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A review by kaulhilo
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
2.0
i've spent a majority of today debating what to rate this book. objectively (for me), it lies around a solid 2 stars, which is what i've decided to go with, and yet. there's so much more, and so much well, less, going on here.
portrait of a thief is a story centered around a group of chinese-american college students, their despair at wanting to live up to an idealized legacy, the discrepancies between siblings and strangers, and the paragon you hold to yourself, as opposed to who you really are. all that, added to a (senseless? insane?) plan of bringing back to china, what you think china was owed all along, comes together as potentially one of the more intriguing book synopsis i've ever read.
in so many words, this sounds like an excellent book. it seems interesting and compulsive, the sort of thing you absolutely have to read. and i agree, i think, to an extent: this is a fun book, "relatable" on more than one occasion, especially if you're in university and having an ongoing breakdown (at all hours) about being in university. the dread of "real life", the unknowingness of the future, the anxiety that comes with it; i feel like if this book got anything right, it was this. the stress and the burden of being at the cusp of life, and not knowing what to do with it.
but sadly, that's about it. while i enjoyed the writing, the plot sequence was completely out of tune and all over the place; absolutely nothing in the book made any logical or practical sense. it never felt like the author did any proper required research before writing this book, since just about everything was irrational at best, preposterous at worst. at some points, i found the whole thing so.. ridiculous that no justification i tried made up for whatever was going on.
the characters were so well thought out (if a little plain) and somewhat distinct, but i never felt connected to them, or wanted/cared about rooting for them. and since plot and characters are the two most important factors to me while reading, this book, with however perfect of an origin concept, just sadly fell flat.
portrait of a thief is a story centered around a group of chinese-american college students, their despair at wanting to live up to an idealized legacy, the discrepancies between siblings and strangers, and the paragon you hold to yourself, as opposed to who you really are. all that, added to a (senseless? insane?) plan of bringing back to china, what you think china was owed all along, comes together as potentially one of the more intriguing book synopsis i've ever read.
in so many words, this sounds like an excellent book. it seems interesting and compulsive, the sort of thing you absolutely have to read. and i agree, i think, to an extent: this is a fun book, "relatable" on more than one occasion, especially if you're in university and having an ongoing breakdown (at all hours) about being in university. the dread of "real life", the unknowingness of the future, the anxiety that comes with it; i feel like if this book got anything right, it was this. the stress and the burden of being at the cusp of life, and not knowing what to do with it.
but sadly, that's about it. while i enjoyed the writing, the plot sequence was completely out of tune and all over the place; absolutely nothing in the book made any logical or practical sense. it never felt like the author did any proper required research before writing this book, since just about everything was irrational at best, preposterous at worst. at some points, i found the whole thing so.. ridiculous that no justification i tried made up for whatever was going on.
the characters were so well thought out (if a little plain) and somewhat distinct, but i never felt connected to them, or wanted/cared about rooting for them. and since plot and characters are the two most important factors to me while reading, this book, with however perfect of an origin concept, just sadly fell flat.