This is a heist novel with lots of twists and political undertones. High-stakes set up, a clever cast of characters, international travel, friendship, art history, tight storytelling. This book drew me in from the beginning, centering a cast of Chinese-American college students coming of age between cultures and continents. A wonderful contribution to contemporary literature that engages with nuances of nonviolent direct action. Who controls history? Who owns antiquities? Is breaking the law justified in order to restore past cultural trauma? There are many starting points for book group discussion here. Impressive debut novel!

arc given by netgalley <3

what an incredible novel. portrait of a thief is a love letter to the asian diaspora, to the kids who grew up attached to their homeland by hanging threads and didn't know exactly where they fit in.

the cast of characters felt so real. each one, although made to fit a heist archetype, felt like they were pulled out of this world, each with flaws and doubts and fears. the dynamics between the characters as well were each explored beautifully, with each relationship defined in different ways.

this book was smart and fun and absolutely fantastic. i loved it so, so much.

Portrait of a Thief wastes no time: the story throws you into the deep end of Will Chen's conflicting feelings toward the world surrounding him and invites you to follow Will and the rest of the cast — Irene, Daniel, Lily, and Alex — into a whirlwind of heists to take back precious Chinese artifacts. Though each character represents a different element of the classic heist novel, they also serve as lenses from which Li explores immigration and cultural identity and diaspora. Every character is painfully connected to the heist, whether they wish to be or not.

The novel is moving and real. Laced with humor and glittering with lyrical prose, its struggles are relatable to Asian Americans, and its bold anti-imperial, anti-colonial sentiments are a welcome departure from the Eurocentric literature that often applauds the very same groups Portrait analyzes and exposes. The strong suits of Portrait lie in its characters and relationships — both platonic and romantic. Each character is compelling, and each motivation roots itself in truth. I saw myself reflected entirely too often, and it was so strange and so welcoming that I was blown away.

There were two main points I was shaky on. The characters have strong, bright personalities, but there are some moments where their internal monologues become the same repetitive sentences given over and over again throughout the novel. The writing, too, falls victim to this sense of repetition; it's fine once or twice, but it draws out an eye roll once read them for the fourth or fifth or sixth time. For me, neither of these issues were significant enough to truly take me away from the novel; I was enraptured in the heist story (although it was, I admit, questionably planned and executed) and immediately drawn to the characters so distinct from typical protagonists.

A small disclaimer: Portrait of a Thief is a heist novel, but the heist itself requires a significant suspension of disbelief. These reckless college students are not masterminds, and there are a few moments (Google Docs, really?) where you'll genuinely wonder how they pulled anything off. But I suppose that's just the fun part of fiction.

To wrap-up:

+ Pros:
— lyrical writing
— an interesting and detailed exploration of colonization and imperialism as it relates to art, museums, and broader cultural identity
— a compelling cast of characters with very human problems and motivations

+ Cons:
— the writing, while beautiful, can get repetitive in everything from description to internal dialogue
— the heist itself is not as well-planned as it could be; despite marketing, the novel is much more centered on developing the characters than the heist, though it plays a major role


FINAL RATING: 4.5/5

Genius story, gorgeously written. I will be keeping an eye out for both the adaptation of this novel and the future work from author Grace Li.

I was so happy to recieve an ARC of this book, and it did NOT dissapoint. When you peg something as Oceans Eleven meets The Farewell, the bar for action, good pacing, and a strong story are very high, and Li delivered in ways that were unexpected, but great. I was hooked early, soley because of the description of feelings of each of the characters through their respective journeys of identity and talents. This may not be the heist book you’re looking for- but it is a beautifully done portrayal of self discovery in the modern age, with just enough action and art to make it well rounded.

It was what I needed, I hope it serves the same for you!

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D Li is a fun art heist book. The story focuses on five Chinese-American college students recruited to steal Chinese artwork from western museums and return them to China. The book looks at diaspora and the character’s different relationships with China. The prose was well written, and the characters were interesting and unique. There were times where I felt the book dragged a bit in the middle. It also felt that the ending was a bit too neatly wrapped up, given what had happened. But overall, I found this to be a fun and engaging book that I would recommend!

4.5/5

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D Li will be published on April 5, 2022.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for an eARC of this book.

I'll start with the good stuff;
This author has some really promising moments of prose in here. The pacing was excellent in the first 50 pages, and the first page hooked me right away. The themes of identity, culture, and heritage are examined in detail and represent some of the different ways that children of diasporas feel connected (or disconnected) from their sense of identity and sense of self.

