book review portrait of a thief

Skip to Nav
Skip to Main
Skip to Footer

In ‘Portrait of a Thief,’ Chinese American Students Scheme to Steal Back Looted Art

Please try again

Photo of Cantor museum entryway with book cover overlaid

In the early 1800s Lord Elgin, a British ambassador, removed sculptures and other cultural artifacts from Athens’ Parthenon. The items, now known as the Elgin Marbles, were later sold by Elgin to the British crown and currently reside in London’s British Museum. The affair is a centuries-long point of contention between the nations of Greece and England, who have spent the intervening years requesting and denying their return, respectively. Were they looted or rescued—or both? Who do they really belong to? As Grace D. Li writes in her new novel about a fictional art heist, Portrait of a Thief : “What is art but another way of exerting power?”

Li—currently a third year medical student at Stanford University—works as a tour guide at the campus’ Cantor Arts Center. In addition to aiding her book research (“It’s nice to be able to walk around a museum and track things like, ‘where are the security cameras?’”), she credits her experience as a tour guide with helping her to “think about the role of museums in preserving history, and how museums take an active role in the cultivation of what we remember and what we observe.”

Photo of woman with long dark hair in brown sleeveless top under a blooming tree

Portrait of a Thief is her debut novel. It centers on the repatriation of “what the West stole”—12 zodiac statues pilfered from China’s former Old Summer Palace by British and French colonizers during the Second Opium War. Li explains that though it might not be a pivotal event in American history books, the real-life theft is “part of the general body of knowledge” she had growing up as a Chinese American. Li’s parents both came to the U.S. in the 1990s. “That idea of ‘who does art belong to?’ and feeling caught between cultures really spoke to me,” she says, “so I wanted to write about that.”

China is in possession of several of the zodiac statues, but the rest remain missing. Li took this unsolved mystery as inspiration to think through questions of patrimony and ownership. “The zodiac statues are a representation of everything that had been looted from the Old Summer Palace,” she explains, and in her novel, they aren’t missing but displaced in museums around the world. This presents an opportunity for her protagonist Will Chen, who Li describes as the “quintessential, perfect Asian son.” An art history student at Harvard, suave and intelligent Will gets approached by a mysterious Chinese investor who wants him to steal the statues back from the museums. Will quickly assembles a crew of other Chinese Americans and the novel kicks off.

The team fills out heist crew archetypes but in a way that feels natural: Alex Huang is a MIT-trained software programmer who can feasibly parlay her skills into hacking; Will’s sister Irene has the kind of charm and confidence that can “shape the world to her will,” making her the ideal grifter; Lily Wu, whose hobby of street racing has won her many a car, is a natural pick for getaway driver; and Daniel Liang is a steady-handed pre-med student/thief. There’s intergroup tension—some hostile, some romantic—and a lot on the line as this group of 20-somethings essentially agree to sacrifice their futures to correct the past.

Portrait of a Thief is a confident debut for Li, whose writing shows great control at the line level and of the overall narrative. Descriptions are both economic and poetic; the novel keeps a swift pace as the characters crisscross the world, from the American South to the San Francisco Bay Area, to Beijing and Europe. It’s easy to see why Netflix was so quick to nab TV rights for the book.

Horse head sculpture behind glass with people photographing it

Though the novel itself is slick, the characters are, realistically and endearingly, not. They are college students and the author’s knowledge of that (lack of) experience ensures their turn to crime is grippingly unsmooth. It also mirrors Li’s own work on the book. “The part where Will is taking notes while watching Ocean’s Eleven was lifted from my real life experience trying to figure out how these movies structured a heist,” Li explains. Other heist research included the Fast and Furious franchise and a Jackie Chan flick called CZ12 (also about the looted zodiac heads).

In the book, Li refers to Will and Irene’s pursuit of Chinese politics and art in school as them “reaching for the country their parents left behind.” The heist is another reach. With it, they’re working through their own relationship to China as members of its diaspora. Li’s first-hand knowledge of the Chinese American experience helps add authentic texture to their fictional experiences. Alex recalls customers over-enunciating their English when speaking to her immigrant parents, and they are all wrestling with being dutiful sons and daughters to their parents (a concept not unique to, but prominent in Asian families) while living their own lives. Also, since Li wrote much of the book during the pandemic and felt a responsibility to not ignore the way it changed the country, the rise in anti-Asian violence is also referenced as another layer of their families’ experiences in America. In this way the book itself is a reach, from Li, using fiction to imagine a new and more righteous future.

Portrait of a Thief ’s publication comes at a time when many museums in the West are being confronted with questions of ethics; Egypt and India have joined Greece in demanding repatriation of stolen works from Britain. The book embodies the zeitgeist and the spirit of the Toni Cade Bambara quote Li uses to begin its third act: “The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.”

‘Portrait of a Thief’ is out on April 5. Books Inc. Mountain View (317 Castro St.) hosts a launch party with Grace D. Li in person on Tuesday, April 5 at 7pm. Details here .

Thanks for signing up for the newsletter.

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

By doreen sheridan.

I picked up Grace D. Li’s Portrait of a Thief expecting a fast-paced, exciting crime thriller with characters who felt close enough to me in the Asian American immigrant experience to be almost instinctively relatable. What I got instead was a slow burn look into the minds of five relatively privileged Chinese American college students—all around the age of twenty-one—as they grapple round and round with identity, belonging, and moral rectitude, especially as it pertains to cultural heritage.

Will Chen is a Harvard student working part-time at Boston’s Sackler Museum when he witnesses the audacious theft of almost two dozen pieces of Chinese art. One of the thieves slips a business card into his pocket as they’re making a getaway, leading Will, already dissatisfied with what he’s learned about imperialism as an art history major, to contemplate his own complicity in institutional theft hiding behind the mask of cultural education. Worse, the detective in charge of the case reveals subtle nativist tendencies while questioning him:

It might have been a small thing, to be called Chinese instead of Chinese American, to have this detective who spoke in a Boston accent look at him as if this place, this museum, this art didn’t belong to him, but—it didn’t feel like a small thing. Not when he was at Harvard, this place of dreams, and he was so close to everything he had ever wanted. It was his senior year, and the whole world felt on the verge of cracking open. “I’ve told you everything I know,” he said, “and I know my rights. Next time you want to accuse me of something, go through my lawyer.”

After this interaction, he almost impulsively calls the number on the business card. No one answers, but shortly afterward he receives a text containing a link to an Air China reservation under his name for five first-class tickets to Beijing. Knowing that this is an invitation for him to put together a crew, he recruits first his beautiful younger sister Irene, who always gets her way by dint of charm and poise. Next, he contacts a former romantic interest turned friend, software engineer Alex Huang, who’s happy to help him with favors in cyberspace.

Irene points him in the direction of her college roommate Lily Wu, whose penchant for illegal street racing speaks to her craving for thrills. Finally, the siblings recruit their childhood friend Daniel Liang, the son of the FBI’s foremost expert on Chinese art theft. Together, they fly to Beijing, where a monied young socialite offers them fifty million dollars for securing the return of the five fountainheads.

Each member of the crew has their own reasons for agreeing. Daniel nurtures an adolescent resentment towards his dad, born from their shared grief at losing Daniel’s mother. Lily is consumed by a burning, if unformed, desire for escape, while Alex craves a different life from the one expected of her, though like Lily she isn’t quite sure what kind. Will has romantic ideas of China and his own place in history. And complicated, perpetually right Irene has, perhaps, the most burdensome role of all, to keep her impractical older brother out of trouble:

Even though she knew how much he loved art, a part of her had always been waiting for him to realize that his responsibilities were worth more than his dreams. He was the eldest, after all. But if he would not do it—if he would not think of the expectations placed on him from their parents, their grandparents, all those in China who saw them as the American Dream—Irene would. She would do what he wouldn’t, and while she was at it, she would make sure she did it better. Irene Chen had never failed. She could not afford to.

As these five young people cross continents and plan their heists, they unexpectedly build deeper relationships and run up against greater obstacles than they’d ever anticipated. Will they manage to carry out the steals of the century? Or will their names go down in history as cautionary tales against theft, no matter how noble the reasoning?

Ms. Li aims for elegance in her depiction of the psychology of crime and the morality of contemporary art curation. It’s clear that the interior struggles of these five representatives of the Chinese diaspora, whether first- or third-generation American, are more important than the actual thefts themselves, which are carried out about as well as you’d expect by a bunch of young amateurs whose idea of studying crime involves repeatedly watching movies like Ocean’s Eleven and The Fast and the Furious . The plot twist at the end has interesting things to say about colonialism and theft, even if the book overall doesn’t hang together as well as the author likely envisioned it. Perhaps the Netflix series currently in the works will sharpen the material. I’m definitely here for continuing nuanced representation of the multitudes that form the Asian American experience.

Learn More Or Order A Copy

Our Most Anticipated Reads: August 2024

Book review: ladykiller by katharine wood, book review: dog day afternoon by david rosenfelt, book review: one big happy family by jamie day, doreen sheridan.

Tham gia sòng bạc trực tuyến Solarbet ngay bây giờ và nhận 100% tiền thưởng tiền gửi trên SignUp và nhận tín dụng miễn phí khi đăng ký thành công.

Thanks for sharing this review.

Comments are closed.

Read Between the Spines

Portrait of a thief.

Grace D. Li

Quick synopsis.

Five Chinese American college students try to steal priceless works of art from major museums in order to return them to the homeland from which they were pillaged.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief , a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity. History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they’ve cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down. Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they’ve dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted attempt to take back what colonialism has stolen. Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary critique of the lingering effects of colonialism.

Book Review

Portrait of a Thief is a unique debut novel that explores identity, the Chinese diaspora, and the last effects of colonialism through a story of an unlikely, inexperienced group of college students undertaking major art heists.

When it came to reviewing this book, I had a lot to digest. I was excited to read a heist novel that dove into a bit of art history and the continuing colonialism in the art world. However, Grace D. Li clearly meant for Portrait of a Thief to make an impact beyond an entertaining story about a group of friends committing theft.

I found Portrait of a Thief to be a semi-successful, but definitely amusing, attempt of a heist novel. The fact that an incredibly wealthy adult would hire a rag-tag group of college students to rob some of the foremost museums in the world requires some suspension of belief. Details in planning and during the actual events seem to be something the reader is intended to overlook or accept while marveling at the success or failure of the group. While these things did not ultimately bother me too much, I think Portrait of a Thief would have been a more successful if it had been more tongue-in-cheek than it was. Instead, Li writes a novel that takes itself quite seriously and is filled with characters musing about their identities, families, colonialism, and art.

