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

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 that has always been his parents’ American Dream. But when a shadowy Chinese corporation 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 conman: Irene Chen, Will’s sister and 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 student 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.

With poetic language, a fun, commercial hook, and a plot that spans the Western world, Portrait of a Thief is both a cultural heist and an examination of the Chinese American identity, as well as a necessary critique of the lingering effects of colonialism that readers won’t want to miss.

• Title: Portrait of a Thief
• Author:  Grace D. Li 
• Publisher: Tiny Reparations Books
• Publication Date: April 5th, 2022
• Genre: Contemporary 
• Source: ARC provided by Publisher in exchange for an honest review, via Netgalley  
• Targeted Age Range: Adult
• Content Warnings: Death of a parent, hospitalization of a grandparent (minor), grief, violence, weapon descriptions 
• Rating: ★★★★★

One of my favorite films growing up was William Wyler’s How To Steal a Million (1966), which stars Audrey Hepburn and Peter O’Toole, and so I’ve always loved heist stories, especially when they’re centered around art heists. Which is why it’s no surprise that I absolutely loved Portrait of a Thief. 

Written by Grace Li, Portrait of a Thief is a multi-POV contemporary debut masterpiece with anti-imperialist themes. When Harvard senior Will Chen is approached with an offer to steal back five Chinese sculptures that were stolen from Beijing centuries ago, he finds himself unable to say no — after all, what wouldn’t you do for ten million dollars? As their fearless leader, Will’s band of merry men is made up of what seems to be every heist archetype — his sister, Irene Chen, as the conman, his best friend, Daniel Liang as their thief, Lily Wu, Irene’s roommate and friend as their getaway car driver, and Alex Huang, their hacker. While they each have their own motivations for joining, and their own dreams about how to spend that ten million dollars if they succeed, the very core of their reasoning is this: correcting history, and trying to connect to their culture in any way they can.

While Portrait of a Thief is a heist novel, it’s more so a coming-of-age story, a story about identity and culture, and a story about friendship. It isn’t so much about the heist itself as it is about our main characters, and their journey. In that sense, it reminds me of Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle, where we’re more sucked into the series for the characters and their growth, their dynamics, and their relationships, rather than the quest itself. The charm of Portrait of a Thief lies in the characters, and the dynamics between them. I truly loved reading about their backgrounds, their families, their motivations, and the things that lead them to say yes. What’s most interesting to me, is that of all the reasons to say yes to the heist, the money factor was always a part of it, but never the most dominant reason. 

It’s hard to write this review without oversharing, and I admittedly am incredibly biased towards this book, given how much it resonated with me. Reading Portrait of a Thief felt like reading my own diary entries, only those entries were folded in between a found-family art heist story, where five Chinese American college students stole back looted Chinese art from western museums. I loved how it portrayed the experience of being an immigrant/a diaspora kid, the worries, burdens, and pressure that comes with it. One of the things I appreciated the most was how there wasn’t one overarching, universal experience — just like how it is in real life. There were so many lines that struck a chord within me and resonated so deeply. I saw myself in Will, with his love for beautiful things, his rage towards colonization, and his drive to set things right; I understood Irene’s eldest daughter syndrome, I saw my family in Lily, and the way her parents rarely talked about the way things used to be. I recognized Alex and her family in my own family, and in the busy restaurants of Chinatown that I frequent. But most of all, I saw myself in Daniel, and the complex feelings he felt towards ‘home’. Like all other heist stories, I really had to suspend my disbelief for Portrait of a Thief, but I think it makes sense that the events play out the way it does. I would’ve loved for Portrait of a Thief to be longer, and would do anything for more content. Although it wraps up neatly, I think Portrait would have benefited if it had been published as a duology, or was longer, which would’ve given it more room for character development and growth. As a reader, I always find it difficult to say goodbye to characters and stories, and so I always want more. 

In all honesty, unless you’re also a diaspora kid, I don’t think this book will touch you the way it did for me. But Portrait of a Thief crept into the deepest parts of my soul, and found a home there, and I hope you’ll love it as much as I did.

Links for Portrait of a Thief: Goodreads | TheStorygraph | Bookshop | IndieBound