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tashasbooks 's review for:
Portrait of a Thief
by Grace D. Li
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The premise drew me in, but this book surprised me in many ways! It's a novel with the background of a heist, but truly focuses on identity and the self-discovery of what it means to be Chinese American for the main characters as well as art and the cultural impact of colonialism.
We have five people in this heist and the book spends an equal amount of time in all of their perspectives. Will is the leader of the crew and a current student at Harvard studying art history, Irene is his younger sister studying public policy (con-artist), Daniel is the son of an art thief investigator and best friend of Will planning to enter medical school (thief), Alex is working a job at Silicon Valley after leaving MIT (hacker), and Lily is Irene's roommate studying engineering with a penchant for street racing (getaway driver). After Will witnesses a heist at the museum he is working at, he is reached out to by a hidden company that will pay him and his crew $50 million if they are able to steal five zodiac heads that were looted by Western countries two centuries ago.
The underlying theme of this story is identity, and the effects of colonialism and how the West has stolen from China. These characters feel personally motivated to steal the art back because it truly does not belong to Western countries. All of these characters are Chinese American but truly struggle with where they feel they truly belong. Each character's family immigrated to the United States, but many things were different culturally. Lily does not speak Mandarin and her parents fully emigrated to America without teaching her about her cultural roots for example.
There is a heist, but you do have to suspend your belief a little here. They are all college students with no previous experience or knowledge of how to steal from art museums. If anything, I wish the heists went more into depth. I did end up loving the plot twist though and I truly do think this is a book not to be missed. I am excited to see what they'll end up doing at Netflix since this is in development!
We have five people in this heist and the book spends an equal amount of time in all of their perspectives. Will is the leader of the crew and a current student at Harvard studying art history, Irene is his younger sister studying public policy (con-artist), Daniel is the son of an art thief investigator and best friend of Will planning to enter medical school (thief), Alex is working a job at Silicon Valley after leaving MIT (hacker), and Lily is Irene's roommate studying engineering with a penchant for street racing (getaway driver). After Will witnesses a heist at the museum he is working at, he is reached out to by a hidden company that will pay him and his crew $50 million if they are able to steal five zodiac heads that were looted by Western countries two centuries ago.
The underlying theme of this story is identity, and the effects of colonialism and how the West has stolen from China. These characters feel personally motivated to steal the art back because it truly does not belong to Western countries. All of these characters are Chinese American but truly struggle with where they feel they truly belong. Each character's family immigrated to the United States, but many things were different culturally. Lily does not speak Mandarin and her parents fully emigrated to America without teaching her about her cultural roots for example.
There is a heist, but you do have to suspend your belief a little here. They are all college students with no previous experience or knowledge of how to steal from art museums. If anything, I wish the heists went more into depth. I did end up loving the plot twist though and I truly do think this is a book not to be missed. I am excited to see what they'll end up doing at Netflix since this is in development!