The Good Thief

I read it from beginning to end without coming up for air. From the moment I met Ren I was hooked. The characters are flawed and dirty, but there is not one you don't feel for. The closest I can come to Ren is Huck Finn. He has a wonderful common sense when it comes to morality. He sees the good and bad in all he meets without judging. Like the stones he collected at the orphanage, he senses that once washed off and polished there is something worth value in all of them. Ren's world is drawn with rich detail. Not only will you visualize it but smell, taste and feel the surroundings. But Ren's tale never becomes bogged down by unnecessary descriptions. Tinti writes with a perfect sense of balance.

The Good Thief is a book different from my familiar genre of choice. Written by Hannah Tinti, it tells the story of a twelve-year-old orphan boy named Ren. He has no left hand. He has no family. He has only two friends at Saint Anthony's Orphanage. But he does have dreams. He imagines the affectionate hug from a mother and the strong love from a father. The only things he longs for are a family of his own and answers to why his hand is missing.

The boys at the orphanage live a terrifying life, knowing that if they're never adopted then they'll be sold (or "conscripted") into the army. Ren knows he'll never be selected; who would want to take a boy without a hand? But, to his surprise, a man named Benjamin Nab shows up one day and claims to be Ren's long-lost brother. Ren is taken in under Ben's wing, and they set off down the rugged roads of 19th century America.

The young orphan is thrown suddenly into a world of con-artists and grave robbers, quite unlike anything he's ever seen before. And it doesn't take long for Ren to question Ben's so called kinship.

Hannah Tinti spins a fascinating adventure through New England in old-time America. The characters, while somewhat clichés, are well developed, especially the protagonist Ren. His simple way of thinking is sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, but always truthful. The plot lacks any major sense of conflict and struggle, and instead seems to be a collection of several mini-conflicts (excepting Ren's past). The real beauty of The Good Thief, and definitely the best thing about the book, was the prose. Tinti's word choice was always spot on. I could smell the fish towns as the travelers rode through. I could see the body's decaying as the graves were robbed. She wrote wonderfully, and reading was always a pleasure.

As I mentioned, the only thing I could consider a problem for the book was that there really wasn't a lot of major conflicts to present themselves. No chief antagonist, if you will, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing. The somewhat clichéd characters could be a problem if you're readily familiar with Dickens or Mark Twain, but for me this didn't really bother me at all.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. When I break from the speculative fiction genre, this is the kind of book I enjoy reading. It's light and simple, but also filled with punches that easily rattle around the brain. It's refreshing to think naively as a twelve year old from time to time.

If you're looking for a short, simple read, beautifully written prose, or another orphan adventure story, I can easily recommend Hanna Tinti's The Good Thief. And where the plot lacks, the prose more than picks up the slack.

I think that one of the biggest drawbacks that this book will face is the constant comparison to Dickens' body of work especially Oliver Twist. I see the similarities and I understand why people are making those comparisons but I think this is a very different book than Dickens would have written. Tinti is no Dickens, nor should she strive to be. Dickens is a great writer and Tinti is not too shabby herself.

The story is set in 19th century America and begins with Ren, a young boy growing up in an orphanage. The monks who run the home are a bit neglectful but treat the boys well enough. One day Ren is adopted by a goodlooking and charming young man, Benjamin Nab, who somehow convinces the monks that he is Ren's older brother. Nab weaves a fantastical tale of how they got separated and paints himself in a heroic light. But to no one's surprise once he gets Ren away from the orphanage, we find that he is nothing that he has represented himself to be. The long and tall of it is that he is a grifter who seems mostly interested in making a buck by almost any means necessary, both legal and illegal.

Ren begins his new life with Nab and finds that it is nothing that he expected when he dreamed of being adopted. When Ren envisioned his life away from the orphanage, he thought he would get a happy life with a mother and father who loved him and gave him plenty to eat but what he gets with Nab is a life of tricking people out of their money and possessions, with his missing hand serving as a tool for sympathy. But despite Nab's obvious poor qualities as a father figure, he is not at all an unlikable character. He is obviously charming and is shrouded in mystery that makes you want to know more.

