I used to be such  voracious reader, and in some ways I still am, but now through online and social media. An older version of me would probably have devoured Donna Trtt’s novel ‘The Goldfinch,’ but I have to confess I have not read it – the 800 or so page count really felt daunting to me. So here we are with the film version, and I wish I could do one of those side by side comparisons on how the book was treated, but I can only go through a point of view of knowing very little about the story.

And I didn’t mind the film. I am sure it was probably most difficult to translate the text, but I thought John Crowley’s film flowed well, and for the most part told a story that appealed to me. I couldn’t help but see some parallels in my life (moving from New York to Las Vegas, for example) and I thought that for the most part this is one of those New York City stories – I feel like I know and have known these people. As the young Theodore, I was most impressed by Oakes Fegley, who showed great range. Ansel Elgort is wonderful to look at for sure, but I felt Theodore became less interesting once he took over the role. Also, I think I might have liked it even better if the movie had played that interpretation of Theodore and Boris having (romantic) love for each other, but maybe that’s just my Ansel projection. All in all, not as bad as some people say, though admittedly imperfect.