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jadonm 's review for:
Portrait of a Thief
by Grace D. Li
This book is stunning.
I could go on and on about everything I loved in PORTRAIT OF A THIEF - the crisp-yet-elegant prose, the careful attention to detail, the way the unassuming characters take on lives of their own throughout the book. But what struck me the most about this novel was something that's so incredibly hard to get right, and that's the heart.
There is so much heart in this book that it felt personal. Like I was reading a diary entry. Every place, every scene, every setting feels lived-in and unique, in the way only someone who lived somewhere for years could describe. From Houston, my own backyard, to San Francisco, the place I was actually flying to when I started reading this book, everything clicked. And it's so beautiful reading a story from someone that understands the magic of location and all the little bits of a person that come from where they grew up.
And that's the whole point of the story, isn't it? Claiming identity over one's birthplace? Maybe not their original birthplace, as with Will and Irene, but the place where they feel the most connected? I will admit that this was my first time reading from the perspective of Chinese diaspora outside of nonfiction and articles and Twitter threads, but I am once again floored by how incredibly informative and beautiful the world can be when you look at it through someone else's eyes. Books like this are why books should exist in the first place.
Reading PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, for me, felt the same way that the last few months of university did before the so-called real world began. It feels like a beautiful fever dream, a midnight joyride through an empty city, the simple pleasure in knowing you might not get to experience something like this ever again. It's a moment in time that's impossible to describe - you have to live it.
What an incredible debut. I cannot wait to get my hands on a final copy - you'd be missing out if you didn't do the same.
(Thanks to the heist crew over at Penguin/Tiny Reparations for the NetGalley ARC!)
I could go on and on about everything I loved in PORTRAIT OF A THIEF - the crisp-yet-elegant prose, the careful attention to detail, the way the unassuming characters take on lives of their own throughout the book. But what struck me the most about this novel was something that's so incredibly hard to get right, and that's the heart.
There is so much heart in this book that it felt personal. Like I was reading a diary entry. Every place, every scene, every setting feels lived-in and unique, in the way only someone who lived somewhere for years could describe. From Houston, my own backyard, to San Francisco, the place I was actually flying to when I started reading this book, everything clicked. And it's so beautiful reading a story from someone that understands the magic of location and all the little bits of a person that come from where they grew up.
And that's the whole point of the story, isn't it? Claiming identity over one's birthplace? Maybe not their original birthplace, as with Will and Irene, but the place where they feel the most connected? I will admit that this was my first time reading from the perspective of Chinese diaspora outside of nonfiction and articles and Twitter threads, but I am once again floored by how incredibly informative and beautiful the world can be when you look at it through someone else's eyes. Books like this are why books should exist in the first place.
Reading PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, for me, felt the same way that the last few months of university did before the so-called real world began. It feels like a beautiful fever dream, a midnight joyride through an empty city, the simple pleasure in knowing you might not get to experience something like this ever again. It's a moment in time that's impossible to describe - you have to live it.
What an incredible debut. I cannot wait to get my hands on a final copy - you'd be missing out if you didn't do the same.
(Thanks to the heist crew over at Penguin/Tiny Reparations for the NetGalley ARC!)