The Good Thief

I picked this book up randomly at the library and devoured it. There was not a dull page within and not one wasted word - a fault in which too many authors engage. The setting and time was well defined with action rather than endless description. The characters were rich and the outrageous events within the story were well presented in a believable way. This action packed adventure is a must read for anyone, young or old, who likes a good story. And who doesn't?

Author Hannah Tinti sets her novel in an America of a bygone century when the completely vulnerable had only the protection of the rare and random, caring human heart. Ren, an orphan boy with an unexplained missing hand, finds that refuge in the company of a collection of some of society's most broken souls. The Good Thief couples the boy's discovery of compassion and loyalty with the discovery of his own mysterious and tragic past. A ready-made classic, this story is told from the first-person perspective of Ren. Many multi-faceted characters with stories of their own enter and intertwine with his story as he is drawn irrevocably through his destiny. Suspense builds from the drum-beat of assaults on the reader's instinctual demarcations between right and wrong as well as from the increasingly precarious balance between the perils that befall the boy and his projectory toward revelation. As an adventure story with a clear progression of events related through the perspective of a twelve-year old boy, The Good Thief has been enjoyed by some of my more well-read high school students and older middle school students. The complexity of moral values as well as a fair amount of gruesome scenes might be too much for younger middle school students, however. Also, the plot does have an old-fashioned feel to it that reluctant readers may not have the patience for, even though the pace definitely picks up as the story moves along. I enjoyed reading it, and I would recommend it to adults, particular reluctant-reading adults who may be looking for a book to share with their children. Gaby Chapman

How do you tell a story? First sentence: "The man arrived after morning prayers." In this first paragraph, we are there with the man, his horse, and the boys. "The man waited, and the boys watched..." The second paragraph drops back to explain: "Men often came for children." There were some boys more likely to be chosen. There were others more likely to be passed over. "Ren was one of them." The third paragraph continues: "He had no memory of a beginning..." If you want to read a good story, The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, is the book for you. It is a solid, old-fashioned story-as in, something happens and then something else and then something else. On December 1, it won the 2008 John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize. In a New York Times review, The Good Thief was described as "an American Dickensian tale with touches of Harry Potterish whimsy, along with a macabre streak of spooky New England history." I couldn't put it down.

In New England at Saint Anthony's for Boys orphanage, twelve years old resident Ren wonders how he lost his left hand and who his biological parents are. He has tried to solve both puzzles for as long as he can remember, but has made no progress on either of his inquiries. He especially would like to find his family as he fears the Brothers who run the facility will soon toss him out into the real world. Adult Benjamin Nab arrives at Saint Antony with an astonishing claim that Ren is his younger brother. He backs his declaration by explaining how the preadolescent lost his hand and ended up in an orphanage. The Brothers feels good for Ren that his older sibling has come to take him home. However, Benjamin and his partner Tom are con artists whose newest ploy is to use a young angelic looking cripple to expedite the swindle. This proves quite lucrative as Ren takes to a life of crime as if he was born to it; Benjamin and Tom are family to him until they reach North Umbrage where everything unravels. This engaging historical stars three fascinating crooks with radically different personalities whose adventures in con crime is somewhat abated. Readers especially the young adult audience will relish Ren's escapades but also understand his obsessive need to belong to someone who cares about him even if that means criminal activities; this is similar to youngsters joining gangs. Hannah Tinti provides a deep look at THE GOOD THIEF whose psychological relational needs are the driving elements to this enjoyable nineteenth century character driven thriller. Harriet Klausner

I've always had a soft spot for literature and films that deal with orphans on grand adventures (film-wise my favorites are probably The Devil's Backbone and The City of Lost Children) and "The Good Thief" is definitely on par with the best of the best in the genre. Our hero is Ren, a fairly withdrawn orphan who is missing his left hand- he's not aware of how- who longs for a caring family of his own. His life in a Catholic orphanage/monastery is not easy, as expected, but also not tragic. It would be easy for the author to make it a maudlin tale of a young deformed boy under the rule of abusive priests- instead Tinti paints very character with empathy along with pathos. When a young man named Benjamin arrives at the orphanage and picks Ren out of a line-up with a story of them being brothers, Ren's hope overrules his suspicions. Benjamin weaves a tale of a father who lived a high adventure and the tragic (but exciting) circumstances that took their parents away. However, Ren quickly discovers Benjamin is a skilled liar, and instead of being taken to a warm homestead they quickly fall into a pattern of theft, law breaking and compulsive lies. From page one the story pulled me in with an almost old-fashioned kind of storytelling. Every character is deeply flawed but never wholly a villian, and the way Ren is almost immediately surrounded by a motley cast of characters feels natural. Everytime some awful event happened to Ren I was torn between wanting to cry out "Oh c'mon, give the kid a break!" and turning the pages even faster to find out how he'd use his bravery and natural intelligence to survive it. There are twists to the story, twists that felt like the weird machinations in life rather than manipulated fictional climaxes. Tinti leaves no loose ends, but every small ending felt natural and earned. The book has been compared to Dickens and I think that's a fair comparison, though Tinti has found a beautiful way of using centuries of storytelling to weave a tale that somehow feels both comfortably worn and very modern and unique. For those who enjoy well-told tales and dark adventures with a big, beating heart in the center- I can't recommend "The Good Thief" enough.