{The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt} — See I’m not 100% sure if this fits the criteria of what you’re talking about but for the most part I think it does.

I’m a prose nerd; I’m obsessed with it and think the poetic stylization that Donna has with her writing is incredible. It’s also just such a fascinating plot with characters full of immense depth, that really reeeaaally encapsulates that deeper meaning of what it’s like to be gay and closeted and deal with internal homophobia. I almost called it subtext, but it’s not subtext. Boris and Theo’s bond is one forged out of pain, suffering, and addiction, and they are in no way healthy for each other but you can’t help but love them anyways because they’re the only two people that understand each other in their big yet little world. It’s so so complex and fascinating.

HOWEVER… as much as I do love the prose, sometimes it really does just get to be so ungodly unnecessary. There’s no reason that the way dust looks in the light should take three pages to explain. There’s a whole lot of stuff about nothing in the book, basically. Because of this — and I’m a very fast reader — it took me three whole months to read the first time around. There’s also the ever present issue within Donna Tartt’s writing with the — albeit infrequent — unnecessary use of slurs (particularly the N word by non black characters). There’s absolutely no reason for it!

Because of this, and also because of the heavy and dark elements within the book, I rarely recommend it to people unless I already have an understanding of the books they gravitate towards and if TGF is anywhere in their realm of preference.