the message. Larry Decker had forced his son to call his
mother’s lawyer for the check – the money should to be his school pay.
The good thing, he was pleased at how nice his dad was. He had been
taking him out to nice dinners, just the two of them, at least one a week.
Sometimes he invited Boris, but he found himself enjoying more when it was his
father and him. Boris met a girl name Kotku, it was not her real name, Boris adjusted
her name into Polish (Kitty cat). She went to the same school with them. She
was legal adult - eighteen years, older than Boris. The peculiar thing about
the two was how rapidly their relationship had taken on a punchy, irritable
quality.
It was not a time when Xandra normally came home, but her schedule
was erratic sometimes and she had surprised them before. She declared his dad
had a car accident, he died. Several of Xandra’s friends showed up. His dad was
dead when his cigarettes were still on the kitchen corner. He had crashed his
car on the highway. The blood-alcohol news was both surprising. Theo didn’t
want to deal with Social Service or Grandpa Decker, he ran away. He stole Xandra’s
money, pills, and his mother’s jewelry.
At Age 15, Back
to New York (Pippa and Hobie)
He didn’t have any family, he decided back to New York. Popper, the
dog, made him to take bus to New York. He had no one in New York, he sat like a
homeless. He saw and called Mr. Barbour at the street, but with he turned and
threw his hands off. In ideal world, Mr. Barbour would have been the member of
the family he would most have wanted to meet on the street. Boris had texted
him. Theo tried to call him but no one picked up, even Kotku, Boris’s
girlfriend. He was only five blocks from Andy’s. As much he liked Andy, it had
been almost two years. He couldn’t forget the way that Mr. Barbour looked him.
Clearly something had gone wrong badly.
He wasn’t that comfortable at the notion of turning up at Hobie’s
house, since they hadn’t been in touch for a while, his fault, he had just
stopped writing back. It was Pippa, the girl in his dreams in two years, still
tiny. She was dressed like a boy. She recognized his name even she didn’t
recognized him. The friendly surprise on his face was such an astonishment that
he began to cry. Hobie’s hug was strong and parental, and so fierce that make
him cry even harder. Hobie suggested him to call Xandra. She was the last
person in the world he wanted to talk to - especially after he ransacked her
bedroom and stolen her tip money.
He felt sick to read the news about the missing masterpiece art. He
kept hiding the painting. Years passed. Pippa left the house for school,
without her the house deathly quite. He came to her mother’s lawyer for the
check. He had been accepted for the spring term of his early college program. He
had taken six years to finish, and at last he graduated at twenty-one.
Theo (23), an art dealer
On afternoon eight years later after he had left school and gone to
work for Hobie, he heard a familiar voice called out his name. Platt Barbour
called him. The man was in his thirties, bigger than him. He had not aged well,
in the old days he had been the blondest and best-looking of brothers, but he
had been grown thick in jaw. He worked for an academic publisher. He said Andy
was dead five month ago, he and his father drowned. He told everything about
his father. Mr. Barbour was bipolar disorder. He had been in medicine.
Platt invited
him to come see his mother. Mrs. Barbour was so glad to meet him in growing and
handsome form. She spelt the story of Andy before died. Theo shared his own story,
he now dealt with antiques. Theo was kind of person who wasn’t on Facebook for
reasons of paranoia, he more had been worried about the shop.
His years in
Vegas had rendered him unfit for any manner of hard work. He knew what he
wanted. His career as a dealer started about seventeen, when a rare afternoon
Hobie had decided to open the shop. By that time, he had begun to be aware of
Hobie’s financial problems. The trick, he discovered through trial and error,
was to keep at least a quarter of prices low and jack up the rest. He took
great pleasure in rooking. He never open the wrap, he just hid it. He knew that
Theo kept the Goldfinch, and found
his fraud business. The most worry of all was a client named Lucius Reeve. He
had begun in summer to receive a series of troubling letters.
