The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
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Book Reviews of The Good Thief
Book Review: Madcap adventure drives Dickensian debut
Summary: 5 Stars
An Oliver Twist sort of novel, set in 19th century New England, Massachusett's author Tinti's debut introduces Ren, a 12-year-old boy abandoned in infancy at the gates of an orphanage, missing a hand. "Somewhere between his entry into the world and his delivery through the door of St. Anthony's, Ren had lost it."
So when a farmer comes looking for a son and helper and his eye lights on Ren - the missing hand ensures he won't be chosen. Passed over boys grow up to be sold into the army, or so the rumor goes. To distract himself from thoughts of this fate, Ren has become an expert thief. "In this way Ren was responsible for most of the lost things being prayed for at the statue of St. Anthony."
But then along comes Benjamin Nab, a slight, handsome young man - clearly no farmer - who wants only Ren. He claims him as his long lost brother, orphaned in an Indian raid on their frontier cabin. Nab tells a rousing, bloody tale of violence and heroism, in which Ren's hand was lost but his life saved. " `I gave you to a wagon full of people returning east, cutting their losses. I asked them to put you in a good home....Then I went after those Indians.' " Now, parents' scalps retrieved, their lives avenged, he has come for Ren.
But it doesn't take long for Ren to discover Ben has a colorful tale to suit every occasion. Swallowing his disappointment, still longing for a family, he reluctantly helps Ben steal a horse and wagon from the kindly farmer who had recently passed Ren over for another boy.
They make their get-away up the coast where Ren is introduced to Ben's drunken partner Tom as "a gold mine." Ren's youth and missing hand provides sympathy, distraction and charity, which adds mightily to the resources of the two con men.
Still, selling opiated tonic for misbehaving children (a giddy scene of fighting boys, clever trickery, and mishap) is better than the daily grind at bleak St. Anthony's and Ren joins in with natural skill, reluctant enthusiasm, a working conscience and, most of all, a need to belong.
Desperate for money after yet another brush with outraged citizens, the trio make their way to gloomy North Umbrage where most of the men perished in a mining disaster years before. The mine has been sealed and the town is now dominated by a grim mousetrap factory, staffed by an army of uniformed girls in heavy boots living in rented rooms.
Ben and Tom have come to North Umbrage to engage in the lucrative trade of grave robbing. Innocent-looking Ren gets to set it up for them with the ghoulish but dedicated doctor. What follows is a harrowing and hilarious series of adventures involving murder, kidnapping, mayhem, and trickery, among other criminal activities.
Between narrow escapes Ren begins to assemble a family of the strange, the lonely and the wicked. This includes (but is not limited to) their deaf, widowed, amazingly efficient landlady, a dwarf who comes down the chimney at night, a murderous childlike giant and a set of twins from the orphanage.
Tinti's Victorian delight is melodramatic, funny and tightly plotted, with all the loose ends neatly packaged after a horrifying climax, which pulls out all the stops. Which is saying something after the highway robbery, rooftop chases and near-death experiences of the previous pages.
Ren is a charmer, full of pathos and cunning, with a strong, principled core and a capacity for love that binds it all together. Tinti has a lot of fun with her Dickensian eccentrics and scrambling plot and readers who enjoy old-fashioned adventure will love her book.
Book Review: A Classic in the Making: A Book for the Whole Family
Summary: 5 Stars
Pushed through the bottom half of the door of St. Anthony's orphanage as a baby, one handed Ren is raised by the church to hopefully someday be chosen as someone's substitute son or field worker. At the age of 12 it appears rescue from this child prison has finally arrived for Ren, in the form of a middle age man claiming to be his long lost brother. With a story worthy of Scheherazade, Benjamin Nab spins a fantastical tale to the fathers of St. Anthony's, enabling him to whisk Ren away, freeing him from the dregs of orphanage life. But unfortunately for our tiny ragamuffin, once down the beaten New England trail, Ren soon realizes this man is a con-man and not his brother at all.
Thus leaves the reader questioning who Benjamin Nab is and why he has chosen a one-handed crippled child as his own. The hilarious and precious adventures of Ren and Benjamin, swindlers, thieves and grave robbers, will lead you down a merry turn-of-the-century chase as they con their way into the various lives of the New England town folk, stealing, lying, bribing their way to fortune. Assisting the local coroner by supplying fresh bodies in the name of science, allows Ren and Benji to raid the coffin coffers that reap gold watches, pearl necklaces, pretty buttons and fancy clothing all to be sold and made profit from. Dead bodies come alive, (not so dead after all) coach and six chase scenes rattle and roll, fires blaze, knife fights and bar room brawls crash beer bottles over many heads, and a mysterious dwarf who lives atop a chimney, all spill out madcap antics that will keep you smiling from ear to ear and laughing out loud. Soon these two faux siblings endear themselves to each other, and create a circle with other found miscreants, including a gentle giant named Dolly, that all together end up calling themselves a "family". This book is about love, about friends, and about finding where your heart lies, the difference between right and wrong, and about revelations that people are not always what they appear to be, or who they say they really are. The Good Thief offers many surprises, curious and mischievous characters, interesting twists and a story destined for the "classics" section in future years to come.
