This novel is something I want to love so much. The blurb is catchy and sounds fast paced and interesting.

Unfortunately, it's just okay for me right now. It's a little slow and just more far fetched than I assumed it would be. The characters are young and vibrant and yet so inexperienced and naïve that the idea that they could successfully pull this off just seems impossible. Their reasons for doing what they're doing are interesting to explore--and they're definitely fully explored, so much that I sometimes feel more bogged down in that than in the story of the heist.

I'm going to put this down and give it a few weeks and come back to it with the hope that it's just my frame of mind because I really want to like it.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Penguin Group Dutton for an advanced copy of this heist thriller.

Malaysian mystery author Rozlan Mohd Noor has a line in one of his books discussing the role of titles affecting how an person's job is seen by the world, "Like a graverobber is general, and an archeologist is a specialist". I thought of this line as I read characters discussing the appropriation of one country's culture and how many museums declare it part of a collection and could never conceive of ever giving it back to the country of origin. Something our protagonists in Grace D. Li's debut novel, Portrait of a Thief.

Will Chen, a senior at Harvard studing the history of art, is tasked with liberating 5 statues looted from Bejing centuries before. Chen gathers a team, in all great heist traditions people with a particular set of skills, but all young and Chinese-American. The gang has many reasons, the money, the thrill, a sense of belonging, a feeling of sticking it to the man. And from here high jinks ensue.

The book starts well with a smaller robbery that sets the scene and the character of Will Chen, but soon starts to lose its way with numerous narrators, repeating the same thing over and over. I like the idea that we understand the characters but, this makes the story longer than it should be. The dialogue is interesting, and the discussions of art, who it belongs to and when art should be returned, is interesting, but takes away from the story.

A great idea and a different kind of story, with characters you usually don't read about in fiction. They are interesting, act younger than I think they would, be that is probably me being a generation removed from them. I think this would be a very good series on a streaming service. The characters could all have an episode for themselves, and give them more a chance to be individuals. I am interested to see what the author, Grace D. Li has planned for the future.

Five Chinese-American college students set out to steal back illegally acquired Chinese artifacts from British, European, and American art museums. Will Chen, art history buff and mastermind. His sister, Irene, who can talk her way out of anything. Irene’s roommate, Lily, engineering student but also part-time street car racer. Will and Irene’s childhood friend Daniel, medical student who also just happens to be the son of an FBI art crimes investigator. And finally Will’s ex, Alex, software engineer turned amateur hacker.

I loved the plot of this book and was immediately rooting for the characters to succeed in their highly improbable heist. Art history buffs will love the descriptions of the museums and art and the conversation about how art is ethically and unethically acquired. But it’s also a book about the diaspora. Instead of reading one story from one point-of-view, you get to see five diverse immigrant stories all in one book. A character who was born in China and longs for the country of their childhood. A character who was born in America who hasn’t even visited China before and doesn’t feel much of a connection to the homeland of their parents. Characters that come from wealth and privilege and characters that don’t. Differing parental expectations. It all creates unique motivations to participate in the heist and a layered story. Some of the descriptions were repetitive and wordy and the pace was a little slow for my taste, but the ending was wrapped up nicely. Would recommend--3.5/5 stars.

What attracted me to this book was its premise: Chinese Americans plotting a heist to take back stolen art. It was a story that immediately had me invested. The future is bright for them but there is more that they want. The five characters each explore their place in the diaspora and what this heist means to them on a personal level.

Early on, I enjoyed the voice in the writing style. The book is very character driven, each member getting their own pov chapters and impacted my attachment to the characters varied as the story went on. Ultimately, Daniel became my favorite.

The book began to lose me when the heist became a smaller focal point of the story, replaced with repetitive internal monologues on diaspora and how returning the art to China will give them purpose. The lack of awareness in the characters' privilege became apparent. It was difficult to continue reading knowing that this is where the perspective was and would not progress further.

By the end, I was saddened how little of the heist was featured but happy the characters found resolution. It is a story about being of the Chinese diaspora, finding one's self, wanting more than what is known and the friendship developed along the way.

i was incredibly excited for this book but i found that like most heist books it didn’t quite do the complicated plot justice. the heist wasn’t as well executed as i has hoped in terms of writing and i cannot speak on how the cultural aspects factored in so i will remain silent on that. the plot is intriguing even when not at its most engaging which is a very hard thing to accomplish. i cannot say the characters and i connected which i feel dragged the book down a little. overall i would give it a read anyways but i would say it’s your average heist book and with average expectations it could be a great read.

This book started off interesting and I thought I would really enjoy it. But it quickly got to be problematic in many areas. I didn’t engage with the main characters and they weren’t very likable. The heist seemed pretty unconvincing and far fetched. The theme of diaspora is not one that I am familiar with and it was interesting to read about . This book just in general was a little bizarre for me.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A child of immigrants who majored in art, parts of this book were like direct windows into my angsty soul. I loved how Li was able to capture so many different viewpoints of being a first+ generation American, from Lily's initial apathy towards her parents' background to Daniel torn between two countries. I found the story engaging, and loved the relationships between each of the five main characters. I was particularly a fan of the excerpts where Will spoke about the pressures weighing on him as the oldest son of the oldest son, and felt those were handled very well.