He addicted to
drugs since Xandra’s pills. He bought drugs from the bike messenger, Jerome.
The pills he had stolen from Xandra all those years before had started him on a
bad road. He had been buying them off the street for years; for months.
Pippa, at many
different ages, were daily torment. She was the unbruised part of himself he
had lost his mother. Pippa was with a man who he judged as a kind of loser. Theo
berated himself for not being forceful with her. It wasn’t as if Pippa had led
him on- quite contrary; if she cared anything about him she would have come
home back to New York instead of staying in Europe after school. The memory of
that childhood afternoon had sustained him for years, as if –sick with
loneliness for his mother.
The night of his
dinner at the Barbours in some respects, grievously altered in others, as if the
Ghost of Christmas Past and Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, had joined to host
the evening. But despite the Andy’s absence and everything else so strange and
shrunken the oddest part of evening was his blood-deep, unreasoning sense of
returning home. Mrs. Barbour hadn’t really been interested in talking to anyone
but Theo – Andy, a little, but most about her family’s furniture.
It took him a
pulse or two to recognize an open-faced college kid as Toddy, Andy’s brother. The
last time he saw him when Toddy was eight. It was fascinating to see Andy’s
leukemic wannes in Kitsey, Andy’s sister, remodeled and prettified, the
candyfloss twinkle of a Disney princess. Kitsey and Theo hadn’t talked much,
but almost every time he’d glanced in her direction he’d been aware of her eyes
on him.
He had been
downing by the handful – Oxycontins, strong enough to kill someone without
tolerance. Within two months of a dinner at the Barbours, Kitsey and Theo were
seeing each other practically every day. For the truth of it was: Pippa and he
saw each other maybe twice a year, they e-mailed, and texted, though with no
great regularity, when she was in town they loaned each other books and went to
the movies. They were friends and nothing more. His hopes for a relationship with her were wholly unreal,
whereas his ongoing misery, and frustration, were an all-too-horrible reality.
The other side there was Kitsey that with the amused. They were engaged.
Boris in New York
He couldn’t
contact his drug dealer, Jerome. But he recalled a name of Jerome’s client.
That name was led him to an Eastern European’s bar. In disbelief, he heard a
man called him Potter down the street bar. Boris was taller, face hollower,
long black coat, same old scar over his eye, plus couple of a new one. Boris
introduced him Myriam, his wright-hand. His official business was house
cleaning agency – Polish Cleaning Service. He travelled a lot in Northern
Europe.
After Theo had left,
Boris lived with Xandra for months before she moved to Reno. Xandra was in big
trouble when Theo stole her drugs. Boris’s father had gone back to Australia.
Kotku wasn’t talking to him. Xandra was alone, drinking a lot, afraid to go to
work, no neighbors. Bobo Silver actually wasn’t bad guy, he didn’t go after her
for his father’s debt. Because he wanted to hire him, Boris made up big sad
story told Silver that his mother was Polish Jewish, her family in
concentration camp. Bobo was good and generous, always fair to him.
Boris had taken
the painting. Theo was drunk unconsciously all the time. He climbed the roof
and jumped to the swimming pool. He yelled about everything including the
painting. Boris saved the painting because the Jewish Mafiya like (Bobo Silver)
was clearly coming to his house for money. The painting was wrapped and tied by
Boris.
Every day, he
had multiple occasions to remind himself how lucky he was. Kitsey never tired;
was never unhappy. She was appealing, enthusiastic, affection. There were cash
flow problem in the Barbours, the money was tied up in trust.
Then Boris
filled him with quietly about Horst, a Germany. He was an art lover, a drug
addicted, and an intellectual. His father was part American and load left him
loaded of money. His family business was related to a world-famous industrial
name, with a dark old Nazi echo. Horst was bad junkie and fell in love with a
girl, Ulrika.
