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A review by madeline
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
5.0
Will Chen is a senior art history student at Harvard, working in the campus gallery when a theft occurs - a team takes several pieces of Chinese art, and Will, seizing the opportunity, a small jade piece. Days later, he's contacted with an opportunity that would result in the kind of repatriation he'd only been able to dream of: assemble a team to steal back five specific pieces of Chinese art looted two centuries ago, and walk away millions richer. Now Will and his team have a chance to right their pasts and their futures, to return what colonialism stole from their ancestors and create a better life for themselves. But if they're caught, the ramifications are bigger than anything they can imagine.
It's a little dangerous to be as excited about a book as I was about this one, because the let down if they're not as great as you're expecting them to be feels so bad. But the payoff of a highly-anticipated book being even better than you could have imagined is so, so good. The second I read this book's premise, I was hooked, as a lover of art history and someone who works in a cultural heritage field. The conceit alone is great, but Li's prose is incredible and searing and made this read so much more than I could have imagined. The way each character conceptualizes their relationship with China and America, their parents, their heritage - it's nuanced and emotional and wildly good.
I think some people will struggle with the way that the team fumbles through their heists, escaping without what seems like a ton of research and often by the skin of their teeth. But to me, it seemed so perfect - don't you remember what it feels like to be 21 and just a little invincible, just a little smarter than anyone else in the room, just a little desperate to prove to everyone that you're someone, even if you're not quite sure who that someone is? Of course this crew would make it work until they can't, and even then they find a way.
This is an absolutely fantastic debut novel, and one that should be on the TBR of anyone working in cultural heritage. I won't be able to stop thinking about this one for a few days. Thank you Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC!
It's a little dangerous to be as excited about a book as I was about this one, because the let down if they're not as great as you're expecting them to be feels so bad. But the payoff of a highly-anticipated book being even better than you could have imagined is so, so good. The second I read this book's premise, I was hooked, as a lover of art history and someone who works in a cultural heritage field. The conceit alone is great, but Li's prose is incredible and searing and made this read so much more than I could have imagined. The way each character conceptualizes their relationship with China and America, their parents, their heritage - it's nuanced and emotional and wildly good.
I think some people will struggle with the way that the team fumbles through their heists, escaping without what seems like a ton of research and often by the skin of their teeth. But to me, it seemed so perfect - don't you remember what it feels like to be 21 and just a little invincible, just a little smarter than anyone else in the room, just a little desperate to prove to everyone that you're someone, even if you're not quite sure who that someone is? Of course this crew would make it work until they can't, and even then they find a way.
This is an absolutely fantastic debut novel, and one that should be on the TBR of anyone working in cultural heritage. I won't be able to stop thinking about this one for a few days. Thank you Penguin and NetGalley for the ARC!