That being said.

The number of times I nearly put this book down never to pick it up again was far too many. I was so excited for the premise, but I was really let down by how repetitive the narrative became.

Every chapter had to begin with what school each character went to, and by the end of the book you shouldn't have to feel compelled to remind the reader that yes, this character does go to Duke. This trend carried on through for much of the story.

All heist stories are at least a little unrealistic, but this got out of hand in some areas. The characters all faced zero consequences for big-time stunts they pull, and don't really experience growth.

TLDR; great premise, lots of potential, repetitive and at points enraging.

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC of this book!
I wasn’t immediately sure what to expect from Grace Li’s Portrait of a Thief. The premise was fascinating, but complex; the issues that the book tackles are nuanced enough that academic tomes could be written on them. Going into Portrait of a Thief, therefore, my first question was “How is Li going to address all of this meaningfully in 400 pages of fiction?”
Overall, it didn’t disappoint. I’m not Chinese-American, so I can’t really comment on how good the representation was; however, I really enjoyed that each of the five protagonists had a different relationship to diaspora, China, and the art itself. It was incredibly well-thought-out and from what I know of my own diaspora, it felt authentic.
The prose of Portrait of a Thief was far more lyrical than I was expecting when I went in. I think the lyricism suits the tone of the novel; it’s all art museums and beautiful people and ancient forgotten grief. The intertwining of the gorgeous prose with the real-world settings was surprisingly stunning, and I think it was one of the novel’s greatest strengths.
Though overall I did love the prose, I think there were times where the descriptions felt repetitive and some paragraphs of description redundant to the plot. I’m docking a half-star because after a few hundred pages of description it began to feel a bit tedious. That being said, the inherent melodrama of a heist did help to keep the story moving. Though I initially wished it had focused more on the mechanics of the heist, I realized after a point that the story was never really about the heist. The heist was just a vessel that allowed Grace Li to explore diaspora, and the way that it affects families, individuals, and generations.
With that in mind, I loved Portrait of a Thief. It was a beautiful book and one that’s going to stick with me for a long while.
4.5 stars.

My review of Portrait of a Thief will be publicly available on March 29, 2022 (exactly one week before publishing) on giareadsbooks.com.

Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: 3 Stars
Spice Rating: 1 Star*
*No explicit/violent scenes of note.

Thank you to Penguin Group Dutton, Tiny Reparations Books, Grace D. Li, and NetGalley for sending me a copy of Portrait of a Thief in exchange for an honest review.

Review:

Portrait of a Thief is an art heist novel that follows five main characters: Will Chen – the leader, Irene Chen – the con(wo)man, Daniel Lian – the thief, Alex Huang – the hacker, and Lily Wu – the getaway driver. This motley crew of characters are tasked with stealing five precious pieces of art from five art museums around the world and returning them to their home, China, where they should’ve been all along. Simple, right? Not even in the slightest.

Li delivers a beautiful and important novel about the lives of five Chinese young adults as they try to find the balance between tradition and modernity, all while attempting one of the greatest art heists of all time. There was so much internal conflict and angst within all the characters that it almost felt like the heist was a secondary plot.

Portrait of a Thief is a character-driven novel, which isn’t always a bad thing, but sort of didn’t work for this specific story. I desperately wanted this book to be a favorite of mine. Grace D. Li is an exquisite writer and Portrait of a Thief is beautifully written. I just felt like it probably would work better as a Netflix series.

While Li’s exposition was expressive and the premise is captivating, I was constantly being pulled out of the story because of the disconnect between myself and the characters. I understood where Li was going with the way she wrote each character, but it didn’t work for me. There’s a saying out there somewhere that when you write a scene, every character needs to have a goal, even if it’s as small as a character needing a pen to write something down. Li’s character’s goals, if they had any, went right over my head.

This wasn’t a bad book, by any means, it just felt a little repetitive and long-winded. The heists themselves were the least interesting aspects of the story, in my opinion. I would have liked less exposition and more dialogue between the characters, who never fully explain their motivations. When reading this novel, I often asked myself, “Why is this character doing or saying that”, and the novel never answered that question for me. I believe Li is an exceptional writer, but this story almost showcased that too much and left little room for anything else to develop.

2.5 stars *wavering rating

This managed to be a book on art heists that was also not at all about art heists. It’s somehow the main plot of the story while also not really being the point of it at all. No, this is a book about diaspora children and how their experiences vary from person to person. It’s about the grief and anger and loss that one experiences when they don’t feel like they fit into either world they’re from. It is not about art heists.