The painting was
in Antwerp, Boris and Theo flew to Amsterdam. Boris convinced him his apartment
was in Antwerp. From Antwerp to Amsterdam was only three hours drive. The painting
was stolen by with Ulrika’s brother, Sascha. Horst was right on the money about
the painting. No one was going to buy the painting- black market. Horst even
didn’t notice Sascha had stolen the painting. It wasn’t easy to get the
painting, Theo had shot a man named Martin. He was hiding in a hotel room in
Amsterdam, waiting for Boris. He was so desperate, and drunk all the time. He felt
guilty to Kitsey, Mrs. Barbour, and Hobie.
Finally Boris
showed up with the stack of Euro. He gave the painting to the museum. They got
the reward, Sascha got in jail. The police got to close the case, and insurance
company got its money back.
09 p.m
February 22,
2017
Sekapur Sirih
Predikat
Pemenang Pulitzer pada sampul muka novel ini berhasil mencuri perhatian, plus
paparan sinopsis pada bagian belakang. Beberapa tahun silam, saya sudah pernah
membaca sekilas tentang novelis Donna Tarrt pada sebuah majalah, hanya saja
ketika itu kurang memberi perhatian. Karena disebut pemenang Pulitzer tentu
saja harapan sudah tinggi, awalnya kecewa. Lembaran halaman di permulaan
terlalu banyak kata pengulangan cukup melelahkan, tetapi semakin lama dibaca,
semakin menikmati dan tenggelam dalam keindahan kalimat-kalimatnya, cerdas, serta elegan.
Cerita
dinarasikan oleh Theo Decker, ini adalah curahan kisahnya sejak berusia tiga
belas tahun hingga dua puluh tujuh tahun. Halaman awal menarik, tetapi di lima bab
terakhir rasanya seperti hambar. Novel ini tergolong panjang, ditulis 962
halaman, diterbitkan Back Bay Books, 2013.
Cerita ini
sangat ril, realistis, sangat dekat dengan kehidupan sesosok individu. Kehidupan
tidak selalu mulus seperti yang diinginkan. Bukan bertumpu masalah lukisan the Goldfinch
(lukisan burung kecil) karya masterpis Carel Fabritius pelukis tersohor
asal Belanda, cerita lebih kepada detail kehidupan sosok Theo Decker,
mewakili insan, perjalanan kehidupan yang dijalaninya selalu dibayangi awan
hitam, memang kehidupan banyak tidak selalu seperti yang kita rencanakan atau
citakan.
Perkembangan
karakter lambat tetapi detail membuat kita bisa belajar teknik penulisan. Kekuatan
cerita sepertinya bukan hal utama yang ditawarkan, pemburu thriler tentu saja
tidak akan puas, mengesampingkan hal itu, novel ini luar biasa bagus dalam
penyampaian, penggambaran tokoh dan tempat, cerita yang diselingi dengan narasi
cerdas dan pengetahuan luas dari berbagai aspek kehidupan.
Dari pelosok
Indonesia, Ukrania, Kanada, pendeskripsian kota Amsterdam yang begitu detail
seolah kita dibawa ke sana dan demikian juga daerah gurun gersang dan panas Las
Vegas dan kota New York sebagai sentra cerita. Pikiran kita seperti
ditenggelamkan dalam cerita itu. Banyak frasa menarik, kalimat yang indah dan
hampir setiap halaman, mungkin itulah factor kuat yang membuat novel ini
menerima Pulitzer.
Dari penuturan
penulis tentang Indonesia dalam karya ini, membuat saya percaya kalau penulis
Tartt telah pernah ke Indonesia atau setidaknya melakukan riset mendalam
tentang Indonesia. Tambang Batu Hijau, kehidupan tokoh Boris selama di
Indonesia, termasuk orang Indonesia yang bermukim di Amsterdam, Belanda. Bagi
peminat tulisan bagus dalam lintas genre tepat menikmati kalimat-kalimat indah
dan frasa dari penulis.
