What attracted me to this book was its premise: Chinese Americans plotting a heist to take back stolen art. It was a story that immediately had me invested. The future is bright for them but there is more that they want. The five characters each explore their place in the diaspora and what this heist means to them on a personal level.

Early on, I enjoyed the voice in the writing style. The book is very character driven, each member getting their own pov chapters and impacted my attachment to the characters varied as the story went on. Ultimately, Daniel became my favorite.

The book began to lose me when the heist became a smaller focal point of the story, replaced with repetitive internal monologues on diaspora and how returning the art to China will give them purpose. The lack of awareness in the characters' privilege became apparent. It was difficult to continue reading knowing that this is where the perspective was and would not progress further.

By the end, I was saddened how little of the heist was featured but happy the characters found resolution. It is a story about being of the Chinese diaspora, finding one's self, wanting more than what is known and the friendship developed along the way.

i was incredibly excited for this book but i found that like most heist books it didn’t quite do the complicated plot justice. the heist wasn’t as well executed as i has hoped in terms of writing and i cannot speak on how the cultural aspects factored in so i will remain silent on that. the plot is intriguing even when not at its most engaging which is a very hard thing to accomplish. i cannot say the characters and i connected which i feel dragged the book down a little. overall i would give it a read anyways but i would say it’s your average heist book and with average expectations it could be a great read.

This book started off interesting and I thought I would really enjoy it. But it quickly got to be problematic in many areas. I didn’t engage with the main characters and they weren’t very likable. The heist seemed pretty unconvincing and far fetched. The theme of diaspora is not one that I am familiar with and it was interesting to read about . This book just in general was a little bizarre for me.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A child of immigrants who majored in art, parts of this book were like direct windows into my angsty soul. I loved how Li was able to capture so many different viewpoints of being a first+ generation American, from Lily's initial apathy towards her parents' background to Daniel torn between two countries. I found the story engaging, and loved the relationships between each of the five main characters. I was particularly a fan of the excerpts where Will spoke about the pressures weighing on him as the oldest son of the oldest son, and felt those were handled very well.

Where the book fell a tiny bit short for me was the writing style; I'm such a stickler when it comes to multiple POV books, and this unfortunately (for me) fell into the case where the voices between the characters were not quite differentiated enough. So it always felt like I was in fact reading the same author, where I think the best cases genuinely put you in different peoples' heads. That being said, I still enjoyed the characters. Also, there were certain lines, words, or phrases that were consistently repeated throughout the book in a way that didn't necessarily feel natural to me, and it started to bug me after a while.

I'd definitely recommend this book to any fans of art history, Chinese history, heist movies, or the good ole fashioned USA Network hit White Collar.

Come for the heists, stay for the commentary on diaspora and imperialism. The author could have let herself get bogged down in precise details about how the heists go down, but she resists that temptation in favor of reflections on family, duty, and the costs of building a new life either as an immigrant of the child of immigrants. Each character offers different perspectives on longing and belonging. A satisfying read.

While the premise of this book was especially compelling, there was something about it that didn’t exactly resonate with me. I appreciate receiving an ARC of this book because it was my most anticipated read of the year. I felt the characters and their motivation wasn’t exactly fleshed out. I think this was an ambitious undertaking and I would love to see this as a tv show or movie but I feel like the storytelling has fallen a little short.

In Grace D. Li's debut novel, 5 Chinese American college students get wrapped up in a global art heist with the intention of returning stolen Chinese pieces to their homeland to right a few of the wrongs of modern colonialism. Written with copious descriptions of the sky, and lots of sentences that follow the sentence structure, "Paris was all_____", "the lounge was all_______", etc., I had trouble getting past the repetitiveness to fully be able to appreciate what she wanted and was trying so hard to say. The pressures the characters felt of being children of immigrants to be better than the best, to attend the best schools, have the best jobs, and to bring pride to the family permeated throughout the book. The history of the art and artifacts and the places from which they were stolen was interesting, but was overshadowed by the utter unbelievability of them being ushered out by inexperienced young adults who really had no idea what they were doing, but were merely figuring out along the way via Google docs and Zoom calls as they went. I'm not sure how prevalent street racing is in Durham, NC, but one of our main characters was apparently the champion and could race with the best of them all over the world, without even knowing the streets. With heist novels, there always has to be a suspension of disbelief to enjoy it, but this one was simply asking too much of the reader. The author is clearly talented and with the right editor will be able to reign in her writing to really wow an audience. Portrait of a Thief is just not quite there yet. Looking forward to seeing what Netflix will do with this storyline and these characters!

