The Good Thief

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Did the author do enough research? Did she do a good job of making you get a sense of the time period, through skillful use of details and general ambience? Did the author call up a vivid sense of place or historical moment? Did she tie in the action to the larger political or social events of the time?

As far as the reader is concerned, this story is taking place in a social and political vacuum, in a non-descript area that has some trees.

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Ok, so maybe this is just supposed to be an adventure story that happens to take place in the past. But the adventure is not even the sort that we care about.

A band of mysterious men wearing HATS of all things! They seem to have an aura of fear around them, which is somehow connected to their HATS! The hats are totally irrelevant, as it turns out. Oh no, the main characters are robbing graves to make money!

Oh no, Ren stole something! But it's ok because he's nice to horses and thus not really a bad person at all! Ok, so perhaps this novel fails as historical fiction and fails as adventure. But maybe it could still succeed as a poignant coming-of-age tale? The only hitch there is that the main character never actually grows up.

By the end of the story, he's still a dirty orphan who mistreats his two childhood friends, still doesn't have a clear sense of his place in the world, and isn't nearly as moral as the author would have us believe. He's just a self-absorbed, snotty little kid. His coming-of-age consisted of learning that the moral rules of the real world outside his Catholic orphanage were more pliable than he imagined.

So he became a street punk -- and not even a charming one at that. That hardly qualifies as a poignant coming-of-age story, in my opinion. Reviewers kept comparing him to Huck Finn and Oliver Twist, which either means they haven't read the novels that those characters come from and just want to sound smart, or they think all boys who have adventures away from their parents are somehow all alike. So this book fails every test we can think of for the genres that it taps into. But, a charitable reader might think, perhaps the book has a good message to make up for it!

The "message" of the story such as it is is that people society normally considers bad like thieves and murderers and grave robbers can have good, warm hearts and hardy friendships. The only problem is that we never actually get any evidence that these guys have good, warm hearts, and their relationships with each other aren't very deep or meaningful. The only time the main character, Ren, is ever kind is when dealing with the group's horse. In fact, whenever the action is getting too "manly" or "rough," the author will have Ren reflect fondly on the horse as a way of making him a sympathetic character.

It's the classic "you can trust this character because they're nice to animals! But Ren is nice to horses AND he steals things -- what rich ambiguity! Oooh, and it makes a nice, catchy title for the book: Get it, because he's a thief, but he's also just a plain old good guy? The world is full of all kinds of interesting folks! But perhaps, you might want to ask, the story has a good villain? Well, I already mentioned the pointless Hat Men who stalk the countryside being ineffective and hatty.

But there's also a fat Irishman in a yellow suit who owns a mousetrap factory, which you know is evil because it pumps black smoke into the sky! You thought you had seen it all! This guy is like a mustache-twirling villain from a Disney straight-to-DVD movie about plucky children outwitting the rotund and mean factory owner, who stands there watching the mousetraps piling up and rubbing his sweaty hands with glee. He's about as flat a villain as you could ask for, and him being Irish, or the fact that he makes mousetraps, or his weird candy fetish, never actually have any bearing on the story.

And then there's the dwarf. The roof-dwelling dwarf who makes toys out of wood. The dwarf who serves absolutely no purpose in the story. I am at a loss to explain this character's presence in the story. He's the brother of a crazy landlady, and he eats preserves out of jars and reads fancy books in his shack on top of a roof. And I think I'll leave it at that.

I just wanted to warn you that if you do read this book against my warnings, be prepared for a Pointless Dwarf. Between the Irish mousetrap guy and the dwarf, I thought I might have accidentally stumbled into a piece of children's literature, despite the fact that I found the book in the normal fiction section of the bookstore. I think by "special appeal for teens and children" they mean simplistic writing that middle schoolers can easily follow and a plot that's about as rich and nuanced as a made-for-TV kids' adventure movie. Tinti's writing style is about as skull-crushingly pedestrian as it comes.

Here's my re-enactment of her narrative style for you: Then they did this. After that, they went here. Then they went there. Then they all did this. And then they found a place to sleep for the night. This book is amazing. Here are all the things that amaze me about it: I'm amazed it is actually considered an adult book; I'm amazed it made it through the front door of an editor's office and into the real world, rather than being quietly dropped down a garbage chute; I'm amazed that people including me have paid money for this book; and I'm amazed that reputable newspapers have given it good reviews and that some organizations actually felt it deserved awards.

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Aug 04, Laura rated it liked it. With an action-packed plot and a skillfully created universe, Tinti pulls her readers in to a story about stories—a tale in which the tale-tellers have power to create and re-create the past, all the while manipulating their futures. Ren, a clear analogue to the orphaned-boy-brought-up-by-hand type of character that dominates the novels of Dickens, Stevenson, and others, is all too eager to welcome his older brother.