Well, I went into this expecting that, so here we are. This book was so? Like the plot wasn’t even really important, I suppose. I mean, these idiots planned to rob the most high-security museums in the world on a Google Doc. They whatsapp’ed that shit. None of them are even really qualified to do anything. Alex isn’t a professional hacker (something which she states in every single chapter in case you forgot). She’s some chick Will picked up who does machine learning but SOMEHOW she hacks these places. Irene is insufferable and almost gets them caught like 30 times. Will literally doesn’t do a single thing except complain that nobody is taking this seriously. Lily was there. I love Daniel so I won’t even mention him in this but you get my point.

These characters didn’t feel fleshed out enough, and maybe it was the fact that they all got their own POV in a 300-ish page book, but I don’t know them. I know their experiences as diaspora children, which is what I think this book does best. I know how they feel about their identity. I don’t know anything else. I feel like this book could have easily been about less characters and focused more on them as people rather than having a whole crew each with their own very different lives we don’t really get to see.

I don’t know. As a diaspora kid I really understood and sympathized with Daniel, mostly because I relayed to him the most. I felt how he felt and I got his actions. I think the book might have been too ambitious for how short it was and what it was capable of doing with so many characters and experiences.

The premise of this book absolutely intrigued me. A heist? College students? International setting? Yes, please. I loved the twist and turns this novel took and thought the author handled everything beautifully. The multiple POVs weren't at all confusing, which is a feat in and of itself! A terrific debut and I can't wait to read more from this talented author.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my complimentary ARC. All opinions are my own.

Representation matters and as a Chinese American child of first gen parents, I feel so seen. This was more than just a heist read and I appreciated the more serious thoughts this tries to bring up; it’s not fully fleshed out, but I appreciated the thought. Minor quibbles, like why is Alex thinking/speaking in Mandarin when she speaks Cantonese. I will say that the Chen siblings are a bit toxic, but I appreciated their perspective because I definitely know a few people like them and it kept it more real for me.

Thank you so much to Penguin and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book early! It was a book that wasn't really on my radar until they sent me an email offering me to read it and it sounded way too good to pass up. I was going through a third trimester insomnia night and needed something to read that wouldn't wake my husband up. Then the thought hit me to pick this one up and I'm so glad that I did. It gave me the movie "21" vibes. We are following a bunch of college students who form a group to steal back Chinese art that was taken during times of war and give it back to China. When they pull this off they will receive $10 million. It was engaging and fun to read. It brought up a lot of really great points about the world and culture in addition to being an entertaining heist story. My only complaint was because there were so many characters sometimes it felt a little superficial and we didn't fully get to understand their personalities/motives as individuals as much as I would have liked to. Overall I'm so glad that I read this one and I'll have to keep my eye out for more books by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley for this e-ARC for Portrait of a Thief in exchange for an honest review!

When I first read the synopsis for this novel, I was immediately hooked. The premise is that a group of genius Chinese American college students are hired by a powerful Chinese corporation to engage in a heist and steal back precious, priceless Chinese sculptures that had been looted from Beijing long ago. If they succeed, each person would be rewarded $10 million each. If this plot doesn’t spark interest in readers, then I promise the five POV characters are just as intriguing. As an Asian American college student myself, even though I don’t go to an Ivy League, I still could relate to these characters in some way or another, which is something that is important to me when I read books. It’s also always to read about characters my age!

One thing I didn’t expect from this book was the… very direct commentary on current events. I won’t go into detail, to avoid spoilers, but let’s just say I have in mind some things that have impacted the lives of many the past two years. I’m sure you could connect the dots from there. I thought it was so bold of Grace Li to directly reference the real world like this, and be so in-your-face about it. However I think it made sense within the context of the story and the messages found within it about Chinese American identity and the effects of colonialism.

I don’t want to forget to mention that there is in fact a sapphic romance that transpires between two POV characters, which I was pleasantly surprised about and I loved the way it was handled. It didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere. I picked up on it early on but didn’t want to end up being wrong, so I was so happy when it turned out I was right. I hope y’all end up loving their dynamic and development as much as I did!

In terms of constructive criticisms I have for Portrait of a Thief, I kind of feel like things wrapped up at the end a little too nicely. That’s not to say I’m not fine with how things turned out, because I am. I think I just expected more? If that makes sense? I don’t know how to explain without spoiling the story.

