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A senior at Harvard University, Will Chen is majoring in art history and aiming to work at an art museum. He’s Chinese-American, the older child of immigrants who want him and his younger sister to have the American dream. But when he witnesses a theft, a wealthy and powerful young Chinese businesswoman reaches out to him to become a thief as well. The goal isn’t simply to steal for money, but to steal back priceless Chinese sculptures that should never have been taken from China in the first place.
Will can’t resist the opportunity to restore these five items to their rightful place. So he agrees and recruits four people to help him. His sister, Irene, is charismatic and beautiful and can talk her way out of anything. His childhood friend Daniel, a premed student, can pick locks. Alex is a software engineer at Google; she can figure out how to hack. And Lily, Irene’s roommate at Duke, races cars; she’s an obvious choice for getaway driver.
If they can pull off these five heists, they’ll make history (and earn a cool $50 million). If they fail, they will disappoint parents and destroy their futures. And, rather than making history, they’ll be just another group of people who failed to take back what colonialism has stolen.
Portrait of a Thief is on its surface a heist book, but it’s more an exploration of Chinese-American identity and a critical look at how even today the spoils belong to the victors. Art is in the process of being returned to the rightful owners in the case of Nazi theft, for example, but many more stolen treasures from many countries/cultures are still sitting in museums and personal collections.
The heist portions were suspenseful and the conclusion satisfying. Armchair traveling to very different countries around the globe was a nice bonus, too. Overall, though, the book has a contemplative, character-driven feel, and focuses on heritage and culture. The five young people are all striving to find their place; as with several other books I’ve read about Asian-Americans recently, they say they feel “other” in the United States, but not Chinese enough when they’re in China. Readers looking for just a fun, fast, riveting heist book will be disappointed, but those looking for this mix of heist and examination of culture, history and ethnicity should find it really good.
Rated: High. Profanity includes 14 uses of strong language, fewer than 10 instances of moderate profanity, 5 uses of mild language, and a few instances of the name of Deity in vain. Three short kissing scenes, two between women. Content is actually quite minimal except for a few intense scenes where characters use strong profanity.
