Scan barcode
andreaw's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ccaitlinranae's review against another edition
5.0
i’ve never had a book pull me out of a reading slump as quickly and as wonderfully as this. i haven’t finished a book in over a month (quite awhile for me) and even that too me a month to finish on its own. when i say this book took me less than 24 hours to finish- including my time spent at school- i wish i was joking. i finished this 12 hour audiobook in 24 hours. it’s that good. i couldn’t stop thinking about it. i still can’t. my god. read this book. i don’t have anything coherent to say other than this may be one of the best debut novels i’ve ever read. in easy contention for my best book of 2022
jobustitch's review against another edition
2.0
Ugh. Wrap it up already. I didn’t really connect with the male characters and grew to really hate the Will character. He may have come up with the idea for the heists, but he did Jack shit to get them farther. And I snorted every time he mentioned “his crew”. Typical bad leader…takes all the credit but does little of the work.
literarymangos's review against another edition
2.0
DNF 37% — I just couldn’t sit through this book any longer. it got very boring and repetitive ☹️
I really did like the premise, it seemed very interesting !! just wish it was like idk structured differently
I really did like the premise, it seemed very interesting !! just wish it was like idk structured differently
piedanger's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
kat42's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Li had a lot of great ideas for this book, but didn't necessarily execute them that well. I also found the writing to be repetitive, and the characters weren't very distinct. I did really like the ending though.
kaulhilo's review against another edition
2.0
i've spent a majority of today debating what to rate this book. objectively (for me), it lies around a solid 2 stars, which is what i've decided to go with, and yet. there's so much more, and so much well, less, going on here.
portrait of a thief is a story centered around a group of chinese-american college students, their despair at wanting to live up to an idealized legacy, the discrepancies between siblings and strangers, and the paragon you hold to yourself, as opposed to who you really are. all that, added to a (senseless? insane?) plan of bringing back to china, what you think china was owed all along, comes together as potentially one of the more intriguing book synopsis i've ever read.
in so many words, this sounds like an excellent book. it seems interesting and compulsive, the sort of thing you absolutely have to read. and i agree, i think, to an extent: this is a fun book, "relatable" on more than one occasion, especially if you're in university and having an ongoing breakdown (at all hours) about being in university. the dread of "real life", the unknowingness of the future, the anxiety that comes with it; i feel like if this book got anything right, it was this. the stress and the burden of being at the cusp of life, and not knowing what to do with it.
but sadly, that's about it. while i enjoyed the writing, the plot sequence was completely out of tune and all over the place; absolutely nothing in the book made any logical or practical sense. it never felt like the author did any proper required research before writing this book, since just about everything was irrational at best, preposterous at worst. at some points, i found the whole thing so.. ridiculous that no justification i tried made up for whatever was going on.
the characters were so well thought out (if a little plain) and somewhat distinct, but i never felt connected to them, or wanted/cared about rooting for them. and since plot and characters are the two most important factors to me while reading, this book, with however perfect of an origin concept, just sadly fell flat.
portrait of a thief is a story centered around a group of chinese-american college students, their despair at wanting to live up to an idealized legacy, the discrepancies between siblings and strangers, and the paragon you hold to yourself, as opposed to who you really are. all that, added to a (senseless? insane?) plan of bringing back to china, what you think china was owed all along, comes together as potentially one of the more intriguing book synopsis i've ever read.
in so many words, this sounds like an excellent book. it seems interesting and compulsive, the sort of thing you absolutely have to read. and i agree, i think, to an extent: this is a fun book, "relatable" on more than one occasion, especially if you're in university and having an ongoing breakdown (at all hours) about being in university. the dread of "real life", the unknowingness of the future, the anxiety that comes with it; i feel like if this book got anything right, it was this. the stress and the burden of being at the cusp of life, and not knowing what to do with it.
but sadly, that's about it. while i enjoyed the writing, the plot sequence was completely out of tune and all over the place; absolutely nothing in the book made any logical or practical sense. it never felt like the author did any proper required research before writing this book, since just about everything was irrational at best, preposterous at worst. at some points, i found the whole thing so.. ridiculous that no justification i tried made up for whatever was going on.
the characters were so well thought out (if a little plain) and somewhat distinct, but i never felt connected to them, or wanted/cared about rooting for them. and since plot and characters are the two most important factors to me while reading, this book, with however perfect of an origin concept, just sadly fell flat.