Donna Tartt’s  Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Goldfinch  (2014)  involves a terrorist incident, a stolen artwork, and a motley cast of con-artists, orphans, and surrogate parents. The Goldfinch is a giant in pages—sprawling, gripping, powerful, and colorful in storytelling— but, the critics opined, a sparrow in style, uneven in substance.  Readers largely disagreed, and the novel flew off the shelves by the thousands. Now the Goldfinch is back, as a 2019 movie. This class will welcome thoughtful debate about the novel, with a focus on the highlights of the reading experience, in contrast to the film. One Monday: December 9, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.