Portrait of a Thief

The book was incredible! The character dynamics truly shine and the plot was well thought out. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who reads in general.

"All parents leave their own scars. We're the ones who have to heal from them." — Portrait of a Thief, Grace D. Li.

Fast & Furious meets Ocean Eleven and Drive in Grace D. Li's debut novel, Portrait of a Thief!

I can't believe I finished this book! It's been so long since I wanted to read it, I still remember the day I discovered it through Grace's Instagram when she revealed the cover! But I am so happy Netgalley and Hodder&Soughton allowed me to review it, and I thank them a lot for that!

Portrait of a Thief traces the story of Will Chen who, after being caught in the middle of a heist in the Sackler and one of the thieves gives him a card, is thrust on the road to Beijing, China. His mission is simple: he needs a crew to illegally retrieve the five priceless sculptures that have been stolen from China. With him, there is his sister, Irene Chen, whose beauty gives her everything she wants; Alex Huang, who's not really a hacker nor an engineer; Lily Wu, an experimented race driver; and Daniel Wang, his childhood best friend who's about to enter med school and who's got a particular talent for stealing. Torn between what is right and the questioning of their identity as children of immigrants, the five of them embark on a perilous journey to prove their love for a country they have seldom/never visited and who they really are.

I knew more or less what I was diving into when I started this book and it was without surprise that the story hooked me from the beginning. Every character has their own personality, weaknesses and strengths, and I love how their relationships evolved throughout the story. Love was exposed with all its meanings in this book: love between a sister and a brother; love between a father and his son; love between two students who are lost in their lives; and obviously, love for a nation. I particularly loved this latter point since it is not often that I read it in YA novels. We get to have a glimpse of how each of them came to love a country their roots are not so deep within it. Will and Irene especially epitomise this point: the traditions and values their parents pass them as a heritage made them fall in love with and respect a nation with which they have a particular connection. Lily and Alex connect with it also through their parents and the wounds they brought back with them after immigrating. As for Dan Li, his memory of China is so vivid in his mind as they are closely related to his late mother that he is torn between holding on to those and accepting he is now a child of another nation: the United States.

Portrait of a Thief is thus a story about immigration and how to find an identity when children of immigrants are torn between two nations: China and the US. I believe Grace D. Li really mastered this topic. I also liked the fact that the spectrum of experiences was so large that it didn't reduce the experience of immigration to one narrative. The five protagonists are depicted really conflicted and lost, but the dynamics that happen between them and the heist they organise together clear all these obscured parts in their minds to eventually unravel the responses to their identity crisis.

All this made me change my mind about a few thoughts that I had at the beginning of the novel. Portrait of a Thief is known and pitched as a heist novel, which is not wrong but not completely the right idea behind the novel in my opinion. I could envisage that a few people will be disappointed by it because, in all honesty, many points in the stealing of the traditional pieces would not work in real life. Do I think that's actually the point of the story? Not really. The novel somewhat made me think of Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone in that it was putting a heist/stealing at the forefront of the story without making it be the core of the subject but a pretext to highlight more important themes related to imperialism. Imperialism was the second more important aspect of the story after the identity crisis of the characters.

Do we watch the Fast & Furious or Ocean Eleven movies because they outline realist thefts? I'm not sure. Grace D. Li even keeps mentioning this throughout the story. All of her characters explicitly state that this heist would only end badly because they knew all from the beginning (except Alex maybe) that it wouldn't work. Again, it is said that they aren't professional. And if I was to put myself in their shoes, surely there would be many things I wouldn't have done the same, but I'm sure I would have not known from where to start and what to do. I suspect, however, that some information were omitted in the first drafts of the novel and that Grace D. Li had to add them for the story to make more sense. At least, that's what I felt at some point in my reading.

Generally though, despite the lack of realism concerning the heist, I really enjoyed and loved this story. It is not perfect, but it strikes you deep in the heart. I could somehow relate to all characters and ended up really missing them even before finishing the novel. For all the emotions I felt while reading, I want to encourage Grace by giving this book five stars. She made me fall in love again with some aspects of China and the East-Asian world and cultures (and by culture, of course I am referring to the midnight karaoke sessions between friends). I would encourage everyone to read this book!

Again, thank you so much Netgalley and Hodder&Soughton for the opportunity to review this title! That was a pleasure!

Sharp, slick, and seriously addictive. This is a smart, heart-felt homage to cultural heritage and found family whilst being an easy, pacy read that will keep readers flying through the pages.

I never thought a heist book would be my cup of tea and I've never felt the need to test this hypothesis either.
That is until I read the premise for "Portrait of a Thief'.

This book follows Will, Irene, Alex, Lily and Daniel as they battle with their sense of identity and belonging, their dreams and the dreams of their parents and family, the weight of legacy and the loss of culture and all the other things that being a member of diaspora brings...all while planning to rob the most prestigious museums in the world.

They are as Irene calls them ' International Art Thieves with midterms next week'.

Grace Li is a skilled author (can't believe this is her debut novel and that she is also a medical student?! a bit of a legend me thinks) she builds and develops these characters so well and the depth of insight she brought into the interpersonal relations of a Beijing 5 is more than commendable. This weaving of emotional character building with an action-packed plot was amazing (some of my fave full-throttle moments were to be found in Paris *there is a pun here but it's a spoiler to explain lol).

The underlying message and themes resonated deeply with me as a member of the diaspora (albeit the Nigerian diaspora, not Chinese, though if anyone knows about the Benin statues they would know how deep the resonance might have been), and I felt so much connection with the characters because of it. The diaspora and second-generation immigrant experience are so complex but Li captures so many crucial elements of it so beautifully in this book. That being said this book can resonate with anyone that has ever felt pressure from family expectations, felt a disconnect or feelings of loss or even just ever pondered on what identity really means in relation to themselves.