A well rounded plot slowly builds from beginning to end enabling Ren to finally after many years learn of his past, his parents, why he was orphaned and what happened to his other hand. A rags to riches, tale of heroes, Hanna Tinti knocked my socks off with this magical story where little boys grow up fast and grown men act as impishly as the children they teach to be thieves.
The Good Thief is a fanciful literary debut that will delight young and old, big and small. A true adventure story in the style of Oliver Twist, a book for the whole family to enjoy. I know I will someday read this novel again, it's just to marvelous to not.
Book Review: Could Ms. Tinti Be The Next, Best Writer Of Our Generation?
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
There are few books and even fewer writers that can capture that "time-gone-by" feeling with words. And even if they do, they are often said to be mimicking "authors-gone-by." Dickensinian. Heinlenesque. R.L. Stevensonian. Twainish. We've all heard the terms. And although author Hannah Tinti has seen her new novel THE GOOD THIEF compared to these other giants of the past, she has no worries about mimicking. Her style is her own ...and it's really quite excellent.
The story surrounds an eleven-year-old boy named Ren who lives at an orphanage. Stunted by having only one hand (the other showing just a stubbish scar where he'd lost it as a baby), the possibility of being adopted is exceptionally low. But then one day a man named Benjamin Nab shows up and tells Ren that he's his long, lost brother ...even going so far as to convince the religious brethren who run the orphanage.
Ren immediately embarks on the adventure of a lifetime with Benjamin. Finding out that Benjamin is a con-man, Ren learns from him and soon becomes a con artist of his own. But at what cost? Initially Ren is plagued by his religious upbringing but soon hardens himself to the ways of the world. Benjamin and his drunken cohort Tom teach Ren how to use his handicap (one hand) as a means to help them survive ...and even prosper. But how far will Ren let himself go?
Digging up the dead for money, conning nice old ladies out of house and home, watching men murdered, and even encountering a dwarf, Ren's adventures lead him to incredible highs and lows.
Ms. Tinti is to be commended on her ability to make sympathetic characters out of the most loathsome of people. Dolly, a surprising ally in Ren's corner, is an unconscionable killer but holds so much more than just anger and death. His character is loving, a true friend, and a tough man to bargain with. Benjamin Nab is also believed to be simply a conniving man who will do anything to better his situation, including stealing, lying, cheating, and general debauchery. But he turns out to be quite a bit more by the novel's end.
This adventure story accelerates at a superb pace and brings back memories of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, but not via mimicry. The story is fresh, exhilarating and a sheer joy to read. Bravo, Ms. Tinti. Bravo.
Book Review: The Fantastic Thief
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
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 every 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.
Book Review: I was lost in Ren's world!
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
"The Good Thief" by Hannah Tinti was an interesting and quick read for me. I was quickly drawn in to the story and entranced by the world known by Ren. Twelve year old Ren has lived at St. Anthony's orphanage in New England since he was left there as a baby. The only knowledge of his family the letters `R', `E', and `N' sewn into his nightshirt made of good linen that he was wearing when left at the orphanage.
Ren has only one hand, the other arm ending in just a stump. But Ren has learned to be quite a thief with that one hand and can quickly pocket items before anyone misses them. Ren has been passed over for adoption by many farmers looking to acquire a child for their wife and an assistant for their farm work. When one day Benjamin Nab stops at the orphanage, convincing the clergy that he is Ren's brother, spinning a tale of how he fought Indians off who had killed their parents.
It is soon apparent to Ren that Benjamin is good at telling fables and that the one of him being his brother was nothing more than a lie. Ren, with his one hand, would be a good tool for Benjamin to steal money away from unsuspecting, empathizing people.
Along the way, Ren learns more of his mother and father and what had really become of them. He learns how he lost his hand. And he learns many of life's lessons along the way as well.
I enjoyed this book tremendously! I was engrossed in the story so much so that the pages just flew by. I recommend this book to anyone looking to escape into another world for awhile. Though there is some violence in the book, it all has a place and didn't take away from the story. This was a very well written book. I applaud the author, Hannah Tinti.
- 1smileycat :-)