Portrait of a Thief, like its five protagonists, does an absurd number of things well: it’s an impressively researched heist book that spans three continents (and whose crew is entirely Asian-American!); an incisive commentary on colonialism, art, history, and power; a study in lush, lyrical prose; and an exploration of Chinese-American diaspora that felt, at points, as if the author had peered into my brain and given a name to a sort of liminal, silent reaching I had been struggling to put into words.

But the surprise of this story—the cutting edge, for me (though perhaps this says more about me than it does about the book)—was the characters’ sense of the world breaking open; that their whole lives lie ahead of them; that it isn’t too late to change what might be changed. Portrait of a Thief is as much about hope for the future as it is the scars of the past; as much about what we diaspora kids might ask of the world as much as what our families and communities expect of us. It’s about daring to want, when every day our lives seem to fill with more constraints—and, in imagining the impossible, makes it feel not as out of reach as it first appeared.

A heist story will always be is for me, One of the things I love about this book are that it examines the diaspora and colonialism. Being a person who is a par t of a Diaspora, it's fascinating to see it from the perspective of another Person of Color. The Critique of colonialisn is told through the lens of art theft. The book has short chapters which make it very easy to breeze through.

One of the issues that I had with this book is that I wasn't able to subscribe to the characters motivations, I think you have to suspend disbelief too much to buy in. I also felt like this book needed to be edited better, I looked through the final version and the editing errors were not caught. The writing in this book felt as if the author was trying to say something profound, but the connection wasn't being made.

Ultimately, I loved the premise of this book, but the execution wasn't there for me,

I forgot to leave a review for this, but I really enjoyed it! It's been out for ages, so I won't say much more than I need to for my star rating. <3

Wow! This book was unexpectedly amazing--I'm not usually a thriller or suspense reader, and was not expecting this to grab me in the way it did.

A museum theft sets up a trip to Bejing for 5 college students. They are offered the opportunity of a lifetime -- $50 million in exchange for the return of ancient Chinese artifacts. In a fast-paced heist tale with shades of "Fast and the Furious" and "Oceans 11" plus a little romance thrown in.

While I would say that I enjoyed the book, it was not one of my favorites. The characters were pretty well developed, but I just really didn't care. I just couldn't get into the story of the globe-trotting college kids who speak all the necessary languages and have all the necessary skills to break in high security museums and get away with it. I just couldn't suspend my disbelief long enough to really get attached to the story. It was OK and a pleasant diversion, just not great.



SPOILER -- of course the kids figure out a way to restore the Chinese art to the rightful owner without suffering any repercussions. A big stretch since one of the parents is an FBI expert on stolen art. All's well that ends well, I guess.

I found this book to be quite intriguing. It definitely gave me Italian Job and Ocean's Eleven vibes, but in a younger audience. I love the connection to art and natural belonging that the museums profit from. This was a slow build and took a little bit to differentiate the characters, in my opinion, but overall kept me engaged and wanting to know what more could happen with the whole "heist" attempt with the art that was expected.

Do not compare something to Ocean's Eleven and expect me not to read it!

I love a good heist story!!

I had no idea that this was based on a true story.

This was fast paced and dealt with themes of colonialism and cultural identity. It was a ride!

DNF

Unfortunately I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. Portrait of a thief had been an anticipated release of mine, and I tried my best to get into it. The few chapters I read were continuously repetitive, but the second they started planning the heist on google docs, I had to close the book.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC

I enjoyed the plot and the general concept of this book, which revolves around Chinese-American students who steal repatriated art for the purpose of returning it to the original homeland. However, I felt like the cast of characters was decently crafted but not multifaceted and compelling enough to get truly attached to. This led to an entertaining reading experience, but one that would not stick with me for very long. However, I would be willing to give this author another try as she can execute an interesting premise and has a great writing style. This particular title may not have clicked with me entirely, but I saw a lot within it that I liked.

A very fun and very fast read! Grace D. Li did a great job on this novel. It garned tons of attention and I get it.

This novel was certainly original but for me too much of a stretch of my imagination. Wonderful characters and relationships and well written, but it failed to engage me. I think it’s a generational issue.. a younger audience is probably the best one.

I thought that this had an interesting plot and take on colonialism. I've been wanting to read more books written by POC and it didn't disappoint.

This book was just okay for me. Thanks for the review copy. Felt there should have been more about the heist.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review. I think this book is going to translate really well to the big screen! I think the writing itself could use a little bit more editing and the plot seemed a little all over the place at first but nonetheless, it was a fun read.

Portrait of a Thief is a great introduction into the theft of art and cultural materials that museums have perpetuated for years. The heist of several smart, young people all trying to reclaim their heritage and make money on the side is a compelling story.

My expectations were quite high for this one. Mainly because it was advertised as a heist story, so I thought it would be something like six of crows, or oceans eleven as it was described. I went into it with that mindset, so maybe that's why I wasn't really feeling it. I didn't dislike the story, but I didn't particularly like it either? I think it's just very much a "not for me" kind of book.

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book to review.

I was excited to read about a novel that had the premise of a heist and art. I love the intensity that typically comes with these themes. However, I did not receive that with this book. It felt too low stakes and didn't keep me as invested as I had anticipated.

I am aware we are now headed into novels where modern technology etc are more common in novels however, this added to the low stakes with applications such as Google Docs and Zoom being used. That takes me out of the story because it reminds me of group projects rather than a heist. If there were to be multiple heists in a book, then the book either needed to be longer or turned into a series. There wasn't enough detail for each heist to be invested in the outcome.

However, I did like the different representations that were found within these characters.

The premise and promise of this book feel somewhat undermined by its marketing. Yes, the plot revolves around art heists, but the heists - and even the planning of them - are hardly the main focus of the narrative. There are multiple missed opportunities to create thrilling scenes that would leave readers breathlessly turning pages. However, action scenes are relatively short and segue into character exploration and rumination. After reading this with a mystery book club, most members agreed that it was an enlightening coming of age story more than a mystery or crime novel.

A group of various college students coming together to steal back Chinese art from various museums to place them in their rightful home is a great premise. Each character had their unique skills they could bring to the heist. I wish the book was longer. I would have loved to read more about the characters and how they found themselves later on.

You can tell that the author cares deeply for each of these characters from the way they are written. Their actions and the places they inhabit all feel very stylish and romanticized. It honestly didn't matter if the author was describing the beauty of Harvard in the Autumn or the neon glow of being outside a fast food restaurant past midnight. They found a way to make each setting sound so aesthetically pleasing. This is what really stuck out to me. While the story centers more on the character development than the action of the art heists themselves, I didn't mind. Each of the characters were well-developed enough to keep me invested even though I personally wish the moments of drama within their group would have been pushed a little farther and been a bit "messier." Overall it was interesting to read about their own personal relationships to both China and America and their motivations for participating in the heists. The author never lost sight of these themes throughout the book and I felt like each character's arc concluded in a meaningful way by the end.