The novel’s selling point of an amateur team of Chinese-American college students embarking on a grand heist to rightfully steal back precious pieces of art lost to colonization was an easy grab for me. Yet, the heist served secondary to the rich character development and exploration of loss, longing, and what it means to belong that this novel delivered. Although slow-paced at times, and the details of the heists were a bit lacking, it won me over with its characters’ stories of what they would risk for a chance at something more. Overall, I really enjoyed this read, the characters felt so real to me - I’m impressed with how Li was able to skillfully balance five different POVs while still giving us fleshed out, dynamic characters and interactions.

Netflix has already signed on to adapt this novel, and although I look forward to seeing the heist and race scenes more properly developed, I hope it does not come at the cost of the characters’ depth and growth in the book.

happy pub day to PORTRAIT OF A THIEF by @gracedli! here's a summary of the book:

"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."

if you're interested in art, art heists, the effects of colonialism, cool hacker girls, stories of the children of the Chinese diaspora, beautiful writing, or some combination of the above, this book is for you.

i found it a little confusing to get into for the first few chapters, but once i was invested, i was gripped HARD. the writing is gorgeous, almost out of place for my expectations for a typical heist novel. the characters - will, his sister irene, their friend daniel, irene's college roommate lily, and alex, a girl will went to college with - have such powerful stories. the wrestlings of chinese american identity felt so real, pulled out of what i can imagine is real understanding. as a first generation american who grew up feeling pulled between two places, i related to those parts. (and the acknowledgements section dedicated to grace's parents gave me goosebumps.)

i loved it.

if you liked six of crows, you need to read this book.

thank you to @tinyrepbooks, @netgalley, and @isabelrosedas for the advanced readers' copy. the book is out today. ❤️

This book is so, so good! Come for the heist story, stay for the found family and search for belonging. I loved these characters so, so much and would read many more pages. I'm so excited it's being developed for a series!

Well, this was a disappointment.
'
Concerning all the things this book promised, I could not get over how stupid all the cops are. I mean, the book opens with the main character Will Chen being at the scene of a crime of museum theft, and the police never check him for the stolen item. I knew I would be disappointed by the heist portion when he revealed that he had the stolen item in his pocket. Are you kidding?. The police openly suspected him when they interviewed him, and they never told him to turn out his pockets? And I'm sure how he handles these valuable artifacts makes conservationists cry.

I tried just reading for the characters because the heist is so poorly written while the characters are developed, but how magical everything is handled left too much of a bad taste in my mouth.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

The publisher gifted me an ARC, and Portrait of A Thief has become one of my favorite ARCs I've read this year.

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 one half a heist story and one half a story of identity. I enjoyed the theft but loved the relationships the characters built even more. I read this book for the heist and walked away with a deeper love of Chinese culture. If you enjoyed Oceans Eleven and literature based on actual events, then this is one to check out.

This is a great debut novel about a heist inspired by a true story. You follow five main protagonists that are college students, their goal is to steal five priceless Chinese sculptures from the museum and return them where they belong for a huge price. This book brings up the subject of museums having items that actually should be in their rightful countries in a great way in my opinion. The book is entertaining, a great blend of characters and interactions. If you like heist stories I think this one will keep you turning the pages.

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

Rating: 4/5 stars

Five friends—Will, the leader; his sister Irene, the con artist; Daniel, the future doctor with the precise hands of a thief; Alex, the (sort-of) hacker; and Lily, the getaway driver—form a heist crew to attempt to steal back priceless Chinese art once stolen from the Old Summer Palace. What follows is part coming-of-age story of identity and belonging and part heist novel.

My main thought the entire time I was reading was “I hope they turn this into a Netflix series” and it turns out they ARE, so first let me say how excited I am for that—while this book was fantastic, I am so excited to see these lush art vibes, captivating family dynamics, and sizzling romantic moments play out on-screen.

That said, let me repeat: the book. is. fantastic. It was a bit slower than I anticipated, with a fair amount of introspection from all the characters, but the commentary on identity and belonging and figuring out who you are as a young adult and almost-college-graduate is sheer perfection. I’m not a first generation immigrant, but can only imagine the added layer of meaning this book would have for me if I were. As it was, I still felt seen and understood in a way that happens only on the rarest of occasions.

If you want a rollicking nonstop action heist story, be warned that this isn’t it. But if you want a brilliantly written and highly relatable story with smart and well-developed characters, reflecting about politics, power, and the importance of art? Go grab this one now.

Recommended to anyone, but especially if you like: immigrant narratives; the intersection of politics and art; lush artsy settings.

