𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖍 - 𝖎𝖘 𝖎𝖙 𝖌𝖆𝖞?

hi everyone! today i wanted to talk about this insane and yet amazing book/movie. i watched The Goldfinch back in September and while i planned on fully finishing the book it’s over 700 pages so i haven’t completely finished the book as a warning that I’m mainly going off of the movie. but i will bring some of the book into it.

while some people and critics didn’t like the movie/book, i found it enjoyable to watch and while the book is very detailed with its word choice it’s perfect for some people! now onto my post...

throughout the book/movie the two main characters Theo and Boris have many relationships with other people. but the main thing people wanna know about is, did they have a relationship?

and i’m here to discuss this!

:warning: drugs will be mentioned, it’s involved a lot in the novel along with a little bit of sexual content. if it’s not your jam this might not be for you :warning:

ᏢᏒᎬᏉᎥᎾus ᏒᎬᏞᎪᏆᎥᎾᏁshᎥᏢs

тнєσ ∂є¢кєя

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🄺🄸🅃🅂🄴🅈 🄱🄰🅁🄱🄾🅄🅁

the main two relationships that Theo is involved in are with two girls. the one is a girl he’d known since childhood and used to live with after his mother died. the two get close when he moves back to New York and get engaged. but it’s revealed that she doesn’t love him and is cheating on him with another childhood friend named Cable. in the movie it’s implied that they don’t get married, and in the book it’s kinda left up about how it went after he left their engagement party.

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🄿🄸🄿🄿🄰

love at first sight for him and Pippa, the two of them met as kids at an art museum and stayed friends for multiple years despite being apart when she moved to Texas to be with her aunt after her uncle died. while it was clear he harbored long term feelings for her the two could never be together. she had a boyfriend and in her own words “they would bring each other down” in a sense that they couldn’t be there for each other. she loved him, he loved her, but they never ended up together.

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ᏢᏒᎬᏉᎥᎾus ᏒᎬᏞᎪᏆᎥᎾᏁshᎥᏢs

вσrís ρανℓιкσνѕку

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🄺🄾🅃🄺🅄

while he was friends with Theo he started dating an older girl, and while him and Theo had become friends when Theo was 13 he was either 13 or 14 at the time. since Kotku wasn’t apart of the movie at all it’s hard to figure out for me how old Boris was when they started dating. but let’s say he was 14 or 15 when they did. the relationship was unhealthy, she constantly cheated on him and sometimes he was abusive to her. but she was considered by Boris to be “one of them” after he mentioned that she would have sex with men and women.

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🄰🅂🅃🅁🄸🄳

they met when Boris was 16 and after a teenage pregnancy they got married. she’s not in the movie and i don’t think other than being mentioned she’s in the book. they have a few kids together and she’s from Sweden, and other than him being married to her she makes no impact on the plot.

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ᎾᏁᏆᎾ ᏆhᎬ mᎪᎥᏁ ᏒᎬᏞᎪᏆᎥᎾᏁshᎥᏢ

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now the main relationship of the book and movie is mainly Pippa and Theo and the one you came to read about Boris and Theo. the two share a very unhealthy drug related relationship where they get high and drink together for fun. the two hit it off as friends when they connect over their abusive fathers and dead mothers. with their lives in ruins they say fuck it and enjoy time together by being teens.

the two shared clothes, slept in the same bed and heavily implied slept together. there was a whole scene in the book about them having sex and that nothing was spoken of it afterward. now, they are underage and it’s not porn, it’s more implied and less graphic with the wording.

”we did crazy things back then. things i think maybe you don’t . no. no!” he said shaking his head, when he saw the look in my face. “Not that. Although i will say, you are the only boy i have ever been in bed with.”

that was a quote from when they met up later as adults, referring back to Chapter 6 where they were a little more than friends with each other...

after Theo’s dad dies he decides to leave his step mom and go back to New York to stay with Hobie who owns an antique shop. he insists that Boris should go with him but the other boy refuses to leave, saying he’ll follow soon. when Theo begins to babble Boris kisses him and runs off. and in the book it’s made clear that Theo loved Boris and that Boris knew even if he didn’t say anything.

Theo leaves and years later the two meet again, Theo saying he took conversational Russian because of Boris who is Ukrainian. they reunite and in the movie at least Boris offers Theo a job working with drugs. after they laugh and talk it’s revealed that Boris did something unforgivable. he stole The Goldfinch.

which is what the whole book is about, a painting Theo took after the art museum he visited with his mom got bombed. when he was drunk one night, Thanksgiving, Theo showed Boris the painting and Boris took it.

he planned to go back and get the painting but ended up using it in drug rings as a pawn. when it got lost he promised to find it for Theo or it would haunt him. after a few scenes with a long downhill streak for Theo and Boris when Theo tries committing suicide after he thinks the painting is gone for good and Boris gets shot and nearly dies trying to get the painting back.

but in the end Boris comes through and gets the painting back, and many more paintings that were stolen. all were returned to another museum, and everything was restored. therefor saving Theo’s life.

their relationship is kinda up to debate whether what they had was love, lust or friendship. but in between the drugs and drinking, it’s easy to see it wasn’t a thoroughly healthy relationship. even if it seemed at the end they might be able to become friends again.

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thanks for reading everyone! i hope you enjoyed and yeah, thanks!

#curatorreview