While the plot was compelling and the characters fleshed out, I think Li’s desire to make a statement about diaspora within a heist novel left the book without a cohesive narrative or clear takeaway. Throughout its pages, Portrait of a Thief repetitively mentions grief, longing, and loss, and readers are presumably supposed to connect these to Chinese diaspora and their identities as first or second generation Chinese Americans. The characters all struggle to varying degrees with these emotions and seek healing. But I would argue that Li failed to clearly establish the source of these feelings or their relation to the diaspora. In addition, Li seemingly argues that money equates with ultimate happiness. She also offers an idolized view of China, which I think most people will find at odds with their own perceptions or knowledge.

By the end of Portrait of a Thief, I had grown tired of the repetitious nature of the characters’ personal stories and descriptions. Furthermore, I was left unsatisfied with the lack of connection between the characters’ motivations, feelings, and identities.

Overall, I did enjoy Portrait of a Thief and found it to be an entertaining read. But I think Li lacked clarity about she wanted the book to be – a heist novel or a character study of Chinese American identity and diaspora – and thus, failed to fully execute either. Instead of offering my usual recommendation, I leave it up to you to weigh the pros and cons and decide whether this book is right for you.

Overall Rating

Character development

Portrait of a Thief

RECOMMENDED

Genre Contemporary Fiction

Publication Date April 5, 2022

Storygraph Rating 3.89 stars

Goodreads Rating 3.84 stars

Note: I received an e-galley of this book from the publisher, Tiny Reparations Books. Regardless, I always provide a fair and honest review.

Portrait of a Thief

Embed our reviews widget for this book

Get the Book Marks Bulletin

Email address:

Categories Fiction Fantasy Graphic Novels Historical Horror Literary Literature in Translation Mystery, Crime, & Thriller Poetry Romance Speculative Story Collections Non-Fiction Art Biography Criticism Culture Essays Film & TV Graphic Nonfiction Health History Investigative Journalism Memoir Music Nature Politics Religion Science Social Sciences Sports Technology Travel True Crime

Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Title: Portrait of a Thief
Author: Grace D. Li
Genre: contemporary fiction
Intended audience: young adult
Format read: eARC
Publisher: Tiny Reparations Books
Pub date: April 5, 2022
Content warnings: past parental death
Rating: 4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now.

Will Chen plans to steal them back.

A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago.

His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they’ve cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down.

Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they’ve dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted attempt to take back what colonialism has stolen.

Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary critique of the lingering effects of colonialism.

An image of blue flowers on a white background.

As I believe many readers were and will be, I was initially drawn to Portrait of a Thief because of its status as a heist story. Ever since I first read Heist Society at age 12, I have loved a good heist. But as I was soon to discover, Portrait of a Thief is more than just a witty heist novel. I believe the most accurate description is that it is a quiet, intelligent novel about identity, culture, and, honestly, ethical dilemmas of art.

Portrait of a Thief covers the life of six different college students as they work together to steal back some of the most priceless pieces of Chinese art in the world. Mastermind, hacker, grifter, they are your traditional heist team. Until…they’re not. They don’t really know what they’re doing. And like most college students, they are actually quite self-conscious. They are flooded with fears and self-doubt. They bicker with each other a lot. I think one of the reasons I liked Portrait of a Thief so much is that it is really about young people attempting to find their place in the world. They just happen to be doing so while planning to rob six of the world’s highest security museums.

In each of her characters, Li captured what it feels like to be standing at the precipice to your future, unsure of what your next move should be. Honestly, it is scary and overwhelming, and Li portrays it well. I loved getting to read about each of the characters’ individual journeys. They each had their own distinct perspectives and approaches to the challenges in front of them, which made the book infinitely more interesting to read.

Something I really enjoyed was the way the novel incorporated discussions of diaspora into the characters and the text. Each character approached it from a different perspective, leading to nuanced and interesting discussions. I have never seen a young adult handle diaspora in the way that Portrait of a Thief did, but I think it was high time.

Li creates a satisfying plot and a compelling cast of characters. Her writing successfully captures the many emotions of being a college student, and also manages to create interesting conversations around who art really belongs to. I highly recommend Portrait of a Thief , and I cannot wait to see what Li writes next.

Published by Delaney

View all posts by Delaney

2 thoughts on “ Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li ”

Pingback: April Wrap Up // reading new books – Reading with Delaney
Pingback: Book Highlight: The Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li – The Lily Cafe

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF

by Grace D. Li ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 5, 2022

A compelling portrait of the Chinese diaspora experience that doesn’t quite land as either literary fiction or thriller.

A debut novel calls out institutionalized imperialism in the Western world.

While working at Harvard’s Sackler Museum, Will Chen, a senior majoring in art history, witnesses a robbery of Chinese art. He quickly finds himself caught up in the investigation. The problem: He’s actually running the heist. Will and four other Chinese American college students—Will’s sister and several acquaintances—have been contracted by China’s youngest billionaire, the CEO of a shadowy company called China Poly, to steal five bronze fountainheads from museums around the world and return them to China. These real-life fountainheads were looted from Beijing’s Old Summer Palace by the French and British in 1860 during the Second Opium War. The novel’s title, therefore, refers to not only the idealistic heisters, but also the art museums that knowingly purchased China’s stolen artifacts. If Will and his crew can recover all five pieces, they’ll split a $50 million payout. For each, the payout represents a release from the pressures they associate with Chinese diaspora identity: achieving financial success and making a name for themselves. The characters’ meditations on the loss and hybridity of their identity—never feeling fully at home in China or America—are spot-on. The problem is that these sections gum up the pace of the thriller. Moreover, Li’s characters are so educated, career driven, and emotionally aware that it’s hard to believe they would agree to jeopardize their futures by doing the heist in the first place. While restoring the fountainheads to China is ethically sound, why do they buy into this brawn-before-brain method of retribution? The characters themselves admit that most successful art repatriations have come about by orchestrated public outcry. Their nuanced views of their own lives do not extend to China’s politics or even the fact that they aren’t really working for China but rather for a corporation—China Poly. It’s as if the two are one and the same.

Pub Date: April 5, 2022

ISBN: 978-0-593-18473-8

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Tiny Reparations

Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022

LITERARY FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

Share your opinion of this book

More About This Book

Edgar Award Nominations for 2023 Are Revealed

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

IT STARTS WITH US

by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.

Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION

More by Colleen Hoover

BOOK REVIEW

by Colleen Hoover

SEEN & HEARD

Colleen Hoover Dominated Book Sales in 2022

THE SUMMER PACT

by Emily Giffin ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2024

The time-honored post-breakup trip—“Eat, Shop, Party”—has life-changing results you needn’t believe to enjoy.

The suicide of a friend creates a lifelong bond among three college classmates.

The latest from the author of Something Borrowed opens at the University of Virginia, where four freshmen are about to find the connection that will sustain them through the next four years. They are Lainey, an aspiring actor from California; Tyson, a Black man with law in his future; Summer, a star scholar and varsity athlete; and Hannah, whose conservative Southern mother is going to be very disappointed that she’d rather hang with these three than pledge a sorority. Shortly before their graduation, the unthinkable happens: For reasons no one will ever fully understand, Summer takes her own life. This leads to the eponymous pact: The trio of survivors agree never to take “drastic steps” before reaching out. They are in their early 30s when the first reach-out occurs: Hannah has walked in on her fiance screwing the local Instagram influencer in the bed she just bought for their future marital home. Lainey, now a Hollywood actor on her way up, drops everything and jets in from California to extricate Hannah and exact revenge. Tyson shows up, too, though he has to quit his job and ditch his girlfriend to get there. Once that mess is cleaned up, the three leave on a fantasy getaway on which each gets to pick a stop. The rest of the story unfolds mostly on Capri, always a desirable setting in fiction, where our protagonists hit places like “that beach club [from] TikTok,” La Fontelina. (Do Google it.) Though shocking life changes befall each member of the trio during their Italian sojourn, none are much of a surprise to the reader, who will likely notice the exact moment each plot twist became inevitable. Be quiet and drink your Aperol Spritz.

Pub Date: July 9, 2024

ISBN: 9780593600290

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024

GENERAL FICTION | FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP

More by Emily Giffin

by Emily Giffin

Discover Books Fiction Thriller & Suspense Mystery & Detective Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Nonfiction Biography & Memoir Teens & Young Adult Children's
News & Features Bestsellers Book Lists Profiles Perspectives Awards Seen & Heard Book to Screen Kirkus TV videos In the News
Kirkus Prize Winners & Finalists About the Kirkus Prize Kirkus Prize Judges
Magazine Current Issue All Issues Manage My Subscription Subscribe
Writers’ Center Hire a Professional Book Editor Get Your Book Reviewed Advertise Your Book Launch a Pro Connect Author Page Learn About The Book Industry
More Kirkus Diversity Collections Kirkus Pro Connect My Account/Login
About Kirkus History Our Team Contest FAQ Press Center Info For Publishers
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Reprints, Permission & Excerpting Policy

Popular in this Genre

Hey there, book lover.

We’re glad you found a book that interests you!

Please select an existing bookshelf

Create a new bookshelf.

We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!

Please sign up to continue.

It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!

Already have an account? Log in.

Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.

Almost there!

Industry Professional

Welcome Back!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

Don’t fret. We’ll find you.

Magazine Subscribers ( How to Find Your Reader Number )

If You’ve Purchased Author Services

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up.

How a Stanford med student used her experiences to write a heist caper and score a Netflix deal

Copy Link URL Copied!

A woman with long hair and a sleeveless top stands in front of a tree.

On the Shelf

Portrait of a Thief

By Grace D. Li Tiny Reparations: 384 pages, $26 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org , whose fees support independent bookstores.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit as Grace D. Li was finishing her first year of medical school. She found herself stuck at home, attending classes on Zoom and barred from setting foot in a hospital.

“It was the most devastating medical catastrophe of the last century, and there was nothing I could do to help,” she recalls.

Frustrated, the 26-year-old Stanford medical student turned to a passion project waiting on her computer: a novel she had started a few years earlier. The result is “ Portrait of a Thief ,” a heist caper out this week that turns on breakneck action, fast cars and a thoughtful exploration of Western colonialism and the complexities of Chinese diaspora identities.

The story of why Li turned to fiction in a crisis — and pursued two seemingly opposing career paths — has as many twists and turns as Li’s novel, born from her experiences as a scientist and writer, American-born and ethnically Chinese.

For Li, who starts her third year in medical school this summer, her career choices aren’t contradictory. “Despite the differences between medicine and writing,” she says during a recent conversation , “both require thinking deeply and thoughtfully about the world and the people in it.”

The premise of “Portrait of a Thief” is deceptively simple. The novel’s main character, Will Chen, is a Harvard art history student who witnesses the theft of Chinese artifacts from a campus museum by an organized team that leaves him an intriguing calling card. That experience and a racist encounter with cops investigating the crime propel Chen to reach out to the chief executive of a shadowy Chinese government-backed conglomerate. The CEO offers $50 million to Chen and his hand-selected group of students to steal five bronze Zodiac heads that once adorned a fountain in Beijing’s Old Summer Palace.

As improbable as that setup may sound, Li says inspiration for her heist novel came from a true story.