Terjemahan (Ringkasan) dalam Bahasa Indonesia:
Goldfinch, Peraih Penghargaan Pulitzer 2013, karya Donna Tartt
Kisah diawali
dari sebuah kamar hotel di Amsterdam negeri Belanda. Ia mengenang kelembutan,
ketegaran, kasih sayang, keeleganan ibunya yang telah tiada. Umur tiga belas tahun
Theodore sudah harus kehilangan ibunya, orang yang sangat dicintainya, dan selama
ini menghabiskan waktu bersamanya. Ledakan bom di sebuah pameran lukisan di
museum sentral New York telah membunuh wanita itu dan korban-korban lainnya.
Audrey, gadis
belia, datang dari kampung halaman Kansas, merantau ke kota New York menjalani
hidup sebagai model. Kegigihannya belajar dan kuliah membuatnya tidak sabar
hanya menjadi seorang model, ia lebih menyukai bekerja di balik layar. Dia bekerja
pada pengerjaan photoshop. Poster-poster karyanya dipampang di tempat umum di
kota New York. Ia pun bertemu ayah Theo, terpesona dengan ketampanan dan mobil
mewah yang menjemputnya. Tanpa alasan jelas ayah Theo menghilang, tanpa pernah
kembali. Setelah sempat dilaporkan ke polisi, sepucuk surat darinya diterima,
mengatakan bahwa dia baik-baik saja. Semenjak itu pula kontak hilang dan tidak
ada tunjangan hidup untuk Theodore, anak satu-satunya.
Theo ikut dalam
pameran itu, ia dan ibunya terpisah. Anak muda itu mencari-cari ibunya, polisi
mengabarinya bahwa ibunya tewas dalam ledakan bersama sejumlah korban lainnya. Sebelum
terjadi ledakan, seorang gadis kecil cantik menarik perhatiannya, sayangnya ia
tidak sempat berkenalan. Setelah terbangun dan sadarkan diri, lelaki tua yang
tengah sekarat memanggil nama gadis itu, Pippa. Lelaki tua itu adalah orang
yang bersama gadis itu. Sebelum meninggal, lelaki tua itu memberikan cincinnya
dan memberi pesan pada kawannya bernama Hobart. Ia juga menyebut kata Hobart
and Backwell. Lelaki itu menyuruh Theo mengambil sebuah lukisan yang terpapar
di antara reruntuhan.
Ia kini tinggal
sendiri di apartemennya, ayahnya entah di mana. Pihak dinas sosial pun menawari
orang tua asuh sementara sebelum menemukan ayahnya. Theo lebih memilih tinggal
di rumah sahabatnya Andy. Kedua ibu mereka juga berteman, kedua anak itu juga
telah berteman sejak kecil. Kakek-nenek dari pihak ibunya sudah meninggal, ia
tidak sempat menegnal mereka. Ibunya juga jarang membicarakan keluarganya. Ia
hanya bertemu dua kali dengan kakeknya dari ayahnya. Nenek tiri dan kakeknya
tinggal di daerah lain. Itupun kakeknya sudah sakit. Pihak dinas sosial
akhirnya mendapati ayah Theo dengan kehidupan yang tidak jelas dan dililit
hutang.
Theo mencari
tahu alamat Hobart dan Blackweel sebuah usaha barang antik dan toko furnitur.
Ia mengembalikan cincin Blackwell, akhirnya ia dan Hobie berteman, apalagi
gadis yang disukainya Pippa tinggal di sana. Namun gadis itu sedang sakit parah
akibat ledakan bom itu. Pippa pun tidak ingat padanya.
Jantungnya
berdegup kencang ketika membaca berita lukisan Golfinch dinyatakan hilang dalam
ledakan bom itu. Adapula media yang memercayai jika lukisan itu sudah musnah dalam ledakan. Polisi pun mengeluarkan hasil penyelidikan jikalau pelaku ledakan bom itu
dilakukan oleh ekstrimis.