Where the book fell a tiny bit short for me was the writing style; I'm such a stickler when it comes to multiple POV books, and this unfortunately (for me) fell into the case where the voices between the characters were not quite differentiated enough. So it always felt like I was in fact reading the same author, where I think the best cases genuinely put you in different peoples' heads. That being said, I still enjoyed the characters. Also, there were certain lines, words, or phrases that were consistently repeated throughout the book in a way that didn't necessarily feel natural to me, and it started to bug me after a while.

I'd definitely recommend this book to any fans of art history, Chinese history, heist movies, or the good ole fashioned USA Network hit White Collar.

Come for the heists, stay for the commentary on diaspora and imperialism. The author could have let herself get bogged down in precise details about how the heists go down, but she resists that temptation in favor of reflections on family, duty, and the costs of building a new life either as an immigrant of the child of immigrants. Each character offers different perspectives on longing and belonging. A satisfying read.

While the premise of this book was especially compelling, there was something about it that didn’t exactly resonate with me. I appreciate receiving an ARC of this book because it was my most anticipated read of the year. I felt the characters and their motivation wasn’t exactly fleshed out. I think this was an ambitious undertaking and I would love to see this as a tv show or movie but I feel like the storytelling has fallen a little short.

In Grace D. Li's debut novel, 5 Chinese American college students get wrapped up in a global art heist with the intention of returning stolen Chinese pieces to their homeland to right a few of the wrongs of modern colonialism. Written with copious descriptions of the sky, and lots of sentences that follow the sentence structure, "Paris was all_____", "the lounge was all_______", etc., I had trouble getting past the repetitiveness to fully be able to appreciate what she wanted and was trying so hard to say. The pressures the characters felt of being children of immigrants to be better than the best, to attend the best schools, have the best jobs, and to bring pride to the family permeated throughout the book. The history of the art and artifacts and the places from which they were stolen was interesting, but was overshadowed by the utter unbelievability of them being ushered out by inexperienced young adults who really had no idea what they were doing, but were merely figuring out along the way via Google docs and Zoom calls as they went. I'm not sure how prevalent street racing is in Durham, NC, but one of our main characters was apparently the champion and could race with the best of them all over the world, without even knowing the streets. With heist novels, there always has to be a suspension of disbelief to enjoy it, but this one was simply asking too much of the reader. The author is clearly talented and with the right editor will be able to reign in her writing to really wow an audience. Portrait of a Thief is just not quite there yet. Looking forward to seeing what Netflix will do with this storyline and these characters!

I truly hope this book is a book of the month pick, or is a book club choice. It’s amazing. Obviously by looking at the cover and and reading the synopsis I had high hopes, and I am happy to report it exceeded them. At that ending! I will be thinking about this one for a while.

Marketed as "Ocean's Eleven meets The Farewell," I was excited for this smart and tense heist thriller with a deep look into family ties. And that is exactly what it was, minus the "thriller" part. I was never quite hooked or felt like I needed to keep turning the pages in order to find out what would happen next in terms of the heist action. But that was ok - I was turning the pages for other reasons. I adored the relationships among the five main characters - Will, Irene, Lily, Alex, and Daniel - who each bring a unique skill to the crew who begin to steal back priceless Chinese artifacts from Western museums. I also loved this premise and exploration of art as power and the deeply interconnected webs of heritage and history and country. My only problem was the voice. All five characters sounded exactly the same. They each had very different family situations, issues to contend with, and connections to China, but somehow their voices all sounded exactly the same on the page. Their internal monologues could have been copied and pasted. This really bothered me throughout the entire book and if not for such an enticing premise I would rate this lower.

This heist book drew me right in it was so well written so tense,This is a book that kept me turning te pages late into the night .Will be recommending.#netgalley #dutton

I enjoyed this heist story, especially the Chinese historical aspects which was great learning. However I do think this book could’ve been cut down quite a bit. Would recommend for someone looking for an exploration of Chinese American college students reclaiming their history through art - I would definitely not recommend to someone looking for a thriller though. Very slow paced and holes in explanations of the heists.

Portrait of a Thief is a fantastic novel that examines themes of family, identity, and diaspora set amongst a glimmering backdrop of art heists, fast cars, and heart wrenching relationships.

While a bit slow at the beginning, the last 70% of the book is so utterly compelling I could not put it down. It was an honor to have my eyes on this a few months before publication, and I will be hawking it at everyone browsing the YA section at my bookstore.

I would liken it to a magical combination of The Inheritance Games and Six of Crows. Please do yourself a favor and snag this book when it comes out.