After graduating from Duke University with a major in biology and a minor in creative writing, Li had taken a two-year assignment with Teach for America in New York. She taught biology in the Bronx and ran a high school’s first creative writing program. When she was in the middle of applying for medical school , she read a newspaper story about the heist of Chinese jade and gold artifacts from a museum in southwestern England.

Li, whose parents emigrated from China in the 1990s, says the story “struck me deeply.” Digging deeper, she learned that such robberies, from museums in Sweden, Norway, England and France, had started almost a decade before. Thieves targeted priceless Chinese antiquities that had been pilfered in 1860 by French and English invaders who ransacked and looted the Old Summer Palace, a constellation of 200 ornate palaces, pavilions, courtyards and gardens, before burning the complex to the ground. The three-day conflagration sparked China’s 21st century challenges of the provenance of artifacts displayed in Western museums, a bid by wealthy Chinese and government-backed corporations to snap up pilfered items at auction, and speculation that treasures lifted from European museums over the last decade had been “stolen to order” by those intent on repatriating the art to China.

Li says the swirl of stories “made me wonder if I could have been one of those thieves.” The tantalizing possibilities tapped into her love of popular culture, including heist movies and the “Fast and Furious” film franchise, and ignited her novel.

10 books to add to your reading list in April

Bethanne Patrick’s April picks include highly anticipated novels from Jennifer Egan, Emily St. John Mandel, Don Winslow and Douglas Stuart.

March 31, 2022

Although “Portrait” reflects Li’s interests, like a good scientist, she filled in the gaps with research. She studied Chinese art history, how to make bronze sculptures and the collections, locations and layouts of European museums that housed some of the disputed artifacts. At Stanford, she soaked up contemporary art and museum operations while serving as a pre-pandemic tour guide for art museums on campus. She also found mentors and community at the university’s Medicine & the Muse Program , which supports diversity and integration of the arts and humanities into medical education.

Li’s hard work paid off: Editor Amber Oliver acquired “Portrait” in 2021 for Phoebe Robinson’s Tiny Reparations Books imprint. As one of Stanford’s MedScholars, Li received time off and funding to finish her novel, which she did during those frustrating early days of the pandemic.

Li will join a small but distinguished club of doctors who write crime fiction. Arthur Conan Doyle, Michael Crichton and Tess Gerritsen all balanced medical careers — using their left brains — with right-brain creative fiction that makes readers’ blood run cold. Li recognizes the debt she owes to such pioneers who “helped me realize a career like this was possible.”

Buoyed by that knowledge and encouragement from her editor, Li leaned into her characters who are amateurs but also heist novel archetypes. There’s Chen, the mastermind; his sister Irene, a public policy major who can con her way out of anything; Irene’s roommate Lily Wu, the getaway car driver and a Duke student who likes street racing; Alex Huang, the team’s nascent hacker and an MIT dropout; and Will’s best friend Daniel, a premed student who has an inside track as the son of an FBI agent assigned to art crimes.

Although Li uses genre archetypes and tropes, she didn’t rely on them to tell a bigger, more personal story about the wide range of identities within the Chinese diaspora.

“Everyone thinks that Chinese identity is a monolith,” she says, “but there’s enormous diversity among Chinese Americans in terms of language, personal identity, socioeconomic status and how they think of themselves in relationship to China. There’s no one idea of what it means to be Chinese.”

The Great Chinese Art Heist crew, as the students dub themselves, mirrors that reality. Four are Americans, from California, New York and Li’s native Texas; Beijing-born Daniel is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Li’s students are idealistic enough to compartmentalize their crimes as a reckoning with Western cultures and colonialism. But they also recognize that the thefts will bring enormous wealth and the ability to break free from crushing student loans and, more important, the structured lives mapped out by their families — “the future carved open,” Li writes, like the precious artifacts they steal.

Amanda Gorman reads a poem during Wednesday's inauguration.

Book club: How to find great poetry in L.A.

Poet Amanda Gorman joins book club readers at the Festival of Books.

April 2, 2022

“Portrait” attracted enough early buzz that Netflix picked up the book for a television adaption, with Li serving as an executive producer. It’s an exciting but liminal space for a medical school student with a commitment to health equity for underserved patients and a book tour that includes an April 24 appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books . She says of her debut, “I hope ‘Portrait’ invites conversation about the ways that history continues to influence the present day, as well as illuminates the complexities and joys of the Chinese American experience — all wrapped up in a story that’s as exciting as a heist.”

Li also shared that she’s starting a new novel. Continuing to blend art and science, she plans to set it at — where else? — Stanford’s medical school.

Woods is a book critic, editor and author of several anthologies and novels, most notably the Detective Charlotte Justice mystery series.

A homecoming tale from a MacArthur ‘genius’ resists tropes of immigrant life

July 27, 2024

Review: In ‘Confessions of a Good Samaritan,’ a cheeky documentarian tests her own altruism

July 12, 2024

Priyanka Mattoo, in a leather jacket and short bob, smiles at the camera.

An ex-talent agent’s journey from Kashmir to Hollywood (and 32 addresses along the way)

June 17, 2024

Get the latest news, events and more from the Los Angeles Times Book Club, and help us get L.A. reading and talking.

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

More From the Los Angeles Times

How to accept being ‘a fat person’ and quiet your inner critic

Francine Pascal, creator of the beloved ‘Sweet Valley High’ books, dies at 92

Aug. 1, 2024

Entertainment & Arts

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’ ‘Warriors’ will be a concept album, not a stage musical

Kathie Lee Gifford smiles while holding her right hand to her heart onstage in a formal gown

Kathie Lee Gifford hospitalized with broken pelvis after hip replacement

July 31, 2024

The Lily Cafe

Serving up stories since 2013

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

book review portrait of a thief grace d li

Title: Portrait of a Thief

Author: Grace D. Li

Publisher: Tiny Reparations Books

Publication date: April 5, 2022

Genre: Fiction, Multicultural

One Sentence Summary: When college senior Will Chen gets the chance to return art stolen from China, he doesn’t hesitate to form his crew: con artist Irene Chen, hacker Alex Huang, thief Daniel Liang, and getaway driver Lily Wu.

Portrait of a Thief is part heist and part Chinese American experience. It takes five college students from different Chinese American backgrounds and gives them the chance to steal five fountainheads stolen from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing for a wealthy Chinese CEO. While their motivations to take part were a bit on the flimsy side, I really enjoyed reading about their experiences and struggles, and, most of all, how they learned to work together. The relationships they formed were strong and beautiful. Mostly, though, I loved how this book made my Chinese American experience feel seen.

Extended Thoughts

It started with a business card dropped casually into Will Chen’s pocket while the Sackler Museum at Harvard was being robbed of Chinese art. An art history major in his last year, he’s given the chance to assemble a crew and steal five Chinese zodiac fountainheads that had been stolen from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Five heist, fifty million dollars. With the help of his younger sister Irene (the con artist), he pulls together Alex Huang (the hacker), Daniel Liang (the thief), and Lily Wu (the getaway driver). But they’re college students and one college dropout, and there’s another crew out there. And the FBI.

Portrait of a Thief stumbles and tumbles, and I tend to think that was the point. After all, it stars five early twenty-somethings in college (and one dropout) trying to steal from museums like the Met in NYC and Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm. They have no clue what they’re doing, but it’s life changing money. As a result, the heist plot felt flimsy to me, but I think the point was to give space to the Chinese American experience. It’s a wealthy Chinese CEO in Beijing who wants the artifacts and it’s Chinese American students who have been hired. As a novel that takes an intimate look at that experience, it deeply touched me.

I wasn’t drawn to Portrait of a Thief so much for the heist story as for the story of the Chinese American identity. So I read the heist story with little more than amusement. It was fun, but there weren’t a ton of details. It was much more fun watching these five students who don’t all know each other at the beginning learn to work together. I enjoyed the thrill they each experienced during their heists and really liked the growing camaraderie as the story progressed. From a collection of siblings and friends who don’t all know each other, they form their own family, their crew, a group that will get together throughout their lives because they know each other and their secrets. While each chapter is told from a different perspective and had a healthy focus on their lives outside of the heists, I found my favorite parts were when they were all together, when they could let their masks drop, when they could be honest.

But I really read this because of the focus on the Chinese American experience. Being Chinese American myself, their struggles of belonging to neither world really resonated with me. In China, they’re too American. In America, they’re too Chinese. And then there are the family expectations, the parental pressure, but also their parents holding onto that American Dream, the one where their children can find success. It puts Will, Irene, Alex, Daniel, and Lily in difficult places. But I loved that their experiences were all different from each other. The stereotypical insane pressure to perform well and become doctors wasn’t there. Instead, their stories, their experiences are all different, and I really appreciated that difference. For the first time, I read Chinese American experiences that were nearer to mine, and I can’t say just how much it meant to me to be felt and seen.

The characters were amazing, but also weirdly stuck into molds. The book description never hid the fact that the characters adhered to the stereotypes: the leader, the con artist, the thief, the hacker, the getaway driver. And they all played their roles to perfection. Maybe a little too well, but I did like how some of it bled together now and then. What really drew me in to them were their experiences, their dreams, their struggles while projecting that cool, collected Asian mask. I grew up learning how to make sure my behavior reflected well on my family, and I could see that in Will, Irene, Alex, Daniel, and Lily. The pressure to perform, to make one’s family proud, is high, and yet, with the exception of Daniel, they’re all American-born. That struggle of trying to find your place, of trying to find your dreams while making your parents proud, well, that’s something I could relate to. I loved that they each had their own wishes and dreams, and that some of them were, actually, kind of lost while pretending to have it all together. Identity is a huge piece of this book, who they are and who they want to be.

Portrait of a Thief , though, sometimes made me feel like I was walking into some kind of warp whenever I picked it up. As a heist story, I expected a more thrilling reading experience, one that crisp and cut and laser focused. But it’s not. Maybe it’s because they’re in their earlier twenties and have no clue what they’re doing. Maybe it’s because it’s centered on art that the prose felt like brushstrokes. Maybe it’s that it’s called Portrait of a Thief . It had an interesting literary feel to the words, the phrases, that softened the edges, that made the story blur a bit. It was an experience I struggled with at the beginning, but crafting a life and a future is like a work of art, so, for me, it all worked well together. While the main story is the heists, the writing style continually brought me back to the Chinese American experience.

What I enjoyed most were actually found in the heist story. There were a couple of nice twists that weren’t really ground breaking or Earth shattering, but made the story a little bit more fun to read. I especially enjoyed the one at the end since I couldn’t quite puzzle out how they could possibly pull of five heists across Europe and in the US. It boggled my mind a little how these college students could think they could pull it off. Then again, they’re young and probably retain that adolescent idea that they’re capable of doing anything.

