Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Portrait of a Thief

This was such a fun read, a thrilling heist story that is actually realistic in that it’s messy and the characters (far from professional thieves) don’t know what they’re doing a lot of the time, but that makes the way everything comes together that much more satisfying. I loved the discussions of museums keeping stolen artefacts and of being descendants of immigrants and what the American Dream means to the characters in that context. The characters were all well fleshed out with their own arcs and they worked really well together - I especially loved the tension between Alex and Irene.

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hannah_steven's review

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adventurous reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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elb22's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

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annoyingtwig's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective tense 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

5.0

objectively, this book does not warrant a 5 star rating. the writing style got pretty repetitive after about 2/3 of the book, the characters voices didn’t feel really distinct from one another, and most of the messages were very heavy handed. if i were being objective, i’d probably give this 3.5/5

however, i am not an objective rater. sometimes (most of the time) i rate on vibe. and i’ll be damned if these vibes did not go so hard. despite all my critiques listed i had so much fun reading this book. and the CLIMAX!!! yeah no 5 stars immediately. so excited for the netflix show. i <3 irene chen 🤗

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