CW: Racism/colonialism.

A good heist story is worth its weight in stolen goods, and Portrait of A Thief deftly delivered an entertaining con and poignant drama all in one. Think Ocean's 8 or Leverage, but instead with whip smart Chinese college students hungry for more than just a quick smash and grab. As soon as I heard the synopsis, I knew I had to read it and now I'm hoping someone at Netflix steals it for a Chinese art-themed homage to Lupin.

The mastermind, the con man, the hacker, the pickpocket, and the getaway driver: all archetypes for a great heist. But unlike most heist movies with the typical quick quips and shallow plotlines, the unlikely crew of Will, Irene, Alex, Daniel, and Lily, summoned by a mysterious Chinese CEO, is powered by personal yearning for family, belonging, and purpose. These are the most introspective wannabe criminals you will ever meet; balancing crime against commitment to returning lost Chinese art stolen by Western museums.

There is, however, an unevenness, to the storytelling. The tone and pacing veer from quick moments of action to relentlessly long descriptions (I really tired of reading descriptions of the sky) to endless internal monologuing. Uncertain whether it was to be thriller or literary, the story bounced about trying to find its rhythm. Perhaps it is the weight of the characters' determination as members of the Chinese American diaspora to right the wrongs committed against Chinese art and history by Western museums. but the theme of righting old wrongs gave extra layer to what could have just been a shallow tale of five college students out for a quick criminal lark.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li is centered on heists of Chinese artifacts that were stolen many years ago, and a group of five college age thieves (all Asian/Americans) who were determined to right a wrong, and give back to the Chinese their artifacts.

We meet Will Chen, our leader, who while working at night at the Sackler Museum, sees a group stealing Chinese priceless arts; he picks up a valuable piece they dropped. He then gets a note from one of the Chinese people who stole the artifacts, and the benefactor offers him a job, to steal back five priceless Chinese sculptures, looted from Beijing centuries ago. Will accepts and recruits 4 friends, each with different abilities to work together; the payout is 50 million dollars (10 million per). We meet the team: Irene Chen, Will’s sister, who is a very good con artist; Daniel Liang, a close friend to both Will and Irene, and the perfect thief; Lily Wu, Irene’s best friend, and the getaway driver; and Alex Huang, friend of Will, and is the hacker/computer expert.

All five of them made a great & complex group, with each being flawed and having different perspectives on life, as well as their hopes and future. I really enjoyed all the main characters, and it was fun to watch them risk everything to try to steal the sculptures in different countries. The story was exciting during the heist attempts, but without revealing anything to ruin it for you, things will change along the way. I will say that at times, the story was a bit slow, with some things being redundant.

Portrait of a Thief was an engaging, entertaining and somewhat complex story, that did keep my attention throughout. Portrait of a Thief was well written by Grace D Li, as well as an interesting story line.

Happy happy pub day to this stunning book. I heard the synopsis months and months ago and was immediately like I MUST READ THIS, and it absolutely lived up to the premise (which is fairly rare, IMO). What stood out to me most was how perfectly the author captures that end-of-college feeling of infinite possibility — wanting everything and being hopeless lost when trying to determine where to start. All of the characters are in their early 20s and so smart and yet so dumb (I say this lovingly), which is incredibly spot on. The book also deftly covers a variety of subjects, intertwining in fascinating ways. I loved the discussion of the diaspora, and how each character had their own unique feelings on their culture (or in some cases, their parents’ culture) — and then those feelings influence their decisions down the line. Speaking of the characters, I was pretty amazed at what solid personalities Li built up in just a few chapters, and how she played with their quirks and interactions with each other throughout the story. Li has a really interesting writing style, and I can’t wait to read more from her.

When given the chance to reclaim art that was stolen from your country long ago, would you? Will Chen is faced with this question when he witnesses a dramatic break-in at the Sackler museum. He then receives a mysterious invitation that could cost him and his friends everything, but could also bring untold riches. Portrait of a Thief is an action-packed and delightful adventure. I absolutely love heist books, but what I especially enjoyed was how Grace D. Li invites readers to face the reality of stolen art, diaspora, and the power of art.

All great heists need a crew and Will is no different. His crew consists of his sister, childhood friend, ex-girlfriend, and his sister’s roommate. Despite only being college students, they are college students who have worked incredibly hard to get into top universities and are more than up to the challenge. One of my favorite parts of the book was how Li writes beautiful sensory descriptions, particularly relating to light. I loved when she described how the characters were drenched in red sunlight, creating a striking visual picture and bringing in symbolism.