Portrait of a Thief is one half a heist story and one half a story of identity. The heist story was fun and I really enjoyed watching the five of them come together and grate at each other. There’s also some light romance that snuck in, but watching all of them together as they worked to figure out what to do and how to do it were my favorite parts. I really appreciated the different Chinese American experiences they each had, and I most loved that they each struggled to find their place, to figure out who and what they were. Their motivations to take part in the heists were probably the weakest part, but I really enjoyed reading about their lives.

How many cups of tea will you need?

Get your copy (The Lily Cafe is NOT an Amazon affiliate)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Pin this! (mostly a reminder to myself, but also an invitation to you!)

portrait of a thief by grace d li book review

Head over to the Bookshelf to check out my reviews of books from the Big 5 and self-published, indie, and small press books .

This blog is my home base, but you can also find me on:

Pinterest | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing:

Share on Tumblr

7 thoughts on “ Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li ”

This definitely sounds interesting – I love the sound of a merge of culture and heists, thanks for sharing!

Like Liked by 1 person

Thank you so much for reading! I found it to be really interesting, though the heist part wasn’t as strong as it could have been. The culture piece was such a nice addition, though.

Like Liked by 2 people

I really enjoyed reading your review on this book! I’ve been seeing this book advertised everywhere. It’s pleasant to read how you related deeply to the Chinese American experience.

Concerning the underwhelming heist angle (and me being a publishing world nerd), I think one thing that sticks out for me with this book is something I’ve wondered overall about publishing. Usually in the process of getting an agent and then a book deal, there’s this belief that a book has to be as *perfect* as can be. No plot holes. No weak motivations, etc. Yet there are published books where readers point out certain flaws that I feel any skilled editor in the business should have helped fixed. Here, it’s with the heist angle. I’ve seen many reviews on Goodreads also saying the heist felt flimsy, and yet the book is being marketed as Ocean 5 meets Fast and Furious—two mega heist movies. It makes me wonder if the publishers are mostly after reader’s desire for BIPOC books hence aren’t ensuring the quality of the plot/story all around is up to standard.

I definitely have been starting to feel the same way. It makes me wonder if it’s really because the book is that weak or readers just have such wildly different opinions. So far, with Portrait of a Thief specifically, it’s been falling on both extremes. I do tend to think some marketing is just way off the mark and this was just the latest casualty. I think I’d have to agree that it’s due to publishers chasing the BIPOC angle, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for subpar stories or incorrect marketing. Though it certainly makes me think more and more that even my problematic stories could be traditionally published. Sometimes I confuse traditionally published books with indie ones and vice versa.

Pingback: The Lily Cafe Digest #22 – The Lily Cafe
Pingback: Portrait of a Thief, a review – Abi of Pellinor
Pingback: Book Highlight: The Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li – The Lily Cafe

Chat with me Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Subscribe Subscribed
Copy shortlink
Report this content
View post in Reader
Manage subscriptions
Collapse this bar

BOOK REVIEW: PORTRAIT OF A THIEF (2022) BY GRACE D. LI – A HEIST OF THE HEART

BOOK REVIEW EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLA KELLEHER WRITES – A Harvard senior obsessed with the beautiful, Will Chen is the perfect Chinese son: hardworking, handsome, and respectful. Except when he is offered an illegal job by a mysterious wealthy Chinese benefactor to steal back art pieces from heavily guarded Western museums that were looted from Beijing hundreds of years ago – that he finds himself unable to refuse. What’s more important, chasing your own “American Dream” or defending the eternal legacy of your people?

Will’s crew is as archetypally “Ocean’s Eleven” as it gets – and it’s exhilarating. Imagine a dazzling criminal lineup. First, we have the con artist: Irene Chen, Will’s faultless Duke University public policy major sister who can “talk her way out of any situation.” Then there’s Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands whose father works for the FBI. Then, of course, there’s also the getaway driver, Lily Wu – an angel-faced engineering major who drag-races at midnight. Finally, there’s Alex Huang: an MIT dropout, Silicon Valley software engineer who can hack her way into any computer system. Each crew member has a somewhat tortured relationship with each other and China, especially as members of the Chinese diaspora in America. But when Will asks them to join his heist, not a single member can turn him down.

Chinese American author, Grace D. Li , debuts spectacularly with Portrait of a Thief (2022). Currently a medical student at Duke University (not unlike the characters in her novel), one of Li’s aims has been to explain the triumphs and troubles of the Chinese diaspora through literature. The eternally binding strings of identity twist and tangle with the current of migration. Often, children of immigrants find themselves lost, straddling two very distant lands, deeply mired in the confusing question of, Which country deserves my loyalty?

The book starts off with a bang – or, should I say, a shattering of glass. Will Chen, an art history major, is at the Sackler Museum in Harvard while it is being robbed of its Chinese art. Amid the chaos, a business card is casually folded into his pocket by one of the cloaked thieves. Later, he finds out he has been chosen to assemble a specialized group of Chinese Americans to steal (or shall we say, return ) five Chinese zodiac fountainheads that had been illegally robbed from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing long ago. All fountainheads had been dispersed among various overseas museums, divided by thousands of miles. The mission is simple but harrowing: Successfully complete five heists at five different museums, bring the fountainheads back to their rightful owners and receive fifty million dollars. The catch is that this ragtag crew is comprised of hotheaded college students chased relentlessly by the FBI. Were they doomed from the start?

The focus of this story is not the robberies themselves, although they are adrenaline-charging. Instead, this is a purely character-driven feast. All are tied together not only by mutual connections with Will Chen himself but also by their shared Chinese American experience – a unique conundrum of belonging to neither China nor America. As children who are too Chinese for America and too American for China, they feel pressure to meet familial expectations. Under the weight of their parents’ dreams for them, how can these new-world young adults find their way? Lost in the murky hollows of a generational identity crisis, they decide to carve out a path for themselves by hand using lock picks and ski masks.

As the group plans the first big heist at the Swedish Drottningholm Palace in stylish first-class flight cabins, each distinct and colorful personality butts heads and hearts. Alex and Irene dislike each other from the start – leading to a climax of steamy hatred that will undoubtedly take the reader by surprise. Daniel has eyes for Irene, while Will sketches the outlines of Lily’s sleeping face without her knowledge. Each character, in one way or another, has tried (admittedly futilely) to “make China love [them] back.” But, where their efforts failed, they at least have one another to rely on for love and support.

Li’s book chronicles a troubling concept: one of modern accepted Western imperialism. The idea that “what is ours is not ours.” The admired museums and beloved palaces that smatter the Western world with foreign jewels and treasures tell a different tale from what most of us grew up believing. These esteemed landmarks do not carry harmless collections of forgotten ornaments from distant, dissolved empires. Simply put, they house hordes of stolen, culturally invaluable art. We must ask ourselves: “Who could determine what counted as theft when museums and countries and civilizations saw the spoils of conquest as rightfully earned?” Looted art serves as a reminder of a lasting legacy, one steeped in the blood of countless nations. Is it so surprising that four headstrong college students recklessly tried to right these wrongs?

LMU English major graduate Ella Kelleher is the AMI book review editor-in-chief and a contributing staff writer for Asia Media International. She majored in English with a concentration in multi-ethnic literature.

Put That Thing Back Where It Came From: A Review of Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Hello, Book Nerds! Welcome back to Reading Has Ruined My Life or welcome if you are new. As always, my name is Hannah and I am your captain on this journey into my bookcases. Special hello to Honduras. It’s nice to see y’all.

As promised, I bring you an actual review today. I finally finished the book I was reading and I’m ready to review it! So please welcome to the stage Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li!

Book cover of Portrait of a Thief by Grace D Li.

I need more heist books in my life. If you have any recommendations for me please drop them in the comments down below; I love a good heist novel. You can also send them my way on RHRML's new Instagram page! Make sure to follow the blog @ReadingHasRuinedMyLife on Instagram. Back to Portrait of a Thief though.

I have a lot of mixed emotions regarding this one. There are a lot of parts I really enjoyed, yet there were times it kept losing me. We’ll get to all that in a few minutes, but first we need the synopsis.

As always, a spoiler alert is in order. If you’ve been here before then you know I love to spoil the entirety of the book in question. Today is no different so you’ve been warned.

Meet Will Chen, an Art History major at Harvard and future international art thief. During his senior year of college, he gets the job opportunity of a life time: steal back some stolen Chinese art and receive 50-million dollars. Hello, where do I sign up! (FBI, that is a joke. I say that in complete jest. I have no want or desire to rob a museum. Please take me off your watch list. I am not threat to museums. Absolutely love museums.)

Anyway, Will is going to need some help if he wants to rob five of the biggest museums in the world. Yes, that’s right, Will has to rob five museums or else he won’t get his 50-million dollars. He needs to steal back the five missing Zodiac Heads from China’s Old Summer Palace. These items were looted centuries ago and it’s finally time for them to return home. Will still needs that crew though so he enlists his sister Irene, his best friend Daniel, his sister’s roommate Lily, and a girl named Alex who he met on Tinder when he was freshman.

It seems like an old crew but let me explain. Will is the leader. Irene is the con artist. Daniel is the main thief. Lily is the getaway driver. And Alex is the tech genius. Together they make up our squad. But will they succeed? Will they get caught or will they make it out of this as multi-millionaires?

Now as I said, I kept going back and forth on this one. For a while there was something about Portrait of a Thief that I didn’t like but I couldn’t put my finger on. I couldn’t figure out if it was the pacing or the characters or what. But then I got it. The descriptions of this book were hit or miss. There was a lot of great imagery in the book. The descriptions of the art work were beautiful. But few other things had that level of detail.

I couldn’t tell you much about the heist planning. Nor much about what the characters look like. Museums and Alex’s family’s restaurant yes, but most other things no. A heist book relies heavily on descriptions. Readers need to know all the details the main characters are picking up on. They need to know where security cameras are, the escape routes, every single part of the plan; these are all necessary details in heist books. Yet Portrait of a Thief lacks these details. It detracts from the story. I felt I was missing too much important information.

Speaking about heists and planning aspects, I couldn’t figure out why this inexperienced group of 20-somethings, who for the most part weren’t even out of college yet, were chosen to pull this off. This heist is a massive undertaking, and the person who hires them has billions and could have easily hired professionals to steal back the art but chooses not to. It makes no sense. Between the lack of descriptions, odd motivations from the financier, and honestly the lack of heist in general, most of the book felt lacking. Portrait of a Thief is pitched as Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell but it’s pretty far from that. This isn’t a heist novel with perfect plans to outsmart cops and federal agents every step of the way. It’s a lot more of young adults bickering and somehow managing to steal priceless art from some of the world’s top museums in a smash-and-grab. Yeah, the heists are not the highlight of this heist novel.

The pacing also could have been improved upon. It too was hit or miss. I felt it was the worst in the end. There were some time skips that occurred which were hard to take in as it was difficult to figure out just how much time had passed; they did not fit in with the rest of the novel. That wasn’t the only issue with the pacing though. Things happened too fast too quickly and then nothing happened for quite some time. This happened every chapter.