Goldfinch (1654)
dipercaya menjadi karya terakhir dari pelukis ternama pada masanya dan tetap tersohor
hingga kini. Carel Fabritius adalah murid Rembrandt pelukis Belanda, Carel
terbunuh mengenaskan akibat ledakan dari ekstrimis menghancurkan karyanya dan juga
menewaskan banyak orang. Banyak lukisannya hilang atau musnah namun Goldfinch
selamat hingga kini. Walau lukisan sederhana yakni menggambarkan burung kecil akan tetapi Goldfinch menjadi masterpis dunia seni hingga kini.
Sejak kecil Theo
sudah terbiasa bermain dan bahkan menginap di rumah kawannya Andy. Keluarga
kaya itu tidak keberatan dengan kehadiran Theo. Tetapi baginya sebuah siksaan
tinggal bersama keluarga Barbour. Ayahnya pun muncul suatu saat bersama seorang
wanita berpenampilan norak menjemputnya. Setelah mengosongkan aparteman sewa
mereka, Theo diajak ke Las Vegas, dimana ayahnya tinggal bersama Xandra
kekasihnya.
Dua Tahun di Las Vegas
Dulu ayahnya
seorang aktor film, peran pembantu, pada dua serial TV. Theo tidak pernah tahu
pekerjaan ayahnya yang jelas. Tinggal di Las Vegas daerah yang tandus dan gurun
sangat berbeda dengan New York. Dia pun bertemu dengan Boris, teman satu
sekolah dengannya, hanya berbeda usia satu tahun. Boris penampilannya seperti
anak pengemis di pingiran jalan kota besar, apalagi ditambah bekas luka atau
cakaran di mukanya. Dia seperti anak liar dan tak terurus. Ibunya yang pemabuk,
jatuh dari jendela dan meninggal. Ayahnya adalah pekerja tambang. Mereka berdua
kerap berpindah negara dari Rusia, Ukrania, Papua Nugini, Indonesia, Australia
dan Kanada. Tetapi yang paling sering mereka tinggali Rusia, Ukrania, dan
Australia.
Boris banyak
bercerita tentang kehidupannya di negara-negara tersebut. Dia sangat ingin
kembali ke Indonesia, bahkan ia pernah pindah agama menjadi seorang Muslim. Tetapi
ia sudah meninggalkannya. Sementara, Theo seorang anak kota New York yang
berbudaya, sopan, dan tidak terbiasa dengan kekerasan dan hidup keras. Keduanya
pun berteman akrab dan bahkan bisa dibilang Boris sudah tinggal di rumahnya.
Boris sering dipukuli ayahnya yang kasar dan pemabuk. Ayah Theo tidak keberatan
Boris tinggal di rumah, hanya saja Xandra kadang mengeluh, tidak mungkin
membiayai Boris, tapi Xandra terkadang lupa
keluhannya, karena Boris sering membawa makanan hasil curiannya ke rumah.
Hanya beberapa
minggu tinggal di Vegas, Theo bisa dengan jelas menyimpulkan profesi ayahnya, sebagai penjudi, dan Xandra
bekerja di bar. Ayahnya dengan mobil mewah dan Xandra dengan uang banyak. Boris
pun curiga Xandra tidak hanya pakai Narkoba tapi pengedar juga. Mereka kerap
mencuri minuman keras, dan memakai narkoba Xandra. Keduanya pun mabuk-mabukan
bersama dan menikmati hari-hari di gurun, yang sepi. Xandra tidak memilki
tetangga, hanya rumah-rumah kosong. Banyak
juga hal indah yang dikenangnya, ketika ayahnya mengajaknya makan malam di
luar. Saat ayahnya banyak uang ia juga disuruh membuka tabungan untung
pendidikannya kelak. Menurut Boris, ayahnya dan Xandra itu baik.
