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.Įqual 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. 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.īecause if they succeed? They earn fifty million dollars-and a chance to make history.

A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A thief: Daniel Liang, a premed student with steady hands just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A con artist: Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. His crew is every heist archetype one can imagine-or at least, the closest he can get. 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. 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.Ī 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. 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.

Portrait of a thief by grace d li