Despite these issues, this book was still pretty good. I was amused the entire time and enjoyed the complexity of the characters. All five of the main characters struggle in different ways; readers can easily find a character to latch onto and identify with.

I should note that a large part of this book is about the pressure felt by children in immigrant families to be successful and the identity issues they feel when strung between two incredibly different cultures; specifically those of Chinese descent. I do not feel qualified to talk much about this aspect and deem it well written or not. I personally think it’s well done, but I am not someone who should be passing judgment on this aspect. Reviews written by readers of Chinese descent tend to view this part of the novel as incredibly well written and deeply appreciate the representation Portrait of a Thief brings. Again, I do not feel qualified to properly discuss this topic and highly recommend reading reviews by readers who are of Chinese descent.

I can talk about colonialism though. Colonialism is a big theme within Portrait of a Thief . The idea of an art heist in order to talk about the ownership and power of art is so simple yet genius. History has always been told by conquerors, and what do they do? Keep the spoils of war AKA art. As of late there have been many articles about museums keeping looted works of art, and this novel adds many great points to the conversation. It opens up discussions on the matter that many people probably wouldn’t have without. For that I praise this novel.

Overall this was a decent debut. I felt that there were issues with the technical aspects of the novel, but the themes and discussions were poignant. Portrait of a Thief is already in development at Netflix to be turned into a TV series. I feel television is a great vehicle for this novel. I believe the world Grace D. Li has crafted will be able to flourish as a show. There will be more time for character relations to be fleshed out, the pacing fixed, details expanded upon; I have high hopes for the future adaption. And yes, when it finally premieres years from now, I will review it.

And with that, I must bid you all adieu. I shall see you next with another great post. I don’t know what it will be, it’ll be a surprise for us all, but I’ll see you then!

Until next time, stay safe, wash your hands, and read some good books for me.

Book Review

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief

February 18, 2024 · In: Book Review , Books

History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now.

Will Chen plans to steal them back.

“ Art belongs to the creator,” Will said, his voice soft, “not the conqueror. No matter what the law says, or what treaties are signed. For too long, museums have held on to art that isn’t theirs to keep, bought more because they know they can.”

Portrait of a Thief is the Chinese-American diaspora art heist that I never knew I needed.

To be truthful, the heists in this novel are secondary. Li’s debut novel is really an exploration of the impact of colonisation and the melancholic experience of diaspora.

There are elements of Ocean’s Eleven and the Fast and Furious franchise within the story and I appreciated Li’s nods to classic action movies but at its core, Portrait of a Thief is about a group of immigrant kids in their twenties each struggling with the burden of living up to their parents’ expectations and the responsibility of having to support their family. I’m half Filipino on my mother’s side and I found myself really relating to the emotions and struggles that the characters in the novel deal with, including feeling disconnected from your roots but at the same very protective over them.

As Li highlights, being the child of immigrant means taking responsibility for your family. You carry the heavy weight of all the hopes and dreams of your lineage, which is something we see particularly in the character of Alex. Li describes Alex as being confused about “ how to be the daughter she was supposed to be, her parents’ American Dream. How to untagle parts of her that were Chinese and the parts of her that were American, how both so often felt like neither “, which really hit me. For me, there’s a lot to relate to in this novel and Li explores the complexity of identity and the history of colonial rule with such eloquence that I did get misty-eyed a few times. I mean, Daniel’s dad, anyone? The sibling rivalry between Will and Irene? I could go on!

I’ve seen people complain that the novel was underwhelming. If you go in expecting an action-packed story, you will probably be disappointed. This isn’t a heist novel. It’s a novel about the immigrant experience. Yes, there are heists as the characters attempt to reclaim art that the West stole and there are occasional fun moments – Irene is a badass – but the heists are very muted and devoid of typical thrill and tension. While Li’s cast is a group of reckless college students who have a lot to lose rather than seasoned criminals, it would have been great to see more Ocean’s Eleven flair. However, I get what Li was going for with the heist plot even if it did feel a bit flimsy and not fully fleshed out at times.

Nonetheless, this is a stunning debut. It’s so heartfelt. Li’s writing is beautifully atmospheric and she truly captured what it feels like to be in your twenties when you’re trying to figure out who you want to be, with the added struggle of lack of belonging both in the West and your parents’ home country and needing to do whatever you can to assimilate and survive.

you’ll also love

Join the List

Stay up to date & receive the latest posts in your inbox.

Reader Interactions

Book Review: The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden

Legal Disclosures

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief

Posted May 23, 2022 by geograph in contemporary , review / 0 Comments

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize Named A Most Anticipated Book of 2022 by * Marie Claire * * Washington Post * * Vulture * *NBC News* * Buzzfeed * * Veranda * * PopSugar* *Paste* *The Millions* *Bustle* *Crimereads* Goodreads* * Bookbub* *Boston.com* and more! "The thefts are engaging and surprising, and the narrative brims with international intrigue. Li, however, has delivered more than a straight thriller here, especially in the parts that depict the despair Will and his pals feel at being displaced, overlooked, underestimated and discriminated against. This is as much a novel as a reckoning." —New York Times Book Review Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief , a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity. History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world, museums display the spoils of war, of conquest, of colonialism: priceless pieces of art looted from other countries, kept even now. Will Chen plans to steal them back. A senior at Harvard, Will fits comfortably in his carefully curated roles: a perfect student, an art history major and sometimes artist, the eldest son who has always been his parents' American Dream. But when a mysterious Chinese benefactor reaches out with an impossible—and illegal—job offer, Will finds himself something else as well: the leader of a heist to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine—or at least, the closest he can get. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Each member of his crew has their own complicated relationship with China and the identity they've cultivated as Chinese Americans, but when Will asks, none of them can turn him down. Because if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars—and a chance to make history. But if they fail, it will mean not just the loss of everything they've dreamed for themselves but yet another thwarted attempt to take back what colonialism has stolen. Equal parts beautiful, thoughtful, and thrilling, Portrait of a Thief is a cultural heist and an examination of Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary critique of the lingering effects of colonialism.

Literally, everybody else has said amazing things about this book and they were all correct. You should read it. I actually got this eARC to write a paper about it for a class and it delivers in every way possible. I want to own ten hardcovers of this book. Also it reminds me a lot of the Raven Cycle series of books with that really intense friendship. I mean this in a very good way. I would die for Irene Chen. Five stars and also in my top 10 books of the year. Bookshop link here.

An Olympics Scene Draws Scorn. Did It Really Parody ‘The Last Supper’?

Some church leaders and politicians have condemned the performance from the opening ceremony for mocking Christianity. Art historians are divided.

Share full article

A screen depicting a person painted in blue near fruit. Behind is a rainy Paris street with part of the Eiffel Tower and Olympic rings visible.

By Yan Zhuang

A performance during the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony on Friday has drawn criticism from church leaders and conservative politicians for a perceived likeness to Leonardo da Vinci’s depiction of a biblical scene in “The Last Supper,” with some calling it a “mockery” of Christianity.

The event’s planners and organizers have denied that the sequence was inspired by “The Last Supper,” or that it intended to mock or offend.

In the performance broadcast during the ceremony, a woman wearing a silver, halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her. Later, at the same table, a giant cloche lifted, revealing a man, nearly naked and painted blue, on a dinner plate surrounded by fruit. He broke into a song as, behind him, the drag queens danced.

The tableaux drew condemnation among people who saw the images as a parody of “The Last Supper,” the New Testament scene depicted in da Vinci’s painting by the same name. The French Bishops’ Conference, which represents the country’s Catholic bishops, said in a statement that the opening ceremony included “scenes of mockery and derision of Christianity,” and an influential American Catholic, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota, called it a “gross mockery.”

The performance at the opening ceremony, which took place on and along the Seine on Friday, also prompted a Mississippi-based telecommunications provider, C Spire, to announce that it would pull its advertisements from Olympics broadcasts. Speaker Mike Johnson described the scene as “shocking and insulting to Christian people.”

The opening ceremony’s artistic director, Thomas Jolly, said at the Games’ daily news conference on Saturday that the event was not meant to “be subversive, or shock people, or mock people.” On Sunday, Anne Descamps, the Paris 2024 spokeswoman, said at the daily news conference, “If people have taken any offense, we are, of course, really, really sorry.”

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

Want all of The Times? Subscribe .

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Your subscription makes our work possible.

We want to bridge divides to reach everyone.

Deepen your worldview with Monitor Highlights.

Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads .

Select free newsletters:

A thoughtfully curated selection of our most popular news stories and podcasts.

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday

Hear about special editorial projects, new product information, and upcoming events.

An update on major political events, candidates, and parties twice a week.

Twice a Week

Stay informed about the latest scientific discoveries & breakthroughs.

Every Tuesday

A weekly digest of Monitor views and insightful commentary on major events.

Every Thursday

Latest book reviews, author interviews, and reading trends.

Every Friday

A weekly update on music, movies, cultural trends, and education solutions.

The three most recent Christian Science articles with a spiritual perspective.

Every Monday

‘Frederick Douglass: A Novel’ paints a picture of the man behind the myth

Frederick Douglass, the legendary abolitionist and orator, has long shaped American thought. In this novel, readers get a deeper portrait of a complex man.

By Erin Douglass Contributor

July 31, 2024

Frederick Douglass, the 19th century’s preeminent abolitionist orator and scribe, left a legacy of prose – from articles and essays to letters, lectures, and rebuttals. He published three autobiographies. His public speeches and debates drew crowds and generated commentary in the press. A tireless advocate for Black American freedom and equality, he challenged and shaped thought, both in the United States and overseas, for more than 55 years.

These accomplishments would dazzle under any circumstances. The fact that Douglass began life enslaved in Tuckahoe, Maryland, in 1818, and learned to read and write despite laws forbidding such endeavors, adds luster to his reputation.

And yet, who was Frederick Douglass? Author Sidney Morrison sets out to excavate the man from the calcified layers of myth. The results are a meticulously researched novel that gives voice to Douglass’ kith and kin – and enables his complexity and contradictions to roar from the page.

The story kicks off with Anna Murray, arguably the most important person in Douglass’ life. A free Black woman working as a cook and domestic servant, Murray meets Douglass (then called Frederick Bailey) at a Baltimore social in 1836 while he’s still enslaved. Murray is bold, no-nonsense, and clearly impressed with the handsome young man. She’s also a quick study, noting his fondness for compliments and lack of shyness. “Baltimore is too small a place for a man like you, Mr. Bailey,” she says. “So, when are you leaving?”

Murray is unapologetic about the fact that she can’t read, adding, “I’m not ashamed. ... Too busy cooking and cleaning, and helping with raising white children.” Even as the two grow close, and after they eventually marry, her refusal to learn to read is a sore spot and an embarrassment for Douglass. Later, he is attracted to white women in the abolitionist circle, which leads to marital indiscretions.

