On the long novel and Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch
by Gretchen Shirm The type of novels I like best are roughly around three hundred pages. There is something about the shape of narrative of that length of book that I find deeply satisfying. I think it is about the limitation that length imposes upon a writer – the narrative of the book has to be confined to that space, the novelist has to give more thought to what is left out and to silences. Silences, to me, are perhaps the most important thing about a novel. * Silences ask me as a reader to think, to insert myself into…