Amidst the excitement of the heist, Li manages to weave in open and raw accounts of what it means to be part of a diaspora. All of the crew members have different ties to China and examine what it means to them and their families. In addition, I appreciated Li’s examination of higher education institutions and the anxiety college students feel to perform/meet expectations to honor their families. As the heists continue and the stakes rise, everyone on the crew must decide how much of their future they are willing to risk.

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves heist books, wanted more from Ocean’s Eleven, and loves an unlikely crew working together to do the impossible. Portrait of a Thief is available now. Thank you so much to Grace D. Li, Tiny Reparations Books, Penguin Group Dutton, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on the publication date and I will publish it on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

I love this book with my whole heart.

Prior to reading PORTRAIT OF A THIEF, I had heard other readers rave about Li’s writing. But no amount of praise had prepared me for *this* level of gorgeousness.

Li writes in a way that makes my heart weep, the sheer power and rhythm and emotions her sentences carry. She captured the yearnings of the future, relationships, and connections with a familiar land that is too far away in the best way possible.

I love everything about the crew: Will, Irene, Alex, Lily, Daniel. The story hits all the diasporic feels of sometimes belonging in two places, sometimes neither, like you are not enough for the land even though you are. The five of them are strong yet vulnerable, ambitious in life, and carry the heavy weight of familial expectations as first- and second-generation immigrants. A full cast of Chinese Americans, each with their own complexities and dreams. And, of course, I loved seeing the sapphics living their best lives, the first time I saw two diasporic queer Asians falling for each other in fiction. I thought about the cast every waking hour days after finishing, and even now, as I write the review weeks later, trying and failing to do this book justice, my heart still aches for them. I don’t often fall for fictional characters, but Li has made me love all five of the crew.

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is less about thieving and heist and more about big dreams and family, diaspora and colonialism. It made me rethink my relationship with my homeland, my family, myself, and it also showed me what it is like to dream big again and live. The book means more to me than I could have possibly imagined before picking it up, and it is surely something that I would revisit again and again for the years to come.

[content warnings: trespassing, pandemic (covid), alcohol (recreational), past loss of parent, racism]

Happy release day to PORTRAIT OF A THIEF! Thank you @tinyrepbooks and @duttonbooks for the advanced copy.

Grace Li’s debut centers on 5 Chinese-American college students-turned-amateur robbers in a worldwide art heist to return looted sculptures to Beijing. The book is pitched as a sleek Ocean’s Eleven spinoff, but really, the thematic core of PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is diaspora and belonging. This is an ambitious project, one that I’ve been anticipating for the past year, but it unfortunately cooks on more burners than it can handle. PORTRAIT is unevenly paced as it attempts to navigate between these topics—while developing 5 first-person narratives—and Li’s writing often tells more than it shows. For a plot with foundations in the art world and with the group’s ringleader studying art history, I noticed that she was most comfortable in the POV of her premed character. I quickly harbored a soft spot for this character, Daniel, because his arc felt the most grounded, especially when integrated with the diaspora elements. I don’t blame Li for this because she’s a medical student herself (impressive!), but I was hoping for consistent, sophisticated writing.

However, Li’s style lends itself extremely well to multifaceted character development, and this is her book’s strongest attribute. Within a single chapter, I could be irritated by the exposition, and then emotionally bulldozed by the translocation of my young adult years onto the page. While the rotating voices tended to blend together, I enjoyed the juxtaposition of East vs. West and the Venn diagram overlap; yet, these detailed analyses on imperialism could feel haphazardly interjected into otherwise normal conversations.

Critiques aside, PORTRAIT OF A THIEF is a fast-paced debut that contains important food for thought. I still think it’s worth reading, but I would approach with different expectations than what’s in the synopsis. These poor kids think that they can plan to rob the Western world’s most venerated cultural institutions via Google Doc, but in the process come to terms with what was robbed from them. / 3.5 stars

Grace D. Li has created a cast of characters that make up a heist team unlike any other, with a motive I have never read before in literature. Colonialism and questions of identity are tackled with witty and sharp dialogue and a pulse-pounding plot. This book should be on everyone's shelves.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this title!

Portrait of a Thief is a novel chronicling the journey of a group of Chinese American college students who decide to take back art that was stolen from China and Chinese artists. I loved the themes of anti-colonialism and a little bit of dark academia. I think this novel is part of a new wave of authors of color telling their stories on their terms, doing justice to those who were wronged. I thought that the concept of this story was great and explores the motivations of each of the characters in interesting ways. I do wish greater focus was paid to the heists, as I felt those had the greatest potential for entertainment, but this was a great read nonetheless.