I truly hope this book is a book of the month pick, or is a book club choice. It’s amazing. Obviously by looking at the cover and and reading the synopsis I had high hopes, and I am happy to report it exceeded them. At that ending! I will be thinking about this one for a while.

Marketed as "Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell," I was excited for this smart and tense heist thriller with a deep look into family ties. And that is exactly what it was, minus the "thriller" part. I was never quite hooked or felt like I needed to keep turning the pages in order to find out what would happen next in terms of the heist action. But that was ok - I was turning the pages for other reasons. I adored the relationships among the five main characters - Will, Irene, Lily, Alex, and Daniel - who each bring a unique skill to the crew who begin to steal back priceless Chinese artifacts from Western museums. I also loved this premise and exploration of art as power and the deeply interconnected webs of heritage and history and country. My only problem was the voice. All five characters sounded exactly the same. They each had very different family situations, issues to contend with, and connections to China, but somehow their voices all sounded exactly the same on the page. Their internal monologues could have been copied and pasted. This really bothered me throughout the entire book and if not for such an enticing premise I would rate this lower.

This heist book drew me right in it was so well written so tense,This is a book that kept me turning te pages late into the night .Will be recommending.#netgalley #dutton

I enjoyed this heist story, especially the Chinese historical aspects which was great learning. However I do think this book could’ve been cut down quite a bit. Would recommend for someone looking for an exploration of Chinese American college students reclaiming their history through art - I would definitely not recommend to someone looking for a thriller though. Very slow paced and holes in explanations of the heists.

Portrait of a Thief is a fantastic novel that examines themes of family, identity, and diaspora set amongst a glimmering backdrop of art heists, fast cars, and heart wrenching relationships.

While a bit slow at the beginning, the last 70% of the book is so utterly compelling I could not put it down. It was an honor to have my eyes on this a few months before publication, and I will be hawking it at everyone browsing the YA section at my bookstore.

I would liken it to a magical combination of The Inheritance Games and Six of Crows. Please do yourself a favor and snag this book when it comes out.

When I first read about this book when it was announced, I thought "This book has been written for me" - a heist-loving, fan of art history, child of the Asian diaspora who is constantly torn about identity - and waited for it so impatiently. It turned out differently than I expected: more of a contemporary novel than a mystery/crime novel, thoughtful and pensive more than action-driven. I wished for more action and plot, and for the book to fully embrace the genre, but I still appreciated that it didn't forget they were amateurs trying to do something insane and unrealistic. I do think this might play out better on screen - perhaps it'll balance out the plot and the internal elements better, and I couldn't help but miss truly seeing the visuals of a heist. Some of the writing is really lovely and the analysis and themes are intriguing, and while I agree with other reviewers that it got a bit repetitive, I really look forward to what Li writes next.

I devoured this book in under a day. The writing is luscious, full of lines that made me set my iPad down and rage that I hadn’t thought of them first, characters who i grew to love (I’m partial to Daniel and Irene), and, underlying it all, what it means to claim what is yours through the means that it was taken from you. I am a sucker for stories about the liminal space that first generation immigrants occupy, about how souls can straddle borders too, and I loved how each of the characters grappled with their shared experience differently. And of course. This book is marketed to be about museum heists, but it is the time between the heists where the heart of the novel lies, the weight of what the characters have to lose, what their motives are, and what they want for themselves outside of it. I can’t wait to see this one play out on screen.

