Donna Tartt's novel The GOLDFINCH; unique in the annals of art & literature

Nietzsche is quoted in Tartt's coming of age/pseudo philosophical novel: "We have art in order not to die from the truth."   The novel begins with a bang, literally.  Theo Decker & his beloved mother happen to be inside the MET at the moment it gets blown-up.  An unsettling premise for New Yorkers and art lovers alike.  Theo's mother had never seen a great painting until she moved to NYC.  She had  told Theo that great art is "pure bliss, perfect heaven."  She is killed with dozens of others while Theo manages to survive.  Before making his escape from the carnage Theo steals Fabritius masterpiece, The Goldfinch (1654) which also miraculously survived.   Alone & grieving for his mother Theo is seeking  any port in a storm.  He is banded about without affection between the wealthy home of a classmate and his father who had abandoned him.  His destructive father claims Theo purely for his own selfish gains.  As Theo discovers, "none of us ever find enough kindness in the world."  Theo's intervening years between the loss of his mother where "grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping," into becoming a young man, mark an incredible & unpredictable journey.  The only constancy in his life is the stolen work of the yellow finch chained to his perch.  It becomes Theo's talisman; "an invisible bedrock of rightness that reassured me."  The painting had the capacity to make Theo feel "less mortal, less ordinary.  It was sustenance and sun."  I strongly recommend Tartt's latest novel after more than a decade as both a beguiling voyage of self-awareness and for the preponderance of art being vital for the soul.  Theo's response to Nietzsche's truth is "there's no truth beyond illusion."  I agree, "anything we manage to save from history is a miracle."  The masterpiece, The Goldfinch by Fabritius and the novel by Tartt are both preternatural works.