Come for the heist, stay for the anti-colonialism, Chinese American cultural identity, and friendship.

I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this novel — 5 Chinese American young adults stealing priceless Chinese art back from the western museums who have displayed it as their own for hundreds of years, despite acquiring it through murder and theft. This novel worked fantastically as a heist novel, but it is so much more than that.

Li crafts 5 wholly unique characters Chinese American characters, together portraying the complexity of living as an immigrant or child of immigrants in the United States. Through each of their stories, Li illustrates shared experiences of struggle in reconciling Chinese and American identities and living up to their parents’ expectations, while also highlighting that none of these stories are exactly the same. These characters, even written as archetypes of the stereotypical heist team, are multifaceted humans with dreams, career aspirations, and hobbies that need not fit neatly into a box (much like Li herself, a medical student who wrote a novel steeped in Chinese art and history). It was a pleasure to read the interactions of these 5 characters, to see them grow both within and together.

This book will challenge readers to rethink who owns art, who has the right to display it, and who writes our history. I cannot speak to how realistic the heist aspects of the story are, but this novel is so much more than the heist aspect. The heist is the plot, and thoroughly enjoyable, but the real power of this story is in its commentary on colonialism and its portrayals of cultural identity and friendship.

And as someone who often finds myself unsatisfied with the endings of novels, this one is absolutely perfect. I had no idea where this would end, but it could not have been more satisfying.

Thank you to NetGalley.com for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

E-ARC generously provided by Tiny Reparations Books in exchange for an honest review. Thank you so much!

4.5 stars rounded up. As concerned with art as it is with artifice, Portrait of a Thief is a promising debut novel that interrogates colonialism, Asian-American identity, and the American dream—all through a lyrically-written narrative that draws intimate portraits of its five main "thieves."

This was a great book. The premise and title captured my interest immediately. A medley of Chinese American students have been enlisted to take back Chinese art treasure that have been appropriated by Western colonialism. I really enjoy art history and definitely appreciated hearing more about these treasures. The art heist was cleverly handled by 5 brilliant students all given different roles in the heist based on their talents. Each description of the character adds to the portrait of who they really are. Was very engaged to see where this one was going to go. Did not disappoint.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love heist stories, I love art history, I love the idea of stealing back looted art, I love character-driven stories, I love stories about making connections and forming relationships and having hope in the face of uncertain odds… Yeah, no, this book had it all and I loved it. This book is written so artfully, and with this aching, longing, hopeful tone that makes it feel like a love letter or like a dead of night, sitting on the roof in the dark kind of whispered conversation, where you feel too vulnerable and raw.

The storyline is great. The planning scenes are great, the way the heist gets put together is great, the action scenes are great. It definitely scratches my itch for typical montage-y heist stories (my not-at-all-guilty pleasure). This group of college kids, planning an impossible crime by watching heist movies, sharing notes over Zoom and Google Docs (because how else are college kids going to do a group project?), and trying to figure out how to fit into their assigned typical heist roles, was perfect for this story. The exploration into each of them and their reasons for doing this, along with their connections within the group, felt really well done and thoroughly explained. At some points the descriptions for characterization felt a touch repetitive and redundant, but I think it was necessary in order for the reader to recontextualize certain characters after reading from the perspective of other characters. After all, one of my favorite things about this book (second to the writing style) is how the characters interact and how they see each other, how they both pull towards and push away from each other. “Portrait” in the title made me hopeful for some great characterization, and I wasn’t disappointed.

While I think the resolution came up maybe a bit too quickly, it was still a satisfying ending. You might need to suspend your disbelief a little bit for certain events throughout, but I think that’s the case for pretty much any heist story I’ve ever consumed, so. And anyway, I didn’t feel distracted by anything while reading. Overall, I’m simply in awe of Li for how she wrote this book, for evoking this tone and for putting words together the way she did. For telling this story in this way, for crafting a fun heist story along with a serious reflection on colonialism and art looting and the excuses from museums. For making it all fit together seamlessly, and for the truly beautiful way this book felt to read.

PORTRAIT OF A THIEF follows a group of Chinese American college-age friends as they attempt to solve the sins of past colonialism in a few bold moves. Author Grace D. Li has created characters who could have been her own college friends and a plot based on popular movies that have captured her imagination. This book is more than the sum of those inspirations and, as a first novel for the author, only indicates how impressive her talents are. The plot wanders at times and the characters can be annoying, but I assume the originals on whom they were based were also. That’s the point of friendships at that age; they are often fraught and based as much on proximity as shared interests. This book was well worth reading. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.