The Good Thief - SPOILERS

[Jess]

I thought the dwarf would turn out to be his father.

I didn't feel for/like a lot of the characters.

What are we going to talk about at discussion? With the author?

[elihoughton]

I liked it quite a bit. I think there could have been so much more. Not sure what to discuss, that's Jeff's bag. I did not appreciate McGinty's first name.

[Andrew]

In retrospect, it seems a little weird that Benjamin Nab would take Ren to North Umbrage in the first place. They could have run their scams anywhere. Why go to the one place where they were in the most danger?

One thing we might discuss is why orphans are so appealing as literary characters. As I read, I was sometimes reminded of when I was a kid, and I had this weird idea that being an orphan would be horrible and sad, yes, but also kind of awesome. In books like The Boxcar Children or a TV show like Party of Five, being an orphan meant that a) everyone found you really tragic, and b) you got to have all these cool adventures with your brothers and sisters and no adult supervision. The Good Thief is perhaps a big more realistic, but I think you still get a bit of the "Orphan Mystique."

[Jess]

This book felt a lot like a YA novel or something written back in the day that really wasn't meant for kids, but appealed to them nonetheless, like Twain or Dickens.

I guess I'm not really sure how to answer the question of why this book had to be written. I like it enough, but didn't get the sense of magic or thrill that I thought I would (or that the back cover copy promised).

[Beth]

I'm not sure I can argue that The Good Thief had to be written, but I don't know that there's a hard and fast answer to that question for the vast majority of books - or maybe not even any. I did enjoy it, though, and maybe that's purpose enough?

I actually didn't read any of the blurbs on the back until I was finished, but I thought the comparisons to Robert Louis Stevenson were especially apt. I'm not so sure about the word "magical." Maybe "whimsical" would be better.

[Girl Detective]

I found it a fun, fast read. In the interview with the author at the end of my book, she says the seed of the novel was "resurrection men" the grave robbers who stole corpses for money, so that seems an interesting fact on which to build a book.

That's also why Nab was willing to go back to North Umbrage--he wanted to get in, get the big money and get out--a classic crime theme.

I found the "hat men" terrifying, especially how the hat kept going even when its wearer expired.

It certainly left the door open for future books,while still feeling like it concluded the story it was trying to tell.

[kateherr]

Hey gang, sorry I wussed out because of the snow last night. If I were there, though, I would have said what Jess wrote here. It felt like a YA book, but not a good one like The Book Thief. It just did not pull me in.

This book also had the misfortune, I guess, of directly following The Road in my book lineup. And holy shit you guys, I will be there for The Road discussion no matter what; if I have to walk uphill both ways to get there, I will do it. If there is a nuclear apocalypse between now and January 12th, I will bring some canned peaches and ashy water to where Bryant Lake Bowl once stood, and we can talk about the parallels between our experiences and The Road. It will be terribly tragic and yet somehow a shred of humanity will remain. I'll probably cry. Even more than when I cried at the Cyndi Lauper concert.

[Carter]

Sorry I wussed out, too. Well, not really -- there was no way in hell I was battling my way over there and then being locked out.

I thought the book contained a good yarn. I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it. It wasn't really meaty enough for me to now be interested in reflecting much on it. And the writing wasn't compelling in and of itself.

Good audiobook for a long drive -- that's how I'd classify this one.