Book Club Read: The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura

Format: Hardback

Source:  Library book club

Publisher: Corsair

Genres: Fiction, Asian Literature

Publication Date: 12th August 2012

Synopsis/Blurb (taken from Goodreads):

‘The thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo’s crowds, stealing wallets from strangers, so smoothly sometimes he doesn’t even remember the snatch. To him, people are a blur: a sea of nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims. He has no family, no friends, no connections…

But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears and offers him a job he can’t refuse. It’s easy: tie up an old rich man, steal the contents of his safe. No one gets hurt. Only, the day after the job’s done, the thief learns that the old man was a prominent politician. And after the robbery he was brutally murdered. Now, the thief is caught in a tangle from which even he might not be able to escape.”

My Thoughts & Review

For September we had a choice of books to choose from for our book club read. We all decided that The Thief would be our read.

The Thief is a translated fiction novel that follows a pickpocket in Japan. When I started reading the book I was expecting some kind of mystery or even a crime fiction novel but sadly none of these came through.

This was a really weird read in fact I wasn’t sure what I was actually reading. It was fast paced and I finished the book really fast but at the same time I felt that the book had no real plot, and everything I read felt pointless.

I thought the characters would be more interesting than the plot, they also disappointed. They felt a bit dull and I didn’t really care for them. Throughout most of the book we don’t even know the name of main character, and then finally when it is mentioned it’s so briefly that I can’t actually remember it.

Overall, this was  a weird read, where I can’t really find anything good to say about it, but in a strange way I actually still sort of enjoyed it. This is one book that definitely has me stumped as I still can’t work out why I liked it even after our book club meeting.

My Rating

💙💙💙

Some thoughts from other book club members:

(Spoiler free thoughts)

“It was an interesting read, was good to read a book set in Japan”

“It was a little slow, nothing really seemed to happen but I still wanted to read”

“I didn’t like the ending, it made the book feel unfinished. Wasn’t satisfying enough”

“I didn’t finish the book, I had to re-read the first few chapters a few times, and decided to not read anymore.”

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? Leave a comment below and let’s have a chat.

Happy Reading!!!

 

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