Book Talk: Running from the Pulitzer

Hello friends,
I have a confession. I have been running from the Pulitzer for a few years.
My book club reads the fiction Pulitzer every year, along with a memoir, non-fiction, and a classic.  A few years ago we changed this slightly, to Pulitzer OR Man Booker.  In 2010, of the ten women in our book club, I was the only one to finish Tinkers by Paul Harding.
The very next year a masterpiece was written, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  I  read reviews, listened to author interviews, and a few online book discussions but had no plans to read it, until it won the Pulitzer. As expected, while wildly creative, I didn't love this one. 
No one was worthy of the prize in 2012, the year of no award.
 
Flash forward to 2014, I have been avoiding The Goldfinch. Having no desire to read this novel I have opted to listen to the audio book clubs discuss it, read reviews, participating from afar.  

Have you read it? Do you recommend it? 

Synopsis: A beautifully written coming-of-age novel with exquisitely drawn characters that follows a grieving boy’s entanglement with a small famous painting that has eluded destruction, a book that stimulates the mind and touches the heart. 
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