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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
This had a quick start - a spontaneous heist in the Sackler museum brings together five misfits, all descendants of the Chinese diaspora. Tasked with the impossible heist of reclaiming art from the Old Summer Palace in five different museums all over the world, these college students live out the Ocean’s Eleven dream. The last twenty pages were unnecessary for me, and I found a lot of the narrative repetitive. The heists and drag races were exciting and unexpected, which made this book worthy to add to my collection of notable heist books.
Thank you Dutton for a finished copy in exchange for an honest review!
Thank you Dutton for a finished copy in exchange for an honest review!
Oh we just loveee a heist story. This one had the added benefit of thoughtful characters experiencing this really broad range of how being immigrants/children of immigrant affected their feelings towards America and china both. The author brought up a lot of topical and insightful points but also it was just fun to read. 5 stars
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reading this book was fine. it was so fine. and that’s really all it was- i did read it exclusively when i was extremely tired but essentially i went into it wanting/expecting a high stakes heist book and instead i got a group of college kids with a very strange group dynamic, an implausible plot, and (spoilers) they don’t even do it!!! they get caught so fast ;-; like honestly it was fine, i liked lily and daniel the best, irene and alex’s whole thing was weird and i honestly can’t tell you a single thing about will. i liked the first heist, the plan and the comedown; and since this book focused mostly on the group and their emotional issues rather than the heisting i liked daniel’s whole thing with his dad, it pulled me into his conflict with the heisting. i don’t know what else- i would say i strongly disagree with comparing this to oceans eleven, so please don’t do that anymore lmao
Pick a group of diaspora kids and tell them to do a heist.
That's it.
That's the plot.
In this weird month I've read a few books from Chinese American (and Canadian, speaking of Xiran-Jay Zhao) authors and everyone of them spoke about imperialism, the influence of the west and the damage of imperialism.
This book in particular spoke of art, of stolen art, and of the ways in which you can make western museums give back those ancient pieces.
Grace D. Li has written a book with incredible characters (Lily treasure of my heart) and with a story that one could expect to be fast paced, full of adrenaline. Which isn't. The heists are planned carefully, each part of the story put together with quiet craftsmanship. I think it's a slow book, made to be enjoyed slowly.
It's quite a piece of art this book too.
That's it.
That's the plot.
In this weird month I've read a few books from Chinese American (and Canadian, speaking of Xiran-Jay Zhao) authors and everyone of them spoke about imperialism, the influence of the west and the damage of imperialism.
This book in particular spoke of art, of stolen art, and of the ways in which you can make western museums give back those ancient pieces.
Grace D. Li has written a book with incredible characters (Lily treasure of my heart) and with a story that one could expect to be fast paced, full of adrenaline. Which isn't. The heists are planned carefully, each part of the story put together with quiet craftsmanship. I think it's a slow book, made to be enjoyed slowly.
It's quite a piece of art this book too.
The story itself was good but I wish a few things had been more fleshed-out. The writing style wasn't for me at all unfortunately.
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
Thoroughly enjoyable. Was it a perfect book? No. Did I love every second of it anyway? Yes.
The book never felt like a true heist story, and while I appreciated the fact that each character started with a unique background and relationship with China and what the job meant to them, yet by the midway point everyone kinda started to blend together, and each character boiled down to family/parental pressure, china as this otherworldy place they longed for, and how much they wanted to hang out together. It got really repetitive by Act 3.
adventurous
hopeful
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