Early in the novel, readers also meet William Lloyd Garrison, the famous white abolitionist whose antislavery newspaper, The Liberator, awakens Douglass’ political ambitions. Garrison becomes one of Douglass’ loudest champions, before the two men were driven apart by perceived slights, diverging principles, and tactical disagreements.

A who’s who of the era’s politicians and rabble-rousers march through the book, from Abraham Lincoln and John Brown to Ulysses S. Grant and Susan B. Anthony. Of the many accomplished (and notorious) people who cross paths with Douglass, the 16th president shines brightest.

“I think very highly of your mind, sir,” Lincoln remarks during their second meeting at the White House. “You are a reflective, eloquent and honest critic, and I need your advice. Please take a seat.” The session lasts for nearly two hours.

“He treated me as a man,” Douglass later relates, barely able to quell his excitement.

Five months after Lincoln’s assassination, in a moving scene, Douglass opens a package from former first lady Mary Todd Lincoln to find the president’s walking stick. It’s one of the few times Morrison depicts his subject as at a loss for words.

Lesser-known characters add resonance and surprise. Over the course of his life, a string of Douglass acolytes, white women all, falls not just for the speeches, but for the man himself. The most influential of these admirers is Julia Griffiths, an Englishwoman who serves as editor and fundraiser for Douglass’ fledgling newspaper, The North Star. Although intellectual sparks fly and romantic feelings develop, Douglass refuses to leave his marriage and family. It’s moral high ground with a sinkhole. Displaying a now-familiar chutzpah (and callousness to Murray), he insists on folding Griffiths into the household and traveling with her openly. His behavior, which flouted marital and racial taboos, opened him up to allegations of infidelity with Griffiths.

“Frederick Douglass: A Novel” is a chunk of a book, dense with history and brimming with the details of a life fully lived. “Frederick was truly American,” an admiring peer writes in the introduction to Douglass’ first autobiography, “the self-made, self-reliant man.”

Utterly American, and yet so much more than a self-made trope, Douglass was a complex individual, consistently praised, often burdened, frequently forgiven, and ultimately embraced by his family, companions, and supporters.

Therein, too, lies his greatness.

Help fund Monitor journalism for $11/ month

Already a subscriber? Login

Monitor journalism changes lives because we open that too-small box that most people think they live in. We believe news can and should expand a sense of identity and possibility beyond narrow conventional expectations.

Our work isn't possible without your support.

Unlimited digital access $11/month.

Digital subscription includes:

Unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.
CSMonitor.com archive.
The Monitor Daily email.
No advertising.
Cancel anytime.

Give us your feedback

We want to hear, did we miss an angle we should have covered? Should we come back to this topic? Or just give us a rating for this story. We want to hear from you.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

Subscription expired

Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription.

Return to the free version of the site

If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at 1-617-450-2300 .

This message will appear once per week unless you renew or log out.

Session expired

Your session to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. We logged you out.

No subscription

You don’t have a Christian Science Monitor subscription yet.

Literature & Fiction
Genre Fiction

Print List Price:	$18.00
Kindle Price:	$12.99 Save $5.01 (28%)
Penguin Group (USA) LLC Price set by seller.

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $17.72 $17.72

Save: $4.73 $4.73 (27%)

Buy for others

Buying and sending ebooks to others.

Select quantity
Buy and send eBooks
Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the authors

Portrait of a Thief: A Novel Kindle Edition

Print length 384 pages
Language English
Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
Publisher Tiny Reparations Books
Publication date April 5, 2022
File size 3627 KB
Page Flip Enabled
Word Wise Enabled
Enhanced typesetting Enabled
See all details

Customers who bought this item also bought

Get to know this book

What's it about.

Popular highlight

From the publisher.

What would you do for ten million dollars and the chance to change the course of history?

Editorial Reviews

State your name for the record, please."

This was how things began: Boston on the cusp of fall, the Sackler Museum robbed of twenty-three pieces of priceless Chinese art. Even in the museum's back room, dust catching the slant of golden, late-afternoon light, Will could hear the sirens. They sounded like a promise.

"Will Chen."

"And what were you doing at the Sackler Museum, Mr. Chen?"

"I work here part-time. I'm an art history student at Harvard."

"Did you see anything unusual before the theft?"

"Describe what you saw during the incident. Any distinguishing features of the thieves, anything the security cameras might not have caught."

"It all happened very fast. I looked up from my essay and the alarms were going off. When I ran into the exhibit, they were already leaving. They had on ski masks, black clothes." He hesitated, just for a moment. "I think they were speaking Chinese."

For a moment, the only sound was the scratch of the detective's pen against his notepad. "I see. Do you speak Chinese, Mr. Chen?"

"Yes, I-does it matter? I couldn't really make out what they were saying. The alarms were going off at this point."

"Of course. And do you know what they stole?"

Will thought back to the empty room. If he closed his eyes, he could fit the pieces back where they were supposed to go-a pair of jade tigers, a dragon vase. A jade cup with three crested bronze birds, midflight. "Not really. I've been gone all summer."

The detective slid a sheet of paper across the table. "Can you read the title of this for me?"

It was a printout from the Harvard Crimson, from late August. Will swallowed hard. "'What Is Ours Is Not Ours: Chinese Art and Western Imperialism.'"

"Did you write this?"

The detective leaned forward, his fingertips touching. "Tell me if this sounds suspicious to you: A Chinese student writes an article about looted art, and a few weeks later, Harvard's largest collection of Asian art is robbed. All the priceless pieces mentioned in the article-gone."

Will leaned back in his chair. The golden light made everything feel like a painting, and he let his mind drift for a moment, thinking of the paper on Renaissance art that was due next week, the sculpture he still had to finish for his portfolio. "Not particularly."

"And why is that?"

"I was born in the US, Detective . . ." Will looked for a badge, a name.

"Detective Meyers."

"What is your-"

"I'm Chinese American," Will said, lingering on the American. He adjusted the rolled-up cuff of his button-down, imagining how his sister would handle this situation. "You said I was Chinese. But I was born and raised in the US, just like you, and I work part-time at the Sackler, and three weeks ago the Crimson published a paper I wrote for an art history class at Harvard. Last time I checked, none of those are crimes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have homework to do."

"This is procedure, Mr. Chen. I just have a few more questions, if you will-"

Will rose. It might have been a small thing, to be called Chinese instead of Chinese American, to have this detective who spoke in a Boston accent look at him as if this place, this museum, this art didn't belong to him, but-it didn't feel like a small thing. Not when he was at Harvard, this place of dreams, and he was so close to everything he had ever wanted.

It was his senior year, and the whole world felt on the verge of cracking open.

"I've told you everything I know," he said, "and I know my rights. Next time you want to accuse me of something, go through my lawyer."

In Eliot House, with his window open to the warm evening air and the distant sound of chatter in the courtyard, Will took a single jade tiger out of his pocket. The stone was cool, almost cold against his skin. It shone in the halfway light, the jade a pale, almost translucent green, with veins of reddish-brown at the tiger's head and tail. Despite the centuries, the edges of the carving were sharp enough to cut.

Jade Tiger (one of a pair), the placard had read. Date: 3rd century BCE. Culture: Chinese.

He had one tiger; the thieves had the other. It had been almost too easy to palm it, the glass between him and the art shattered in the theft. He traced a finger along the tiger's curved back, still a little in disbelief. He was sure it was worth hundreds of thousands, but that wasn't the important thing. The important thing was that it had been China's, and then it had been Harvard's, and now it was his.

He thought back to the paper he had written for class. What is ours is not ours. Who could determine what counted as theft when museums and countries and civilizations saw the spoils of conquest as rightfully earned?

From his coat pocket, a card fluttered to the floor.

Will reached for it, his breath catching in the stillness. For a moment, he was back at the Sackler, listening to the rapid, staccato Chinese of the thieves, their voices a counterpoint to the wail of the alarms. He had pressed himself against the wall, his heart pounding in his ears, and yet one of them had still brushed past him on the way out, so close it could almost be called deliberate.

The business card was a matte black, with the words CHINA POLY and an international phone number printed on the front in neat block letters. And below that, in a messy hand:

ÍµµÃ²»´í¡£

When Alex Huang closed her eyes, she dreamed of Chinatown: the red lanterns strung along every storefront, the smell of fish markets, the rise and fall of Cantonese as buyers and sellers haggled. It had been three years since she had stood before the whole glazed ducks rotating in the restaurant's windows, flipped the sign from CLOSED to OPEN each morning at seven a.m. while her parents prepped the kitchen of Yi Hua Lou.

This was how things changed: slowly, and then all at once. An acceptance letter from MIT, a FAFSA form, a bus ride to Boston. Her younger siblings waving to her until she couldn't see them anymore. Holidays spent at school, in libraries or on friends' couches, summer internships on a different coast. A full-time offer from Google her junior fall. Whenever you're ready, the recruiter had said, but the sign-on bonus was more than her parents made in a year.

Within a month, Alex had moved to Silicon Valley.

The sun was setting in Mountain View, evening light pooling on her living room floor. Had it really been less than a year? She could still remember stepping off the plane that first day, how the sky had been wide in a way she wasn't used to after years of living in New York City and then in Boston. She had thought, This is the beginning of the rest of my life. It had been just a little terrifying. Everything she knew, everyone she loved, left behind on another coast.

And so there was just this: a Friday evening and an empty apartment, to-go containers scattered across the dining table. Her laptop was open, her work for the night still not done-never done, really-but despite its hum, her chewing felt too loud in the stillness. Alex reached for her phone, just for something to do, scrolled through all the tasks still left for tonight, the unread messages in her family WeChat group, and-a missed call from Will Chen.

That last one was the most interesting. You called? she texted him.

A moment later, her phone began to ring.

"You are the only person who would rather call than text," she said as a greeting.

"Hey, Alex. Good to hear from you too." Will's voice was low, liquid like honey, and she remembered briefly why she had thought, early on, that there was the possibility of something. "How long does it take to hack into a museum's security system?"

Alex cast a glance at her program; it was still running. "You know that being a software engineer isn't the same thing as being a hacker, right?"

"Alex Huang, I didn't think there was anything you couldn't do."

She couldn't help but laugh. Will was playing on her vanity, but-well, he wasn't wrong. Alex opened her personal laptop, sliding her work laptop to the side. There were so many questions she could have asked, but already this was the most interesting thing to happen to her in a long time. She would let it play out. "I suppose it depends on the museum."

"The Sackler? Let me send you the log-in info."

In a few quick keystrokes, she had pulled up the museum intranet. "Sounds familiar."

"Our first date," Will supplied.