When I first read about this book when it was announced, I thought "This book has been written for me" - a heist-loving, fan of art history, child of the Asian diaspora who is constantly torn about identity - and waited for it so impatiently. It turned out differently than I expected: more of a contemporary novel than a mystery/crime novel, thoughtful and pensive more than action-driven. I wished for more action and plot, and for the book to fully embrace the genre, but I still appreciated that it didn't forget they were amateurs trying to do something insane and unrealistic. I do think this might play out better on screen - perhaps it'll balance out the plot and the internal elements better, and I couldn't help but miss truly seeing the visuals of a heist. Some of the writing is really lovely and the analysis and themes are intriguing, and while I agree with other reviewers that it got a bit repetitive, I really look forward to what Li writes next.

I devoured this book in under a day. The writing is luscious, full of lines that made me set my iPad down and rage that I hadn’t thought of them first, characters who i grew to love (I’m partial to Daniel and Irene), and, underlying it all, what it means to claim what is yours through the means that it was taken from you. I am a sucker for stories about the liminal space that first generation immigrants occupy, about how souls can straddle borders too, and I loved how each of the characters grappled with their shared experience differently. And of course. This book is marketed to be about museum heists, but it is the time between the heists where the heart of the novel lies, the weight of what the characters have to lose, what their motives are, and what they want for themselves outside of it. I can’t wait to see this one play out on screen.

Portrait of a Thief is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of novel. It’s the sort of story that can only be told by someone who understands what it is like to be Asian-American, what it is like to be Chinese, what it is like to see your culture stolen and taken and shown off. 5 characters, full of nuance and complexity, undertake a heist to return stolen Chinese art to China. A simple concept in theory, a deeper one in practice.

Grace D. Li constructs sentences that grasp your hand, your heart, your soul, and never let it go. Clearly, so many pieces of this story are taken from her own perspective. I’m not Asian-American, nor Chinese. Yet, I am a POC and the critiquing of Western colonialism hit me hard. For so many people, countless individuals, this story will ring true to its very core.

“Who could determine what counted as theft when museums and countries and civilizations saw the spoils of conquest as rightfully earned?”

I have never quite delved into the truth that is this: much of the art in the West has been stolen, and what does that mean for those from who it has been stolen? However, Grace D. Li handles that topic with so much grace (pun unintended) and thoughtful monologues. Every character has to grapple with discovering their own identity and meaning in this world of immigration and diaspora.

As much as I enjoyed the heists themselves…they didn’t quite land for me. I read a lot of fantasy, so I was okay with suspending belief. However, you have to suspend a lot of belief to fully immerse yourself into this narrative where five college students break into highly guarded museums. I think that the heist itself is unbalanced, unmoored, easily breakable. It only serves to support the self-reflective character arcs and the discussions of morals in the art world. If you go into this book expecting a heist worthy of Six of Crows, you will be gravely disappointed. If, however, you read this with the full intention of processing the effects of Western colonialism, I promise that you will be well-pleased.

I know that this review is vague, but I think that this is a story best experienced for oneself. It doesn’t have the strongest narrative, but that can be overlooked in light of its powerful meditation on deeper issues. Thank you so much Penguin Dutton for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review! Quotes are subject to change upon final publication.

I was so excited for this, but it did not live up to my expectations. At all.

Logically, it makes no sense. They were literally using Google docs to plan it out and they met over Zoom. I get that they're amateurs, but I just couldn't take them seriously. And why would a multi billion dollar company reach out to college students of all people, to steal something worth millions of dollars. Instead of experienced thieves, who they definitely had access to.

On the actual heist, I thought it was too easy. Everything was really convenient, and I never had the thrill of reading about a heist in action. I think that's mostly because there's nothing at stake. They just wanted money, and that's their only motivation (and that can work, but it didn't make sense in this scenario). The story also picked up really late, in the second half of the book, and "the big thing" never actually happened. I was left wanting more.

The characters weren't interesting. None of them really stood out to me, and they all felt very 2 dimensional. Reading about their relationships with China and their culture could have been so good, but their dreams and wants weren't enough for me to be able to sympathize with them. I did really like reading about Daniel's and his father's relationship though, and how grief affected them differently. I thought that was really well done.

And the dynamic wasn't the best. The author focused more on the romantic relationships (which I thought were totally unnecessary and added nothing to the book) than the group as a whole. Heist books are great foundations for found family and platonic relationships, but I never saw that in this one. I wish that there was more with the group as a whole, and I NEEDED MORE BANTER.

The writing is also quite repetitive. It didn't bother me at the beginning, and I thought it was really nice and lyrical . . . until I realized I had read something very similar multiple times already. I can't count on my hands how many times Lily's warm, summery hair and skin were mentioned, and the California sunset. However, I wasn't really bored throughout this book. I thought the writing was engaging enough, if repetitive.

So yeah. I didn't love this.

I love a good heist story, and this was a stellar example of the genre, and it was also interesting to explore what it's like for the children of immigrants to find their way in the world and deal with family expectations.