Theo sangat
terhibur berteman dengan Boris. Karena tampilan baju New York-nya dan kaca matanya,
Boris memanggilnya Potter (tokoh Harry Potter). Anak-anak di sekolahnya beragam
kewarganegaraan. Orang tua mereka para eksekutif yang mengelola beragam usaha
dan tempat hiburan di Las Vegas, tetapi ada juga kelompok anak yang tidak
percaya diri dan pemalu karena orang tuanya bekerja sebagai buruh kasar, pembersih, atau supir.
Tidak biasanya
Xandra pulang kerja begitu awal. Dalam kesedihan, ia memberitahu kabar buruk, Larry
Decker, ayah Theo, telah meninggal dalam kecelakaan tunggal di jalan raya. Ia menyetir
dalam keadaan mabuk. Padahal seminggu sebelumnya, ia sempat memukul Theo dan
memaksa anaknya menelepon pengacara mendiang ibunya untuk mencairkan uangnya.
Larry terlilit hutang banyak. Hingga suatu sore seorang pria mendatangi
rumahmya. Bobo Silver, mafia Jahudi begitu kata Boris.
Theo tidak mau
berurusan dengan pekerja sosial, dia pun melarikan diri dengan mencuri uang
tabungan Xandra dan pilnya, dan membawa Popper anjing kesayangannya. Ia naik
bus hingga di New York dan tidak lupa membawa lukisannya.
Kembali New York
Sesampai di New
York, ia dalam kebingungan harus kemana; ia malu kembali ke keluarga Barbour
dan malu juga pada Hobie karena suara terakhir Hobie tidak pernah dibalasnya. Ketika
sedang duduk di pinggir jalan, ia sempat melihat Tn. Barbour di jalan,
memanggilnya. Menyedihkan, lelaki kaya itu menepisnya, saat itu Theo memang
terlihat seperti anak pengemis. Semenjak itu ia berusaha melupakan keluarga
Barbour.
Ia pun
memberanikan diri mendatangi Hobie, teman ibunya. Dia diterima dan tinggal di
sana. Ia dan Hobie mendatangi dan meminta pengacara ibunya mencairkan uangnya. Beberapa
tahun kemudian, ia pun kuliah. Setelah lulus, ia lebih memilih profesi dealer benda antik dan seni
seperti Hobie, pekerjaan yang ia geluti sejak usia tujuh belas tahun.
Waktu berlalu. Tanpa
diduga Platt, anak tertua dari Barbour, memanggilnya di jalan. Lelaki berusia
tiga puluhan itu banyak bercerita tentang keluarga Barbour. Theo sangat
terpukul mendengar jika Andy dan Tn. Barbour telah meninggal dalam kecelakaan berlayar,
hanya setengah tahun yang lalu. Platt pun bercerita jikalau ayahnya memiliki
sifat bipolar, Theo akhirnya sadar memang sesuatu tidak beres dengannya ketika
bertemu di jalan. Ia mengundang Theo makan malam ke rumahnya.
Ia tidak bisa
melupakan Pippa gadis yang dicintainya, ia tidak mau memaksa, ia tahu Pippa
tidak tertarik padanya, tetapi ia tetap menyimpan rasa itu. Hanya beberapa
bulan semenjak makann malam, Theo dan Kitsey, adik perempuan Andy, saling
tertarik. Tidak lama mereka pun bertunangan, dan berencana menikah. Keuangan
keluarga itu sudah mulai merosot dan kehadiran Theo cukup menolong mereka.
Dalam pekerjaan Theo banyak meraup keuntungan dengan melakukan kecurangan dalam
bisnisnya. Uang bukanlah masalah baginya. Masalah terbesarnya adalah seorang
klien yang bernama Lucius Reeve yang mendapati kecurangannya dan kecurigaan
Theo telah menyembunyikan lukisan the
Goldfinch. Lucius membuatnya tidak
tenang.
