Portrait of a Thief
Grace D. Li
(Author)
Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERLonglisted 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.
Product Details
Price
$26.00
$24.18
Publisher
Tiny Reparations Books
Publish Date
April 05, 2022
Pages
384
Dimensions
6.1 X 9.1 X 1.3 inches | 1.3 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780593184738
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About the Author
Grace D. Li grew up in Pearland, Texas and is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied biology and creative writing. She lives in Northern California and attends medical school at Stanford University. Portrait of a Thief is her debut novel and is currently in development at Netflix, with Grace serving as an executive producer for the series.
Reviews
Praise for Portrait of a Thief This clever debut is an absolutely thrilling ride from start to finish.
--Buzzfeed News
"A tender and tenacious art-heist story wrapped around an intimate cultural history of extraction, Portrait of a Thief is a novel that names the unsutured wounds left by the violence of immigration, xenophobia, and diasporic longing in the lives of its Asian American characters, a story of the comradery of resistance and a testament to righteous grievance."
--Vulture
Li's novel is a love letter to the Chinese American experience, and one cannot stop turning the pages and diving further into the pull of crimes, luxury and college-age romance. The writing is beautiful, the characters are beautiful, the story is seductive. The sophistication of the narrative is far beyond debut novel level, and it will certainly be exciting to read Li's future work
--The Stanford Daily
Grace D. Li is a virtuosic storyteller, and Portrait of a Thief is the most exciting debut I've read this year. A thrilling art heist that grapples with the complexities of cultural identity and repatriation, Li's novel is an intelligent page-turner that will keep you hooked until the very end.
--Lauren Wilkinson, New York Times bestselling author of American Spy In this slick, dazzling, debut, the stakes are high and the writing elegant. Here's a story that offers not just adventure or a reprieve from the everyday, but big dreams, big hearts, enduring friendships, and the multitudes of identities that can exist within each one of us.
--Weike Wang, author of Chemistry This is the heist novel we deserve. Brilliantly twisty and yet so contemplative, with characters whose complicated backgrounds color their every move, this book will continue to haunt you long after you've reached the end.
--Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties Grace Li's thrilling debut, Portrait of a Thief, is a beautiful examination of identity as children of the diaspora. Through Will, Irene, Daniel, Lily, and Alex, we see their struggles to connect with the land of their parents conflicting with what it means to be Asian American. This fast-paced heist leaves you clutching the pages and rooting for the thieves.
--Roselle Lim, author of Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune
"A lyrical and action-packed tale of yearning, connection, self-discovery, and righting wrongs, Portrait of a Thief is a unique vision of what it means to come home.
--Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of The Violence "Portrait of a Thief was everything I imagined and more. The writing felt close and intimate and the characters felt like portraits themselves, bursting with life and delicately human."
-Morgan Rogers, author of Honey Girl
--Buzzfeed News
"A tender and tenacious art-heist story wrapped around an intimate cultural history of extraction, Portrait of a Thief is a novel that names the unsutured wounds left by the violence of immigration, xenophobia, and diasporic longing in the lives of its Asian American characters, a story of the comradery of resistance and a testament to righteous grievance."
--Vulture
Li's novel is a love letter to the Chinese American experience, and one cannot stop turning the pages and diving further into the pull of crimes, luxury and college-age romance. The writing is beautiful, the characters are beautiful, the story is seductive. The sophistication of the narrative is far beyond debut novel level, and it will certainly be exciting to read Li's future work
--The Stanford Daily
Grace D. Li is a virtuosic storyteller, and Portrait of a Thief is the most exciting debut I've read this year. A thrilling art heist that grapples with the complexities of cultural identity and repatriation, Li's novel is an intelligent page-turner that will keep you hooked until the very end.
--Lauren Wilkinson, New York Times bestselling author of American Spy In this slick, dazzling, debut, the stakes are high and the writing elegant. Here's a story that offers not just adventure or a reprieve from the everyday, but big dreams, big hearts, enduring friendships, and the multitudes of identities that can exist within each one of us.
--Weike Wang, author of Chemistry This is the heist novel we deserve. Brilliantly twisty and yet so contemplative, with characters whose complicated backgrounds color their every move, this book will continue to haunt you long after you've reached the end.
--Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties Grace Li's thrilling debut, Portrait of a Thief, is a beautiful examination of identity as children of the diaspora. Through Will, Irene, Daniel, Lily, and Alex, we see their struggles to connect with the land of their parents conflicting with what it means to be Asian American. This fast-paced heist leaves you clutching the pages and rooting for the thieves.
--Roselle Lim, author of Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune
"A lyrical and action-packed tale of yearning, connection, self-discovery, and righting wrongs, Portrait of a Thief is a unique vision of what it means to come home.
--Delilah S. Dawson, New York Times bestselling author of The Violence "Portrait of a Thief was everything I imagined and more. The writing felt close and intimate and the characters felt like portraits themselves, bursting with life and delicately human."
-Morgan Rogers, author of Honey Girl