Ren and Nab encounter a motley cast of characters during the course of their exploits: Though Tinti has created a compelling world for Ren, and smartly populated it with references to great adventure and intrigue novels of the past, the tale rings flat. The Good Thief has merits, and is a well-crafted, page-turning adventure tale of a type not often published today. Sep 17, Steve rated it really liked it. This was a book I saw Richard Russo recommend in an interview.

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Tinti tells it well. She managed to sneak in some thoughts on loyalty, commitment and morality, too. The pages turned all too well, even as I was dodging fellow commuters on my walk to work. View all 6 comments. I can not believe that this book was even published let alone that it won an award that gained the author ten grand. I think it may be the worst book I have ever read.

The writing was sophomoric, if that advanced. There was no character development there was no logic, and there was no context to the ridiculous and absurd story. There is nothing in this tale that makes any sense whatsoever. The author has failed to create anything realistic in this story. She offers details that might give the read I can not believe that this book was even published let alone that it won an award that gained the author ten grand. She offers details that might give the reader a clue about the time period the story is set but together they don't offer any more insight to the date the events unfold.

There is a wedding band inscribed with the year , there is a copy of The Deerslayer which was published in , there are many references to soldiers. Were they fighting the civil war? If so this story takes place in the s, but the only reference to the war is mentioning the soldiers. The author also places a street lamp on the road which would have happened after Period and politics always shape the way people think and their attitudes.

But the author fails to show the reader either of these. There is no explanation of why church goers would be so overly eager to give their hard earned money to a maimed child in the street. I didn't find anything in this story that made any sense. I kept reading thinking it might take a turn for the better at some point. I kept wondering how Elizabeth Gilbert, Janet Maslin and Ron Charles could say the wonderful things they said on the cover of this book. I'm still wondering how they could sing the praises of this book with a straight face but I'm beginning to suspect why they did it.

Though Janet Maslin's quote "with touches of Harry Potterish whimsy" has to be the most bogus of them all. I like dark and I am happy to enjoy well written stories where bodies are dug up from graves, where horrible things happen to people, where some of the characters are rotten, manipulating, selfish, cheating liars. All of those sound like fine ingredients to a potentially wonderful story in my opinion. This however was just horrid, it went from bad to worse with the author failing to make any logical progression in this absurd story.

It's difficult to really describe the awfulness of this book without giving some specific details. I'm going to have to offer some examples, so if you don't want to have any of the many surprises spoiled for you this is where you should stop reading. I made note of many things that just didn't make any sense in this story. It was almost as if the author wasn't able to create a plausible or logical explanation for events and so instead she made up things that were completely absurd.

Starting with the story that Benjamin tells father John at St Anthony's. Why tell a story at all? There isn't any need for the far fetched tale he could have just said that he wanted the boy as a companion. Then they tell Mr.

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Bowers the dentist, that Ren has a tooth ache and let him look in his mouth, why, made no sense, and was unnecessary. Ren trying to kiss the horse as they are leaving the sheep shearing field, Benjamin tells Ren to kiss him instead of the horse. Benjamin tells Ren 'don't let me down' but the author has failed to show the reader any type of relationship between the two characters or any reason why Ren wouldn't want to let him down. Tom and Benjamin send Ren off to deal with the corrupt doctor at the hospital alone. There is a big production about how the delivery of bodies will be handled and the doctor gives Ren the keys to all the gates.

Yet we later learn that there is a handy-dandy chute for depositing dead bodies and no key is required. On their first trip to dig up bodies they are able to dig up four corpses in one night, all supposedly fresh and oh, by the way one of them just happens to be alive after all and is wearing a purple velvet suit. Benjamin Tom and Ren take this man back to their place of lodging and keep him there.

He discloses to Ren that he is a murderer and then he goes downstairs and imprisons the landlady in a crate. Benjamin comes to her aid with another absurd story and the landlady beats them all out the door with a broom. And that takes you to about the half way point in the story. Pretty bad and it doesn't get any better. Overall a waste of time and money not to mention the trees that were sacrificed for this horrid novel. View all 7 comments. Dickensian in that there are unexpected, hidden benefactors and dangerous, illegal undertakings by a young orphan but it's shallow as a dishpan, don't expect any scope or depth.

I found this in the new book section of my library, maybe it should have been in the teens or kids section. I would say it was written to a junior high level Never could figure out what the era of the book was, one To seriously compare this to Dickens, Twain or Stevenson is like saying Taco Bell is great Mexican food. I would say it was written to a junior high level Never could figure out what the era of the book was, one chapter had people abducted by indians, the next mentioned accounting machines. I'm at a loss to understand the accolades this book gathered. Jul 23, Betsy rated it liked it.

This has lots of memorable characters and is chock full of violent and horrific plot points. Ultimately, I didn't feel that the narrative held together cohesively enough for me to highly recommend the book to other readers. I wanted to understand better why the main character Ren was so drawn to Dolly, the giant murderer or to Mrs. Sands' dwarf brother's character more developed? What was the motivation behind the mousetrap girl known as Harelip's helping Benjamin and Ren?