Boris di New York
Kebiasaan mabuk
dan narkobanya makin hari menjadi, Kitsey akhirnya mendapatinya, tetapi ia dengan lihai berhasil
membujuk gadis itu. Pengedar narkoba langganannya tidak bisa dihubungi, dia
terpaksa mencari seorang gadis yang juga
merupakan pemakai juga. Dikabarkan gadis itu sering mengunjungi sebuah bar orang-orang
Eropa Timur. Suara memanggil dirinya Potter, tentu saja hanya Boris.
Kedua sahabat
itu pun melepas rindu dan berbagi cerita. Boris banyak mengakui banyak hal yang
tidak pernah Theo sadari. Kebiasaan buruk Theo memanjat atap kalau sedang mabuk
dan berceloteh apa saja termasuk lukisan itu. Boris ternyata telah mencuri
lukisan itu, Theo memang tidak pernah membuka bungkusan lukisan itu selama ini.
Awalnya Boris ingin menyelamatkan lukisan itu dari Bobo Silver. Ia menyadari
mafia Jahudi Bobo Silver, datang menggeledah rumah, untuk menagih utang ayah
Theo.
Boris juga
tinggal beberapa bulan dengan Xandra setelah kematian ayahnya. Xandra dalam masalah
besar, setelah Theo mencuri uang dan pilnya. Ia didatangi bandar. Yang paling
sedih, Boris juga iba melihat Xandra sendirian, tanpa teman, dan tetangga di
sekitarnya. Bobo Silver tidaklah sejahat yang mereka pikirkan, ia murah hati
dan tidak pernah menagih Xandra. Boris berhasil mengarang cerita, kalau ibunya adalah
Jahudi-Polandia yang keluarganya ikut dalam kamp konsentrasi Nazi. Bobo pun mempekerjakannya.
Ayah Boris telah pulang ke Australia.
Pekerjaan Boris,
ia menyebutnya sebagai ‘Pembersih,’ organisasi orang suruhan untuk membereskan
semua masalah dan ia memiliki anak buah, Boris tidak mau mengakui sebagai anggota mafia. Kendati ia mengaku tidak pernah
membunuh orang, Theo meragukannya. Boris akhirnya mendapati lukisan itu ada di
Antwerp, Boris memiliki apartemen di sana, yang hanya tiga jam berkendara dari
kota Amsterdam.
Theo dan Boris
pun terbang ke Amsterdam. Adalah tidak mudah mendapatkan lukisan itu karena berada
pada tangan lingkaran orang-orang mafia kecil. Akhirnya mereka berhasil
mendapatkannya. Namun Theo dalam ketakutan dan putus asa. Ia berdiam diri dalam
kamar hotel di Amsterdam, ia menembak seseorang. Ia sangat depresi dan ingin bunuh diri, hari-harinya dipenuhi oleh narkoba dan minuman keras,
badannya sakit dan lemah. semua hal buruk yang pernah dilakukannya membayanginya, termasuk rasa bersalah pada Kitsey. Akhirnya Boris menjenguknya dan meyakinkannya bahwa Martin,
lelaki yang ditembak dan terbunuh itu, adalah manusia iblis. Boris menambahkan,
bagi polisi budaya dan intel, Theo adalah pahlawan dengan membunuh anggota
sindikat penyeludup. Lukisan itu dikembalikan ke museum, mereka mendapat hadiah
jutaan Euro, pencurinya telah mendekam di penjara.
Sekembalinya ke
New York Hobie mengetahui segala kebobrokan Theo, kecurangan yang dilakukannya
pada barang antik. Seorang klien Reeve pun membeberkan semua kejahatan Theo. Usaha
mereka bangkrut, Hobie sangat kuatir dengan lilitan hutang yang menumpuk akibat
perbuatannya. Theo pun meminta maaf dan menjelaskan segalanya, tentang Goldfinch, jutaan Euro, sebagai uang
hadiah atas pengembalian lukisan itu. Ia ingin meluruskan banyak segalanya.
