Reviews with content warning for Grief - Portrait of a Thief

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

38 reviews

keelirae113's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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withlivjones's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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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jennifermreads's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

Picked this up because one of the audiobook narrators is Eunice Wong and I loved her work on Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Her work, as well as Austin Ku’s, was quite good. But they needed some help from a larger cast…

The five-POV characters were so similar in voice, as well as experiencing the same or similar life dilemmas and adjustments, it could be hard to remember who was who. When I would step away from the audiobook for a few days and then come back, it would always take me a chapter or two to clarify between Alex, Irene, and Lily. It was a bit easier with Daniel and Will since they were the only two males—but even those would take a few minutes to settle in my brain as “Will, the ring leader and Harvard art student” and “Daniel, his childhood friend and the pre-med student.”

As far-fetched as it was to believe that a group of college students could be doing these jobs, I enjoyed the heist aspects of the story. I also was quite interested in the political and ethical dilemmas surrounding stolen artistic works displayed in museums outside of the originating country; my mind churned, even when I wasn’t actively reading, about art ownership and responsibilities of museums.

I enjoyed Portrait of a Thief enough that I will read the author’s next offering. My only hope is that the character voices differ enough that, should I listen to the audio, I can more easily distinguish among them.

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hannah_steven's review against another edition

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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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julianfromme's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

+: interesting discussion around the role of colonialism in art / museum history, life as a person of color in the diaspora, compelling romances and tension.
-: not enough heist stuff, irene’s “redemption” did not justify how terribly she treated literally everyone perhaps maybe lily, extremely repetitive writing.
probably going to check out her 2nd novel, though. justice for daniel liang.

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lia_argo's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad 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

3.75

A very warm 3.75 I love the premise but there’s some weakness in the writing around certain character’s relationships not in even direction or dynamic but execution that I will note further later :)

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