Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
Love me a good heist book! Enjoyed the historical aspects of it as well - aka colonialism and Western imperialism in regards to art and museum artifacts. Shoutout to the Ocean's Eleven references, one of my fav movies.
A cast of characters with shared POVs throughout the novel come together to heist rare Chinese artifacts stolen during the looting of Beijing and now residing in prominent museums across the US and Europe. While the allure of the heist certainly is what draws the group together, the rest of the novel is mainly character-focused rather than plot-driven, as the characters struggle with relationships among themselves and what the heist means to them as Asian Americans. It may have already been said by a lot by reviewers, but this book truly isn't what I was expecting. It's not a thriller or jam-packed with action from start to finish like other typical heist novels, and it is refreshing that it isn't. Rather, the novel is a great meditation on who art actually belongs to and the meaning of homeland.
A heist story told through the eyes of several Chinese-American college students. It started off a little slowly and I felt like some of the characters blurred together quite a bit, but as the book went on I found myself more invested in the heists, but even more so the characters themselves. Although some of their perspectives often felt rather similar, and the plot definitely required the suspension of disbelief at times, ultimately I really enjoyed this one.
It really hit overall but the book was too short with too many characters for any of them to be fully developed.
The plot of this story is that Harvard senior, Will Chen, and four other college students decide to steal five Chinese sculptures from 5 different museums around the world. They are doing this because museums across the world display works of art that are stolen from other countries. Will and his crew want to help change this by stealing the sculptures and giving them back to Beijing and the Old Summer Palace.
What makes this novel worth reading are the themes of repatriation and what it means to be a Chinese-American that Ms Li explores.
What makes this novel worth reading are the themes of repatriation and what it means to be a Chinese-American that Ms Li explores.
Rated 3.5/5
I had such high expectations for this book because who doesn’t love a rag-tag team trying to pull off a heist?
However this is a book where the heist is very much at the backdrop of the story. I did enjoy the exploration of what it’s like being a Chinese-American diaspora kid and the struggle to identify with both cultures. It was interesting to hear about as each character had a different view on things and harboured different feelings about it.
The characters themselves i don’t have any strong feelings towards. I liked Daniel the most as he was the most fleshed out, well rounded character. The others kind of fell a bit flat for me, i don’t think they’re badly written but they didn’t stand out either. Like i say, i don’t harbour any feelings towards them. The relationships (one in particular) didn’t receive much development and therefore seem to come out of nowhere.
The writing style is also quite repetitive and inconsistent at times. I do kind of wish the plot was a little more heavily focused on the heist. The stakes didn’t feel very high, it lacked the excitement and edge of danger that you usually feel with plots like this. I understand though that this wasn’t at the forefront of the novel and the heist managed to do just enough to keep your attention throughout. It just didn’t reach my expectations. I think this is mainly because I went into this book expecting it to be plot driven and it wasn’t. This is very much a character driven story so if you keep that in mind or if you enjoy those kind of books then you will really enjoy portrait of a thief.
Nevertheless, this was still an enjoyable read and a solid debut novel that I’m sure many people will love.
I had such high expectations for this book because who doesn’t love a rag-tag team trying to pull off a heist?
However this is a book where the heist is very much at the backdrop of the story. I did enjoy the exploration of what it’s like being a Chinese-American diaspora kid and the struggle to identify with both cultures. It was interesting to hear about as each character had a different view on things and harboured different feelings about it.
The characters themselves i don’t have any strong feelings towards. I liked Daniel the most as he was the most fleshed out, well rounded character. The others kind of fell a bit flat for me, i don’t think they’re badly written but they didn’t stand out either. Like i say, i don’t harbour any feelings towards them. The relationships (one in particular) didn’t receive much development and therefore seem to come out of nowhere.
The writing style is also quite repetitive and inconsistent at times. I do kind of wish the plot was a little more heavily focused on the heist. The stakes didn’t feel very high, it lacked the excitement and edge of danger that you usually feel with plots like this. I understand though that this wasn’t at the forefront of the novel and the heist managed to do just enough to keep your attention throughout. It just didn’t reach my expectations. I think this is mainly because I went into this book expecting it to be plot driven and it wasn’t. This is very much a character driven story so if you keep that in mind or if you enjoy those kind of books then you will really enjoy portrait of a thief.
Nevertheless, this was still an enjoyable read and a solid debut novel that I’m sure many people will love.
The plot of this book had me thinking it would be an automatic 5 star read. 5 Chinese university students plan a heist to steal Chinese art back from museums around the world that have stolen them? Sort of dark academia with an interesting take on imperialism? It sounded PERFECT.
And it started off perfectly for me. The beginning sounded a lot like a 5-star read... until the book continued on and on and became so frustratingly repetitive. It didn't take long to realize that all the characters are pretty much the same. Yeah, they have their own interests and they major in different subjects... but all of them are Chinese-Americans balancing their Chinese identity with their American ones and all of them come from the same perspective--that this Chinese art must be stolen and rightfully returned.
The number of times I had to hear each of the five main characters talk about the difficulties of being Chinese-American. Not really fitting into either culture. Readers will understand this perspective the first time around, it really did not need to be multiplied by five main characters with very little nuance. Give me a MC who's ashamed of being Chinese-American. Give me a MC who just arrived in America this year and speaks little English. Give me a MC who snitches on the rest of the group because they secretly don't agree that the art should be returned.
There was no variation, so the story got tiring a little quickly.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed it, and will read what the author publishes next, but this one read like a debut novel and I wish someone else could re-write it better.
And it started off perfectly for me. The beginning sounded a lot like a 5-star read... until the book continued on and on and became so frustratingly repetitive. It didn't take long to realize that all the characters are pretty much the same. Yeah, they have their own interests and they major in different subjects... but all of them are Chinese-Americans balancing their Chinese identity with their American ones and all of them come from the same perspective--that this Chinese art must be stolen and rightfully returned.
The number of times I had to hear each of the five main characters talk about the difficulties of being Chinese-American. Not really fitting into either culture. Readers will understand this perspective the first time around, it really did not need to be multiplied by five main characters with very little nuance. Give me a MC who's ashamed of being Chinese-American. Give me a MC who just arrived in America this year and speaks little English. Give me a MC who snitches on the rest of the group because they secretly don't agree that the art should be returned.
There was no variation, so the story got tiring a little quickly.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed it, and will read what the author publishes next, but this one read like a debut novel and I wish someone else could re-write it better.
The themes of the book focus less on the heist, and more on the main characters’ identities as Asian-Americans grappling with Western imperialism. I really enjoy books that are written from multiple characters POV, so this was a treat.
an insane concept made all the more frustrating by characters with confusing motivations and consistently terrible decision making. the author clearly doesn’t know how to describe settings or appearances and overuses the phrase “all clean lines and sharp edges” to the point where i was audibly groaning
other reviews are correct: this is a heist novel that is not about heists at all
other reviews are correct: this is a heist novel that is not about heists at all
i finished it. despite my comments on it i quite liked it. had to get over the fact we wouldn’t be getting action as much as i hoped we would get. truly can’t believe they got off