Portrait of a Thief – Grace D. Li
Hardcover | Tiny Reparations Books | April 5, 2022
The Gist
5 college students get hired to steal 5 priceless pieces of Chinese art from 5 museums across the globe for $50 million—and things don’t go according to plan.
Read if you like:
Ocean’s Eleven
The Fast and the Furious
Lupin
Books with multiple points of view
Books that blend genres—in this case literary fiction and thrillers
Fast-paced plots
Books about characters who are trying to find their identity
Verdict: Read It or Watch the Netflix Series
Grace D. Li’s debut novel follows five ambitious college students who get hired to steal back five bronze pieces that were once part of the Summer Palace that are now on display in five western museums. After soon-to-be-college-graduate Will Chen witnesses an art theft, he gets recruited to steal back priceless Zodiac heads. To help him he enlists his younger sister Irene and her roommate Lily, his childhood best friend Daniel, and his ex-girlfriend Alex. The novel swaps back and forth between each of the crew members, giving a cinematic quality. But while the plot is moving quickly, Li doesn’t let it run away. The story is grounded in character and each character acts with agency. At the core of the story are the relationships between the team, as well as their Chinese-American identity and their conflicting desires for the future. The moments where Will, Irene, Daniel, Lily, and Alex are thinking about their heritage and their experiences are what really set Portrait of a Thief apart from being just another heist novel. Although their contemplations don't evolve too much over the course of the novel (and sometimes feel like they’re rehashing the same thoughts over and over), it does ring true as each of these characters wrestle with their place in the world, who they want to be, and, ultimately, whether or not they have the courage to go after what they want.