Portrait of a Thief is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of novel. It’s the sort of story that can only be told by someone who understands what it is like to be Asian-American, what it is like to be Chinese, what it is like to see your culture stolen and taken and shown off. 5 characters, full of nuance and complexity, undertake a heist to return stolen Chinese art to China. A simple concept in theory, a deeper one in practice.

Grace D. Li constructs sentences that grasp your hand, your heart, your soul, and never let it go. Clearly, so many pieces of this story are taken from her own perspective. I’m not Asian-American, nor Chinese. Yet, I am a POC and the critiquing of Western colonialism hit me hard. For so many people, countless individuals, this story will ring true to its very core.

“Who could determine what counted as theft when museums and countries and civilizations saw the spoils of conquest as rightfully earned?”

I have never quite delved into the truth that is this: much of the art in the West has been stolen, and what does that mean for those from who it has been stolen? However, Grace D. Li handles that topic with so much grace (pun unintended) and thoughtful monologues. Every character has to grapple with discovering their own identity and meaning in this world of immigration and diaspora.

As much as I enjoyed the heists themselves…they didn’t quite land for me. I read a lot of fantasy, so I was okay with suspending belief. However, you have to suspend a lot of belief to fully immerse yourself into this narrative where five college students break into highly guarded museums. I think that the heist itself is unbalanced, unmoored, easily breakable. It only serves to support the self-reflective character arcs and the discussions of morals in the art world. If you go into this book expecting a heist worthy of Six of Crows, you will be gravely disappointed. If, however, you read this with the full intention of processing the effects of Western colonialism, I promise that you will be well-pleased.

I know that this review is vague, but I think that this is a story best experienced for oneself. It doesn’t have the strongest narrative, but that can be overlooked in light of its powerful meditation on deeper issues. Thank you so much Penguin Dutton for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! Quotes are subject to change upon final publication.

I was so excited for this, but it did not live up to my expectations. At all.

Logically, it makes no sense. They were literally using Google docs to plan it out and they met over Zoom. I get that they're amateurs, but I just couldn't take them seriously. And why would a multi billion dollar company reach out to college students of all people, to steal something worth millions of dollars. Instead of experienced thieves, who they definitely had access to.

On the actual heist, I thought it was too easy. Everything was really convenient, and I never had the thrill of reading about a heist in action. I think that's mostly because there's nothing at stake. They just wanted money, and that's their only motivation (and that can work, but it didn't make sense in this scenario). The story also picked up really late, in the second half of the book, and "the big thing" never actually happened. I was left wanting more.

The characters weren't interesting. None of them really stood out to me, and they all felt very 2 dimensional. Reading about their relationships with China and their culture could have been so good, but their dreams and wants weren't enough for me to be able to sympathize with them. I did really like reading about Daniel's and his father's relationship though, and how grief affected them differently. I thought that was really well done.

And the dynamic wasn't the best. The author focused more on the romantic relationships (which I thought were totally unnecessary and added nothing to the book) than the group as a whole. Heist books are great foundations for found family and platonic relationships, but I never saw that in this one. I wish that there was more with the group as a whole, and I NEEDED MORE BANTER.

The writing is also quite repetitive. It didn't bother me at the beginning, and I thought it was really nice and lyrical . . . until I realized I had read something very similar multiple times already. I can't count on my hands how many times Lily's warm, summery hair and skin were mentioned, and the California sunset. However, I wasn't really bored throughout this book. I thought the writing was engaging enough, if repetitive.

So yeah. I didn't love this.

I love a good heist story, and this was a stellar example of the genre, and it was also interesting to explore what it's like for the children of immigrants to find their way in the world and deal with family expectations.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tiny Reparation Books for providing a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Had high hopes for this one but it did not hit the mark for me. Kudos to a first time author for publishing a fiction book while in medical school, but for me the story wasnt compelling or believable enough to stay engaged and I had to force myself to finish the book.