Overall, I did enjoy this story. It was a fun ride, with a unique storyline, had interesting characters, and important commentary on identity and colonialism that every reader should be exposed to.

I loved this book! A fast-paced heist(s) book with interesting characters. I lived the jump in perspectives and how concise, but informative each chapter was.

I've linked the vlog I have scheduled to go up closer to the actual release date, but this was definitely one of my favorite reads of 2021. I loved the examination of what it meant for each of our characters trying to find where they belonged; both in relation to their identity in the Chinese diaspora but also just in life. In trying to find what they actually wanted and how that squared with them agreeing to partake in the heist. I loved how the backdrop of the heist forced the characters to examine their life choices and how the actions they were taking were going to impact that, all while still being a fun aspect of the story? Watching them all try and figure out how to get around certain things and then ultimately coming to the realization that maybe there was no getting around getting caught but even in that realization coming up with a way to still get the things that they wanted on their terms and not the terms dictated to them by Wang Yuling. How the author was able to encapsulate so much in a story that never felt like it dragged or needed to be longer save for my own desire to not part with them was truly a masterclass in writing. It's certainly one of my overall favorite debuts and will certainly keep an eye out for whatever they write next.

I absolutely looooooove heist stories. Movies, books. All. The. Heists. Bit, the thing that those stories do that captures me is unravel in a smart and surprising way. This story didn’t work for me at all. These characters were flat and their planning was open and notorious, they didn’t actually do anything that was clever or remotely possible.

I was SO excited to receive an early copy of this book, because it was one of my most anticipated reads of 2022. As soon as I heard about Portrait of a Thief, I was hooked. And I mean, come on, the premise is really amazing.

However, to my great disappointment, I had to DNF this book at the 50% mark. This was one of the worst books I’ve read in 2021. Several times, I set down my Kindle in frustration and would think about how bad this writing was. A few reasons why I really disliked Portrait of a Thief and couldn’t bring myself to waste time finishing it:

-I couldn’t connect to the five main characters at all! I guess I liked Daniel and Alex the best, but the Chens were extremely pretentious. And Lily was so bland. I just couldn’t connect to their voices and I couldn’t bring myself to care about them.

-The actual heist(s) and planning of the heists was insanely lazy. Why were these idiots hired for this complicated, dangerous job? They put all their plans in a Google Doc and met over Zoom??? And the heists themselves happened in the blink of an eye. I could go on and on about how disappointing this aspect was, but I’ll move on…

-Everything felt extremely smooth and convenient. Even when troubles arose, I never felt that the characters were in danger. For a book about heists, the stakes felt really low.

-The writing itself was so repetitive. I felt like I read the same cheesy lines over and over again. The editor of this book definitely needed to catch this and tighten it up, because I was just so bored.

Overall, the premise for Portrait of a Thief is amazing. I loved what the author had to say about reclaiming art and colonialism. The characters exploring their roots and feelings towards China were far more developed than anything regarding a heist. I think comping this to The Farewell is fair, but comping it to Ocean’s 11….not so much.

1/5 stars, even though it breaks my heart. (I will say that the cover is great. 5/5 stars to whoever designed it.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this heist novel. The previous heist books I've read this year were in fantasy universes where, even when things go wrong they really don't so to read one set in a world with real, palpable stakes was nice.

First, without recapping the summary here on Goodreads, just know that Portrait of a Thief definitely gives you the globe traveling heist it promises and it anchors it in some legitimate difficult discussions about identity. Each member of this crew carries their own baggage of what it means to be Chinese, American, or a combination of both. They have to assess their own reasons for wanting those sculptures back and they money that's promised. This book is actually barely about the heists (which are often referred to in past tense to describe how things worked out) and mostly about how each character feels about the heist and each other.

My only con was a con for about half the novel. Tonally, all of our POV characters feel the same. They have different lives, upbringings, skills, but all of them had the same voice for a lot of this. But I think that by the end what felt like similarity was really sort of a uniting force? It helped show that regardless of where they came from and who they are, they all wanted the same thing: for a sense of belonging and rightful acknowledgment of the lingering effects of colonialism in the sake of "art preservation".

Lastly, my biggest pro was the NC references, especially to Cookout. Having been to Duke's campus many times, grown up loving the Fast and Furious movies, and understanding that late-night Cookout is a delicacy, Lily's sections were my absolute favorite and felt like coming home.

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 <i>so incredibly hard</i> 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 <i>clicked</i>. 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 <i>original</i> 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!)