This book was so entertaining to read and it works so well as a book, but it's also got an innate cinematic aura to it and I am unsurprised that it's already been picked up for a serial by Netflix and I for one cannot wait!!

Big thanks to the publisher for giving me an eArc for review from Netgalley.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Portrait of a Thief tells the story of 5 Chinese American college students that are commissioned to steal back Chinese art in exchange for $50 million.

The story is intriguing and detailed, referencing well known heist films and books. The pace is steady and perfect for the type of story it's telling. It gripped me from the opening page and left that element of excitement and intrigue open through out.

The characters are all fighting some feeling of not being enough, which makes the relatable and loveable to myself. They are all different but facing diaspora in their own way.

The synopsis of this really had me excited and it did not disappoint, with a fantastically thought out twist, leaving you with a feeling of satisfaction as it all comes to an end.

5 stars!

I finished this book about 5 minutes ago and for some reason I think that writing this review while I’m all up in my feels and wiping my tears is the best way to go about it.

I knew I was going to love this book, I knew this book would be good. I just had no idea how much it would hit me, how much of it would feel as if someone had ripped open my head, taken thoughts from my brain, and put them onto paper.

This is a story about a group friends and a group of heists. This is a story about a Chinese-American group of friends trying to reclaim art that had been stolen from China long ago.

But this story is so much more.

It’s about loss and heartbreak and the inherent anxiety that comes with being in your early to mid twenties and having absolutely no idea if the future thats always been carved out for you is what you should be following.

It’s about feeling like you don’t belong anywhere, even when you’re technically meant to belong in multiple places. And yet, nowhere ever feels quite like a home.

It’s about feeling like you’re not good enough. Not good enough to help your family. Not good enough to be an artist. Not good enough to claim the life you’ve always wanted for yourself.

I feel like this is a story everyone should read. But be sure to keep a pack of tissues nearby, in case you’re the emotional type like me.

Exciting, engrossing, page turner. Keeps you involved even if you know it's fiction. This book was definitely a winner for me, thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend to all. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for providing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review. Top marks! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Exploring grief, belonging, and the ways the past and present interlink in poetically gorgeous prose - this is a truly stunning novel.

A brilliant voice and an intensely satisfying plot made this impossible to put down. Crossing everything in the hope a movie adaptation is on the cards.

Portrait of a Thief is a heist story wrapped up in the tale of five Chinese-American students carving their own futures, as they race to try and reclaim sculptures for China. Will Chen is an art history student at Harvard who wants to make a difference. When a powerful Chinese company offers him fifty million dollars to put together a heist crew and steal five sculptures from various galleries, he would do it without the money, just to bring the art back to its creators. He puts together a team, of his sister Irene, who can talk anyone into anything, his best friend Daniel who is applying to med schools, Irene's roommate and street racer Lily, and Alex, an MIT dropout working for Google though she's feeling lost. Together, despite lacking any experience of stealing art, they try to work out how they can get in and, most importantly, get the art back out.

I love heist films and I love stories of university students doing illegal/questionable things, so this book immediately appealed to me. I like how it feels like a literary twist on the heist, more focused on the characters and their often haphazard attempts to pull heists off than being a simple slick display, and I was drawn into the characters' interpersonal relationships, particularly Irene and Alex's dynamic. For a heist story, you saw a lot of the characters' thoughts and motivations, and though as there's five main characters these can sometimes feel a little overemphasised, that still felt fitting with how heist films need obvious dynamics and roles.

The focus on reclaiming art felt like a great frame for the book (though I did expect some comment on the repeated appearance of the Sackler, as another important issue in the art world) and though this kind of book isn't necessarily going to go into great depth about issues in museum and gallery collections, it brings together both interesting social and political questions and reflections on the characters' own senses of self and morality. Importantly, it's also just fun, with a inexpert crew of young twentysomethings doing relatable things like using a Google Doc to plan it. Sure, it's ridiculous, but so are most heist films.

Portrait of a Thief is the trashy literary heist book I didn't know I needed, maybe particularly aimed at people who love both the Ocean's films and The Secret History, but also with a look at cultural imperalism and diaspora. It's not perfect, but I was holding my breath to know what would happen, and I loved the character dynamics. I would not be sad if there was a sequel, either.

How would I describe this book in one sentence? Probably Ocean's 11 meets The Fast and The Furious.

However that would not do this book justice. The novel at first appears to be a crime caper with a group of young people of Chinese heritage looking to 'steal' back items of priceless art which they feel were wrongly stolen from China and were on display in some of Europe's most famous museums.

As a crime caper novel, it really works. Five young people using their unique skills to try to reclaim these pieces of art for their homeland. I was not at all surprised to see that there is a movie in the making and I am sure it will work equally as well as a movie as it did as a book.

However, this book really opened my eyes to something that I knew very little about. Whilst the novel is very entertaining, it also deals with issues such as diaspora, imperialism, identity and casual racism amongst many others.

Definitely worth reading if you like to be educated as well as entertained.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton, Coronet, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

4.5 stars.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. The combination of a traditional heist story and the archetypes we expect alongside the thought-provoking themes of colonialism, and the Chinese diaspora was expertly done. Each of the main characters got enough time for us to get to know them, their reasons for agreeing to the heist, and their own relationship to China as Chinese-Americans. I also particularly enjoyed the tension-filled dynamic between Alex and Irene, as well as Daniel's relationship with his father. The only thing preventing me from giving it 5 stars, is that some of the descriptions (while always beautiful) got a little repetitive at times, at first the descriptions of the sky were charming and evoked the idea of limitless potential and possibilities, but I felt it was a little overdone, particularly as the plot progressed. Other than that, I was incredibly impressed with this book, and can't wait to see what the author does next.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC.)