I had to suspend disbelief to even accept the premise of hiring a group of college students to pull off international art heists. The group of students were one dimensional, each representing a stereotype. I appreciated the recognition that not all software engineers are hackers and that she has trouble finding her way to contribute....but then somehow she instantly transforms into a hacker and is infiltrating the FBI and musem security systems.

As a middle aged white guy I am definitely not the geo profile for this book and I can completely see how it is appreciated by people who see themselves in the background of some of the players. As someone who was just looking for a good heist tale that happened to be set in Chinese art culture I was pretty disappointed.

One insane heist, 5 unlikely people, and a story inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from western museums. Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell, this was a brilliant story discussing how the history, how the art world, has dealt with the colonization of art as well as discussing issues of diaspora, and the complexity of the Chinese American Identity. Will Chen is a Harvard senior majoring in art history and sometimes an artist.. but what he really yearns for is something more.. and when the opportunity to partake in a heist to reclaim stolen Chinese artwork from Western Museums presents itself... he’s never wanted anything more. The next issue is putting together the perfect crew for the heist.. which consist of Irene Chene, his sister who is a public policy major at duke and the ultimate con woman, Daniel Liang, a thief who is also a premed student and the son of an FBI agent, Lily Wu, the getaway driver, an engineer major who finds herself most at peace when behind the wheel, and Alex Huang, a hacker/MIT drop out turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of this crew has their own motivations and questions that must answer when doing this heists and consequences they will have to ask themselves they are willing to face, but together they just might be able to pull of the ultimate heist, make history, and get away with fifty million dollars. This was an exciting and just all around beautiful story. It had thoughtful commentary on interesting issues, and discussed the issue of diaspora and identity in a way that many of us can relate. Being an Asian-American who grew up with parents who had moved to America to start anew, I could relate to many of the pressures, the guilt, the wants and needs that these characters had. This was honestly just such a great read, I enjoyed how thrilling and fun the heist plans were and the execution of the overall heists, and getting to know each of these characters. Definitely pick it up!!

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton, Tiny Reparations Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

An earnest effort, but this absurdly ambitious, 'The Bling Ring with Asian Americans' debut misses the mark on delivering a cohesive narrative, resulting in a series of self-indulgent melodrama, nonsensical logic, and over-simplification of complex subject matter.

As an oversea Chinese myself (my family immigrated to Canada when I was 12), Grace D. Li has perfectly captured the invisible pressure felt by the children; where the definition of success that's worthy of uprooting an entire family is solely judged in practical means (a recognizable degree or financial stability), rather than individual preference (I was forced to apply only to universities, rather than art school as I wished). Portrait of a Thief absolutely shines when it comes to articulating the personal turmoil of its early-20s characters, from the generational/cultural gap between the children and the parents, to the lack of identity when one is strung between two cultures.

While the inclusion of an art heist is enticing in concept, its execution here simply doesn't work; I was expecting a rompy, tongue-in-cheek narrative — because let's face it, what kind of adult in their right mind would hire inexperienced college kids to steal from international museums? But turns out Portrait of a Thief is absolutely serious about this setup, and Grace D. Li is no crime writer, so instead of maneuver that out-smarts the authority, we get grossly glossed over sections of thing just magically worked out, which defeats the point of reading a heist novel.

I am also conflicted on some of the underlying messages conveyed in Portrait of a Thief, where money is equated to ultimate happiness, and in particular, the idolized view of China. It is never made convincingly clear why these 5 Asian American college students have such a blind devotion to a country they are not fully familiar with; its ambiguity between accomplishing the mission at hand (returning art to its righteous owner), and equating it to general patriotism leaves me a little uncomfortable.

Portrait of a Thief feels like 2 ideas being forced together, resulting in a novel that's neither here or there. I wish I can read an intimate deep dive into the psyche of Asian American young adults, without the half-baked caper nonsense, or a rollercoaster action adventure, without the pretentious sentiment trying to be something poignant. As it stands, Portrait of a Thief shows potential, and I appreciate its representation; maybe younger readers will be able to overlook its superficiality and flaw, but objectively speaking this is neither polished nor enjoyable.