What was the deal with the rest of the mousetrap girls and the hat boys? As you can see, I kept reading because there were so many unanswered questions and memorable characters. I just wanted to know more about what motivated these characters and how it fit into the larger story. Ren's coming of age from Catholic orphan to one-handed thief was well done. I just felt that most of the other characters weren't developed to the same level. It is also highly possible that this just isn't my kind of book because of the violence and the unrelenting bleakness of the plot and setting.

Definitely a young adult novel, although not billed as such. This is like a cross between a Charles Dickens hard luck tale and a Stephen King creepfest. There's a chunk in the middle where it dwells too long on the grave-robbing antics, but otherwise it's quite entertaining. Worth reading just for the weird characters. There's Dolly man with woman's name , the giant murderer who sleeps underneath the mattress. Sands, the very tall landlady who says everything at maximum volume, even whe Definitely a young adult novel, although not billed as such.

Sands, the very tall landlady who says everything at maximum volume, even when she's deathly ill. And the dwarf who "drops in" heh heh for supper and socks. I really liked Ren, the scrappy little one-handed kleptomaniac orphan boy. He does bad things, but he has a conscience and is always trying to make it up to people after he steals from them or hurts them. Hannah Tinti has a bizarre imagination. I would read another book from her. Now I want to read The Lives of the Saints just to see what people can be made to believe when it's put in a religious context.

Aug 16, George K. Sep 03, Celeste Ng added it Shelves: A recent piece in the New York Times asked whether adult women could ever read like girls: This is a book that made me read like a girl. I haven't enjoyed a book so fully since I was about Aug 29, joyce g rated it really liked it. A wonderful tale with beautifully crafted characters.

Jan 13, jo rated it liked it Shelves: View all 5 comments. Jul 02, Elaine rated it it was amazing Shelves: Ren had no memory of his life before St. The only clues to his past is the initials REN sewn into the collar of his nightshirt and his missing left hand. One day a stranger, Benjamin Nab, comes to St. Anthony's looking for him, claiming to be his older brother, and reeling off a story of high adventure that explains both how Ren lost his hand and the reason he was left at St. However, Ren soon discovers that Benjamin Nab is not at all who he claims to be, but instead is a s Ren had no memory of his life before St.

However, Ren soon discovers that Benjamin Nab is not at all who he claims to be, but instead is a smooth talking con man that hopes to use Ren's disability in order to pull off more lucrative cons. When Ren decides, against his better judgment, to throw his lot in with Nab, he realizes that his life is never going to be the same again. It is a well-written, fast-plotted, thoroughly enjoyable read that holds up very well to these hefty comparisons. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this book.

Set in New England in the late s, Ren is a 12 year old boy who was left in an orphanage when he was an infant and is missing his left hand. One day a man named Benjamin Nab comes to claim him telling a wild tale about how Ren is his long, lost brother. The friars have no idea if the story is true, but they don't mind getting rid of one more orphan - so Ren is out the door with Benjamin Nab.

Benjamin and his partner Tom are pretty much I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this book. Benjamin and his partner Tom are pretty much grifters and will do anything for a buck. They feel a boy without a hand will serve them nicely as they swindle people out of money. They get into lots of scrapes, but the story of how Ren finds out who he is and where he came from is the best part. The author does a great job of putting it all together.

Thank you Goodreads for the copy of this book. Jul 24, Steven Walle rated it it was amazing. The Good Thief was an excellent read. In it a boy of just a few weeks of age was brought to an orphanage called ST. Here he grew up being badly abused by the Father and dreaming of the day he would be adopted. This young man was deformed, however. His Mother had cut his hand off so it made it almost impossible for him to be adopted.

Finally he was adopted and lived a crazy dangerous life style as a thief and grave robber. I will not tell the ending but it was amazing. I recommend all The Good Thief was an excellent read. But someone's already tipped off the cops before he even makes a move. What is Emily Mortimer Watching? So You Want to Be a Thief? Share this Rating Title: Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. User Polls Vive le crime! Which Jean-Pierre Melville film is your favorite? Learn more More Like This.

The Butcher Boy The antisocial son of an alcoholic father and a bipolar mother grows up in s Ireland. Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr. The End of the Affair The Brave One The Crying Game The Company of Wolves Edit Cast Cast overview, first billed only: Edit Storyline Set against the glitzy backdrop of the French Riviera, aging gambler Bob Montagnet is about to gamble it all on the casino heist of a lifetime; a spectatcular sleight of hand--two heists, one real, one not, but which is which? He doesn't want money. He wants what money can't buy. Edit Did You Know?

Trivia The cast includes award winning filmmakers: Goofs French police do not have jurisdiction in Monaco, which is an independent state principality so police from Nice would not be guarding the casino nor the villa. Why are the French so god-awfully bad at rock 'n' roll?

The Good Thief

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