Alex laughed. "I should've known we wouldn't work out the instant you suggested we go to an art museum." They had met on Tinder, during the brief period when they were both new to college and the dating scene, had gone to the Sackler and then for coffee on an overcast New England afternoon. There had been a couple of dates after that, but nothing else, and after seeing the heartbreak Will tended to leave in his wake, she was relieved neither one of them had wanted more. Still, they had kept in touch after she had moved to California, video chatting on late nights when Will's insomnia kept him up and Alex was afraid the loneliness would eat her alive, comparing younger siblings and the heavy weight of their parents' expectations, the specific traumas of their pasts laid bare as the hours passed. She knew him well enough to know that they would never date again.

The Sackler's video footage loaded on her screen. The museum was aglow, even though it was late on the East Coast, and on the cameras outside the museum, police lights spun red and blue over cobbled streets. She switched to another incognito tab and searched up sackler museum +

All the headlines told the same story: smashed glass and black ski masks, twenty-three stolen pieces of Chinese art. There had been three eyewitnesses but no leads. She narrowed her eyes at her phone. "Why didn't you tell me there was a robbery?"

"Alex," Will began. There was a catch in his voice.

"Were you there?"

He was silent for a long moment. "That's why I'm calling."

Alex closed her eyes, thinking of the day she had withdrawn from MIT. It had been fall, the leaves just beginning to change color, and the Charles River twisted like silver wire through downtown Boston. It had felt like the beginning of something, like her whole life was unspooling. She had never described the feeling to Will, but she thought maybe he would recognize it. This evening, the Sackler's stolen art-what was this if not change?

A moment later, Alex had pulled up the footage from the night before. She shared her screen with him as she did, and together they watched the theft. Alex knew Will was watching the thieves, the elegance of their movements, the art that disappeared beneath their gloved hands, but she was watching Will. Will as he got up from his desk at the Sackler, as he ran into the other room. Will standing against the wall, his eyes wide behind his glasses and his dark hair tousled, looking for all the world like any other overwhelmed college kid save for the slight movement of his hand, the momentary glint of jade in his palm.

"Will Chen," Alex said, very quietly, "what have you done?"

His voice, too, was soft. "I know, I know. There's more."

So maybe she had been wrong. Maybe Will had been watching her, after all.

The theft was almost over. As they left, one masked figure brushed very close to Will. She zoomed in on the still, but she couldn't tell what the thief was doing, if anything. "A business card," Will said, and her phone lit up with an image. The words were in simplified Chinese, not traditional, but she could read it well enough. "And an invitation."

"Are you going to take it?" Alex rewound to the moment Will stole the artifact, that telltale shine. Her fingers hovered over the keys. It would take very little to erase this footage. A half-second jump between one frame and the next, chalked up to a minor glitch in the system, the fallibility of tech. It was also definitely illegal.

"If I did, would you join me?"

Her work computer chimed. Her program was done running, and there was more to do. There always was. Alex knew she should say no, return to a Friday night programming in her Mountain View apartment, the rest of her days, the rest of her life blurring together in the California sunshine. She had chosen this, after all. A steady paycheck and the slow upward climb to manager, lines of code in Java and Python and all the languages yet to come. It was the safe choice, the responsible one, the kind that she had spent her whole life making.

In the cool, indifferent light of her apartment, Alex leaned back, thought of change. Three years ago, stepping onto MIT's campus for the first time. Leaving it behind before she was ready. And now-a museum of stolen art, security footage blinking on her computer.

Will's breathing was soft over the phone, and she remembered, too, that terrible first date, walking through the Sackler and then, afterward, the two of them drinking overpriced coffee and talking of dreams. They'd been freshmen then, still figuring out what it meant to go to the best universities in the country, to have so much possibility at their fingertips, but-it had all seemed within reach. His dreams. Hers. It had been so long since Alex had let herself think about what she wanted, separate from her family and her responsibilities, all that she owed the people in her life.

"Alex?" Will said, and it was a question, an offering, an open door.

In one swift, decisive motion, Alex pressed delete. "I'm in."

This late, Harvard was quiet, still, something out of a painting. Will would have done it in slow, sweeping brushstrokes, the sky curving around lamps that shone torch-bright. It was the kind of evening where the impossible felt close enough to touch, to taste. He took a deep, steadying breath.

What was real: the jade tiger in his palm, stolen from the Sackler just hours ago.

What was real: the future carved open.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0998D48PW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Tiny Reparations Books (April 5, 2022)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 5, 2022
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3627 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1529386411
#119 in Asian American Literature (Kindle Store)
#263 in Heist Crime
#457 in Asian American Literature & Fiction

About the authors

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Grace D. Li

Grace D. Li grew up in Pearland, Texas, and is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied biology and creative writing. Her debut novel, Portrait of a Thief, was an instant New York Times bestseller, a #1 international bestseller, and is also in development at Netflix. She currently attends medical school at Stanford University.

Customer reviews

5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 32% 33% 22% 9% 4% 32%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 32% 33% 22% 9% 4% 33%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 32% 33% 22% 9% 4% 22%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 32% 33% 22% 9% 4% 9%
5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 32% 33% 22% 9% 4% 4%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the cultural aspects entertaining and enlightening. They also appreciate the ruminations on identity and culture. Opinions are mixed on the plot, characters, and writing style. Some find the plot compelling and interesting, while others say it's repetitive, trite, and dull.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the cultural aspects of the book entertaining, enlightening, and interesting. They also say the book is very well researched and exciting.

"...It was touching, sad, wondrously happy, very well researched and as exciting as the “heist films” that the author references...." Read more

"...The concept of the book was intriguing enough for me to pick it up, but personally I did not find it an enjoyable read." Read more

"...Still, the story was entertaining and enlightening ." Read more

"...But it was an interesting juxtaposition of cultures and an illumination of the immigrant experience...." Read more

Customers find the plot compelling, thrilling, and exciting. They also appreciate the ruminations on identity and culture. However, some find the story not interesting enough, repetitive, and distracting from the subject at hand.

"...plenty of depth, hopefully paired with interesting characters and a solid plot , and while the ambition and characters are there, a fair bit of the..." Read more

"...The only fault I found was that some ideas were a little repetitive for my taste, and I wished for a little bit more dialogue to balance out the..." Read more

"...while there is the primary heist plot which is fun at times , there's also the underlying musing about diaspora and colonialism in regards to art...." Read more

"...intriguing enough for me to pick it up, but personally I did not find it an enjoyable read ." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the characters in the book. Some find them fascinating and never disappoint, while others say they're shallow.

"...Sadly, both story and character arcs are flat and, thus, not very compelling...." Read more

"...something ambitious with plenty of depth, hopefully paired with interesting characters and a solid plot, and while the ambition and characters are..." Read more

"...The characters don't even really grow . Instead, we are reminded, page after page, that they have money problems and have diaspora...." Read more

"I really really wanted to like this book more — the characters were fascinating , the plot was fun, the details of growing up in the diaspora were..." Read more

Customers are mixed about the writing style. Some find the style enjoyable and poetic, using beautiful descriptions that bring settings to life. Others find the writing frustrating and unfinished.

"...Lastly, I enjoyed Li’s writing style and her gorgeous imagery of from California to Beijing to Boston...." Read more

"...Not only did the writing style fall into repetition of ideas and descriptions midway through, but that repetition also robbed the proceedings of the..." Read more

"...uncertainty—the author touches on all of the big topics in this well-written , beautifully flowing gem of a book...." Read more

"...It feels more a dry and unfinished screenplay that was forced into being a book. I'm very disappointed." Read more

Reviews with images

Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

Report an issue

About Amazon
Investor Relations
Amazon Devices
Amazon Science
Sell products on Amazon
Sell on Amazon Business
Sell apps on Amazon
Become an Affiliate
Advertise Your Products
Self-Publish with Us
Host an Amazon Hub
› See More Make Money with Us
Amazon Business Card
Shop with Points
Reload Your Balance
Amazon Currency Converter
Amazon and COVID-19
Your Account
Your Orders
Shipping Rates & Policies
Returns & Replacements
Manage Your Content and Devices

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
Your Ads Privacy Choices

‘Circle of Hope’ is the portrait of a church in crisis, and the messy humanity that might save us all

Eliza griswold, a preacher’s daughter and a poet, brings grace and precision to a painful story..

The cover to “Circle of Hope” and author Eliza Griswold.

When you hear that someone is an Evangelical Christian, what kind of person do you picture? A white Republican in a red state, a conservative homeschooler, a judgmental and perhaps bigoted individual who rejects science and other products of the human mind? A hypocritical preacher on television who gets rich off a credulous, benighted audience?

In “ Circle of Hope ,” Eliza Griswold points out that although that sort of Evangelical gets all the media and political attention, another type exists — and has for centuries. The church Griswold profiles here, founded in Philadelphia in the mid-1990s by a married couple, Rod and Gwen White, grew out of a combination of the midcentury American evangelism of Billy Graham and the Young Life movement — youthful, enthusiastic, Jesus-focused, and highly influential as Rod and Gwen entered college in 1970s California.

“Coming to Christ blew the doors off my life,” Gwen told Griswold, and after she met and married Rod, a fellow Jesus follower, the pair founded a Christian community. They sought and secured an organizational affiliation with the Brethren in Christ, an Anabaptist order that shared the Whites’ commitment to a nonhierarchical “priesthood of all believers” and the notion that followers of Christ ought to serve their fellow human beings with love, creating a beloved community, building the kingdom of heaven on Earth.

At first, Circle of Hope thrived and grew. Its ethos of radical inclusion attracted neighborhood punks and addicts, while forging a core membership of “Gen Xers and millennials who’d been hurt by organized religion or who rejected their parents’ Republican politics and rural churches, and were seeking more authentic ways to follow Jesus.” Congregants and curious others joined “cells,” small groups to foster communication and fellowship — “like being in therapy with Jesus,” as one member put it — and were empowered to create their own projects, from organized childcare sharing to a successful local thrift store. Membership swelled to 700 regular churchgoers, and Rod and Gwen spun off new outposts. By the time the pair stepped down from their official roles at the head of Circle in 2015, there were four congregations (three in Philadelphia and one in Camden, N.J.) each led by a devoted young pastor.

It’s this quartet — Ben (the Whites’ youngest son), Rachel, Julie, and Jonny — who agreed to be profiled by Griswold, a New Yorker staff writer, poet, and daughter of a past Bishop of the Episcopal Church. If any reporter could immerse herself with deep understanding and experience into a project like this one, it is surely Griswold, whose commitment to nonjudgmental empathy glows on every page.

But this is no mere chronicle of what happens when Circle begins to fall apart, riven by internal debates about how much to engage in political activism, how to genuinely pursue antiracism and LGBTQ affirmation, and whether it can continue to exist as a church at all. “Amid moments of transcendence, almost every religious community has to contend with a leaky roof,” Griswold writes. “Inevitably the outside world bears down.” Circle, as for so many organizations in the past eight years, faced a perfect storm of quickly shifting politics, pandemic shutdowns, and new understandings of how to address societal injustices that seemed fairly easily sidestepped among well-meaning do-gooders, until they weren’t.

