Winner of the 2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize * A Washington Post Best Book of 2008 * A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2008
Richly imagined and gothically spooky, The Good Thief introduces one of the most appealing young heroes in contemporary fiction and ratifies Hannah Tinti as one of our most exciting talents writing today.
Twelve year-old Ren is missing his left hand. How it was lost is a mystery that Ren has been trying to solve for his entire life, as well as who his parents are, and why he was abandoned as an infant at Saint Anthony’s Orphanage for boys. When a young man named Benjamin Nab appears, claiming to be Ren’s long-lost brother, his convincing tale of how Ren lost his hand persuades the monks at the orphanage to release the boy and to give Ren some hope. But is Benjamin really who he says he is? As Ren is introduced to a life of hardscrabble adventure filled with outrageous scam artists, grave robbers, and petty thieves, he begins to suspect that Benjamin not only holds the key to his future, but to his past as well….
This was a brilliant work. Very well executed. Complex characters you can empathize with. Masterful plot twists. Hannah Tinti manages to outDickens Dickens with The Good Thief, and I am in awe of her writing abilities. I'm recommending this to anyone who appreciates dark Lit. Outstanding.
writes,
The Good Thief strikes me as one of those books that you will either love or hate. Certain elements are remarkably well crafted but others just left me cold. I guess this makes it a great choice for a discussion group.
First the negatives: I am one of those readers who cannot for the life of me get into a book unless I can relate to and/or empathize with the main characters. In The Good Thief, Ren is adopted by Benjamin, his "long-lost brother" who is actually a thief/con-man/grave robber/whatever is shady and profitable. On their first night together, Benjamin talks his way into the good graces of an honest farmer and then proceeds to steal his only horse and wagon. Such an evil act so early in the book left me totally apathetic as to what became of him in the end. It also left me with no trust of anything that that he said later on which means I'm still not totally sure that what I thought happened at the end really happened.
On the up-side, Hannah Tinti has a remarkable ability to use prose to create stunning visual tableaus. One scene I found particularly chilling was where a woman exploring a mine discovered the remains of several long-lost miners, skeletons posed to suggest that they spent their last hours huddled together in the dark for warmth. While I couldn't bring myself to care for Benjamin, my heart certainly went out to the miners. Another scene reflected a darkly comical turn when the subject of a grave robbery woke up in the back of the robbers' wagon.
Unfortunately, the ability to write great scenes does not extend to tying them together into a seamless narrative. The end result is a choppy story with less than appealing characters. Ultimately, I really didn't care that much what happened.
writes,
That is not to say that this is a bad book, because it most definitely isn't. But the characterization and description and especially the plot was simply not that compelling to me. I finished the book but it was a struggle, even though it has some really lyrical writing in places. I gave it four stars because the level of writing was so good even if the plot failed to engage my interest.
