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A review by kazuchuu
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
3.0
"'It feels like home shouldn't have to be this complicated.'"
This is one of those books with an absolutely stellar premise, but an execution that falls somewhat flat. My disappointment in it is partly my fault, because I saw the word 'heist' and assumed I was going to read an action-packed novel about a snarky band of thieves that were just the right amount of clever, just the right amount of reckless. The story is actually a more watered-down version of that.
This is a book less about heists and more about the general, vague description of a heist. The break-ins and actual thefts are glossed over with flowery descriptions, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - like I said, my expectations definitely played into my disappointment. But I think it's fair to say that you shouldn't go into this book expecting a Lupin-style heist, because you won't get it.
In fact, I'd say the core of this book is the characters' conflicted feelings about America, about China, and what 'home' means to each one of them. I'm not Chinese, so it's not my place to judge the representation, but as someone in diaspora myself, the themes of belonging and loss resonated with me. Trying to meet everyone's expectations all at once, struggling with what to identify as your own and what not to, the disconnect between your parents' childhood and your own - these are all very real issues that I was quite happy to see in this book. I think it creates an opportunity for important discussions, and it's definitely a bonus that the prose is so beautiful.
Of course, the book also rightfully tackles the issue of Western Imperialism with respect to museums and art, and that's always a topic I'm keen to learn more about. The history of art is impressive and beautiful, but it's also violent, and filled with injustice. Western museums display numerous stolen works and are adamant about keeping them - no matter how many times they are asked to return them. It's a game that's been decided before it was played, and so the idea of a cast of characters venturing to take back what belongs to them really appealed to me.
With that said, there are issues in the novel that I think are fair to bring up. For one, hiring an inexperienced group of college students to pull off near-impossible heists is...not wise, to say the least. Even less so was having these students use platforms like Zoom to plan said heists...I mean, come on. I get that they had a hacker and everything, but Zoom?
Also, as beautiful as the prose is, I really can't deny how repetitive it gets at times. There are many, many sentences in the book that follow a simple template of: "[Character] thought of _____ and _____." Pretty the first few times, but tedious afterward. It made a good chunk of the book drag on, which is partly why it took me so long to finish. It wasn't until the last few chapters that I felt excited about the events, which is not really a good sign. I appreciated the clever twist, though.
All in all, this book is not a bad read, really. Three stars is not a terrible rating. From the reviews, I can see that a good number of people truly enjoyed this, so if it seems like your type of story, you should definitely give it a shot.
3/5
This is one of those books with an absolutely stellar premise, but an execution that falls somewhat flat. My disappointment in it is partly my fault, because I saw the word 'heist' and assumed I was going to read an action-packed novel about a snarky band of thieves that were just the right amount of clever, just the right amount of reckless. The story is actually a more watered-down version of that.
This is a book less about heists and more about the general, vague description of a heist. The break-ins and actual thefts are glossed over with flowery descriptions, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - like I said, my expectations definitely played into my disappointment. But I think it's fair to say that you shouldn't go into this book expecting a Lupin-style heist, because you won't get it.
In fact, I'd say the core of this book is the characters' conflicted feelings about America, about China, and what 'home' means to each one of them. I'm not Chinese, so it's not my place to judge the representation, but as someone in diaspora myself, the themes of belonging and loss resonated with me. Trying to meet everyone's expectations all at once, struggling with what to identify as your own and what not to, the disconnect between your parents' childhood and your own - these are all very real issues that I was quite happy to see in this book. I think it creates an opportunity for important discussions, and it's definitely a bonus that the prose is so beautiful.
Of course, the book also rightfully tackles the issue of Western Imperialism with respect to museums and art, and that's always a topic I'm keen to learn more about. The history of art is impressive and beautiful, but it's also violent, and filled with injustice. Western museums display numerous stolen works and are adamant about keeping them - no matter how many times they are asked to return them. It's a game that's been decided before it was played, and so the idea of a cast of characters venturing to take back what belongs to them really appealed to me.
With that said, there are issues in the novel that I think are fair to bring up. For one, hiring an inexperienced group of college students to pull off near-impossible heists is...not wise, to say the least. Even less so was having these students use platforms like Zoom to plan said heists...I mean, come on. I get that they had a hacker and everything, but Zoom?
Also, as beautiful as the prose is, I really can't deny how repetitive it gets at times. There are many, many sentences in the book that follow a simple template of: "[Character] thought of _____ and _____." Pretty the first few times, but tedious afterward. It made a good chunk of the book drag on, which is partly why it took me so long to finish. It wasn't until the last few chapters that I felt excited about the events, which is not really a good sign. I appreciated the clever twist, though.
All in all, this book is not a bad read, really. Three stars is not a terrible rating. From the reviews, I can see that a good number of people truly enjoyed this, so if it seems like your type of story, you should definitely give it a shot.
3/5