The real gift of the book is how Griswold is able to construct a taut narrative of the missteps and blowups among the four pastors, deftly tease out the modern dilemmas they face, and create a truly moving character study of the pastors themselves, along with Rod and Gwen and some of the church’s other members. There isn’t just one crisis (there never is), but one primary battle is over Rod and Gwen’s continuing influence post-retirement — this puts Ben, who presents as a skater dude but is also a deeply soulful hospital chaplain — in a terrible position.

Even more consequentially, Circle splinters over race: When Jonny, whose heritage is Egyptian, and other members of color report incidents and evidence of white supremacy, many white members (and the Whites) respond defensively. (After it’s all over, one of Ben’s brothers remarks that “my parents were crucified on the cross of wokeness.”) Rachel and Julie each find themselves yearning for a different way to lead, and to serve — and both resent it when their voices are drowned out by male loudness.

It’s nearly miraculous how Griswold manages to present everybody involved as neither villains nor heroes and heroines. “Circle of Hope” is a pleasure to read, despite the pain it often witnesses. “Churches are messy places where people seek many things, among them a common understanding of something larger than they are, of God,” Griswold writes. “This can be a beautiful, courageous endeavor that, in its effort to do right, usually goes wrong.”

Trying, failing, and then trying again — to do the right thing, to be a good person, to reconcile the quotidian and the transcendent — what could be more perfectly, messily human?

CIRCLE OF HOPE: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church

By Eliza Griswold

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 352 pages, $30

Kate Tuttle edits the Globe’s Books section.

COMMENTS

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF
A compelling portrait of the Chinese diaspora experience that doesn't quite land as either literary fiction or thriller. A debut novel calls out institutionalized imperialism in the Western world. While working at Harvard's Sackler Museum, Will Chen, a senior majoring in art history, witnesses a robbery of Chinese art.
'Portrait of a Thief' Review: A Gripping Heist Novel About ...
In this way the book itself is a reach, from Li, using fiction to imagine a new and more righteous future. Portrait of a Thief's publication comes at a time when many museums in the West are being confronted with questions of ethics; Egypt and India have joined Greece in demanding repatriation of stolen works from Britain. The book embodies ...
Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
I picked up Grace D. Li's Portrait of a Thief expecting a fast-paced, exciting crime thriller with characters who felt close enough to me in the Asian American immigrant experience to be almost instinctively relatable. What I got instead was a slow burn look into the minds of five relatively privileged Chinese American college students—all around the age of twenty-one—as they grapple ...
Portrait of a Thief
Praise for Portrait of a Thief "A number of heist and con artist novels published this year grappled with larger socioeconomic and racial injustice. The best and most entertaining of these was Grace D. Li's debut, Portrait of a Thief, which juxtaposes thrilling international antiquities heists against a layered examination of what it is to ...
Portrait of a Thief
Book Review. Portrait of a Thief is a unique debut novel that explores identity, the Chinese diaspora, and the last effects of colonialism through a story of an unlikely, inexperienced group of college students undertaking major art heists. When it came to reviewing this book, I had a lot to digest. I was excited to read a heist novel that dove ...
Book Marks reviews of Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
The novel wraps too neatly when the crew finds a way to repatriate the stolen art without actually visiting all five museums. But there's nevertheless something gratifying about justice served, especially when long overdue. In Portrait of a Thief, Li invites readers along for a ride in the crew's roving getaway car, promising breathtaking ...
Portrait of a Thief: A Novel
—New York Times Book Review Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world ...
Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Portrait of a Thief: A Novel
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Portrait of a Thief: ... Portrait of a Thief is the story of a Chinese American seeking to restore pieces of his heritage to their rightful place at great personal risk, while recruiting others to do the same. ... As I write this review, trying and failing to do this book justice, my heart ...
Portrait of a Thief: A Novel
—New York Times Book Review Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity History is told by the conquerors.
Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
But as I was soon to discover, Portrait of a Thief is more than just a witty heist novel. I believe the most accurate description is that it is a quiet, intelligent novel about identity, culture, and, honestly, ethical dilemmas of art. Portrait of a Thief covers the life of six different college students as they work together to steal back some ...
PORTRAIT OF A THIEF
A compelling portrait of the Chinese diaspora experience that doesn't quite land as either literary fiction or thriller. A debut novel calls out institutionalized imperialism in the Western world. While working at Harvard's Sackler Museum, Will Chen, a senior majoring in art history, witnesses a robbery of Chinese art.
How a Stanford med student used her experiences to write a heist caper
Frustrated, the 26-year-old Stanford medical student turned to a passion project waiting on her computer: a novel she had started a few years earlier. The result is " Portrait of a Thief ," a ...
Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Overall. Portrait of a Thief is part heist and part Chinese American experience. It takes five college students from different Chinese American backgrounds and gives them the chance to steal five fountainheads stolen from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing for a wealthy Chinese CEO. While their motivations to take part were a bit on the flimsy ...
Book Review: Portrait of A Thief (2022) by Grace D. Li
Portrait of a Thief - Tiny Reparations Books - 384 pages - April 5th, 2022 - $26.00 (Hardcover) The focus of this story is not the robberies themselves, although they are adrenaline-charging. Instead, this is a purely character-driven feast. All are tied together not only by mutual connections with Will Chen himself but also by their ...
Portrait of a Thief (book)
Portrait of a Thief is the 2022 debut novel by Chinese American author Grace D. Li.It is on the New York Times Best Seller list and named a New York Times Best Crime Novel of 2022. Netflix acquired the rights to the book, and it is in development as a television series.. The novel combines elements of an art heist of looted art with an examination of Chinese American identity.
Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
From early on in Portrait of a Thief (2022), American author Grace D. Li captures the idealism of her college-age protagonists, as well as how precarious this idealism this can be when faced with conflicts arising from societal pressures and their Chinese diaspora identities.This unique perspective shapes the novel's fascinating exploration of imperialism and the ownership of historical ...
They Were College Friends. Now They're Art Thieves
Grace D. Li's debut, "Portrait of a Thief," is both a heist novel and a reckoning. ... critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review.
Portrait of a Thief
Instant NYT Bestseller • NPR's Books We Love • Steph Curry Book Club Pick . Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums, about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity.
Put That Thing Back Where It Came From: A Review of Portrait of a Thief
A heist book relies heavily on descriptions. Readers need to know all the details the main characters are picking up on. They need to know where security cameras are, the escape routes, every single part of the plan; these are all necessary details in heist books. Yet Portrait of a Thief lacks these details. It detracts from the story.
Book Review: Portrait of a Thief
Portrait of a Thief is the Chinese-American diaspora art heist that I never knew I needed. To be truthful, the heists in this novel are secondary. Li's debut novel is really an exploration of the impact of colonisation and the melancholic experience of diaspora.
Book Review: Portrait of a Thief
—New York Times Book Review. Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity. History is told by the conquerors.
Book Review: 'Hum,' by Helen Phillips
100 Best Books of the 21st Century: As voted on by 503 novelists, nonfiction writers, poets, critics and other book lovers — with a little help from the staff of The New York Times Book Review ...
An Olympics Scene Draws Scorn. Did It Really Parody 'The Last Supper
The drag queens' poses also resembled those of Jesus' disciples, he said, adding that the scene was a "very, very sacred image" to Christians as it represented the moment that Jesus ...
'Frederick Douglass: A Novel' paints a picture of the man behind the myth
Frederick Douglass, the legendary abolitionist and orator, has long shaped American thought. In this novel, readers get a deeper portrait of a complex man.
'Mrs. Bridge': Unconventional Portrait of a Conventional Life
Evan S. Connell's wry novel about a Kansas City housewife is a compelling vision of suburban conformity, enhanced by the writer's offbeat style and profound sense of empathy.
Amazon.com: Portrait of a Thief: A Novel eBook : Li, Grace D.: Books
—New York Times Book Review Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell in Portrait of a Thief, a lush, lyrical heist novel inspired by the true story of Chinese art vanishing from Western museums; about diaspora, the colonization of art, and the complexity of the Chinese American identity History is told by the conquerors. Across the Western world ...
Eliza Griswold draws deft "Circle of Hope"
BOOK REVIEW 'Circle of Hope' is the portrait of a church in crisis, and the messy humanity that might save us all Eliza Griswold, a preacher's daughter and a poet, brings grace and precision ...

In ‘Portrait of a Thief,’ Chinese American Students Scheme to Steal Back Looted Art

Thanks for signing up for the newsletter.

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Our Most Anticipated Reads: August 2024

Read Between the Spines

Grace D. Li

Publisher’s Synopsis

Book Review

Portrait of a Thief

Share this:

Portrait of a Thief

Embed our reviews widget for this book

Get the Book Marks Bulletin

Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Share this:

Published by Delaney

2 thoughts on “ Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li ”

Leave a comment Cancel reply

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF

IT STARTS WITH US

THE SUMMER PACT

Please select an existing bookshelf

Please sign up to continue.

Almost there!

Sign in using your Kirkus account

How a Stanford med student used her experiences to write a heist caper and score a Netflix deal

10 books to add to your reading list in April

Book club: How to find great poetry in L.A.

More to Read

A homecoming tale from a MacArthur ‘genius’ resists tropes of immigrant life

Review: In ‘Confessions of a Good Samaritan,’ a cheeky documentarian tests her own altruism

An ex-talent agent’s journey from Kashmir to Hollywood (and 32 addresses along the way)

More From the Los Angeles Times

How to accept being ‘a fat person’ and quiet your inner critic

Francine Pascal, creator of the beloved ‘Sweet Valley High’ books, dies at 92

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis’ ‘Warriors’ will be a concept album, not a stage musical

Kathie Lee Gifford hospitalized with broken pelvis after hip replacement

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Extended Thoughts

Pin this! (mostly a reminder to myself, but also an invitation to you!)

If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing:

7 thoughts on “ Book Review: Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li ”

Chat with me Cancel reply

BOOK REVIEW: PORTRAIT OF A THIEF (2022) BY GRACE D. LI – A HEIST OF THE HEART

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Put That Thing Back Where It Came From: A Review of Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li

Recent Posts

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief

you’ll also love

Join the List

Reader Interactions

Book Review: The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden

Book Review: Portrait of a Thief

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

An Olympics Scene Draws Scorn. Did It Really Parody ‘The Last Supper’?

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Your subscription makes our work possible.

Deepen your worldview with Monitor Highlights.

Select free newsletters:

‘Frederick Douglass: A Novel’ paints a picture of the man behind the myth

Help fund Monitor journalism for $11/ month

Unlimited digital access $11/month.

Digital subscription includes:

Related stories

Give us your feedback

Subscription expired

Session expired

No subscription

Buy for others

Sorry, there was a problem.

Image Unavailable

Follow the authors

Portrait of a Thief: A Novel Kindle Edition

Customers who bought this item also bought

Get to know this book

Popular highlight

Editorial Reviews

Product details

About the authors

Grace D. Li