In one of Nab's many efforts to make money, he decides to become a grave robber. During this escapade, we meet Dolly. Dolly is a corpse that is dug up but then mysteriously becomes animated. I found the resurrected murderer Dolly to be a bit of an odd character and not in a good way. I felt that his presence brought in an unnecessary supernatural element to a story that was doing well on its own. He is a cross between a zombie and a robot. I think he was an unnecessary addition that did not do much toward moving the story along.

There is nothing in this story that is terribly original. Things get tied up a little too neatly and the end was a bit trite. But I still found it to be an entertaining story with many interesting characters.

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

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.

This book was pure delight and entertainment for me. It is one of the most unique and adventurous tales I have ever read. That is what makes a great literary work, in my opinion. When you add to that the incredibly original cast of characters, it makes the story that much better. First and foremost, there's a one-handed orphan boy, a hard of hearing landlady who SCREAMS EVERYTHING SHE SAYS, a giant of a man who befriends Ren, a harelip girl who works in a mousetrap factory, not to mention a dwarf. And that's only a few of the great characters in this book. And yes, there are many characters but because of their uniqueness, they are not at all difficult to keep straight.

There's a lot going on in this story of day to day survival and it all moves along at a rapid pace, taking the reader from one escapade to the next. There was always a sense of urgency that something bad was going to happen right around the corner, but at the same time, great friendships and loyalties were being made to settle the nervous energy. It gave balance to the story and, I think, was very well written.

Ren is a smart and interesting boy who touches the hearts of the people he comes in contact with. Benjamin is a scoundrel that I wanted to like from the beginning but didn't know if I could. I loved all of the adventures, even though some were creepy and I was completely pleased with what I thought was a perfect ending.

Young Ren lives a somewhat Dickensian life in New England during what seems to be the nineteenth century, at first in an orphanage run by Catholic brothers who will line up their charges now and then whenever someone wishes to pay enough to take a boy away (the girl orphans disappear somewhere into the hands of Sisters who live elsewhere). Otherwise the boys are fated to a hard life, sold into the army if they are not claimed by the age of fourteen or so. Ren remains unchosen primarily because he is mysteriously missing a hand, until a man arrives, claiming to be his long-lost brother.

Benjamin Nab may or may not be related to Ren and may or may not know why Ren is missing a hand, but he's certainly no more on the up and up than Ren, who has become a good thief, practicing nicking things while at the orphanage. Benjamin is a teller of tall tales and immediately uses Ren as a way to worm his way into the sympathies of various people he can fleece or steal or beg from. Benjamin meets up with his friend Tom, a former teacher who is frequently drunk in taverns. Ren's new life involves fake (or not so fake) Elixirs, Resurrection Men, an all-powerful factory owner and his thugs, more orphans and much more.

The adventures seem bizarre and picaresque, difficult to fathom where they are going or what it all adds up to until the very end. The characters are interestingly drawn but not terribly sympathetic. This was somewhat like reading _Oliver Twist_ without most of the romanticism or an ending with a wealthy family and comfort to relieve all the depictions of the dark and dangerous life in the underworld. It perhaps is a tale more suited to our times with moral ambiguity, dysfunctional societies and families and lives, and a focus more on surviving than reflection.

I'm writing this review months after finishing the book. It was definitely one of my favorite reads in the past few months. If you enjoy escaping into another time and place with characters you can love or hate, then this book does the trick.

I read this book as a test of my interest in reading books taken out from the Library. I finished it much sooner than expected. It was a very good read, despite what some of the reviewers said about it.

I suppose if you're a reader like me who enjoys that Dickens style of descriptive writing, it would be a treasure. The story is very much a Dickens invention; Orphan taken out into the world, seeing all the cruelties of life. You end up rooting for the bad guys knowing that their really the good guys in disguise, maybe.

The author's use of the orphan's mysteriously lost hand is what I thought the genius of the story. That missing hand of the orphan's really drove the mystery as well as the sympathy of the story.

I believe any orphan who reads this as an adult will have a hard time putting it down. Because.........the author plants a small seed of hope that the character the orphan has attached himself to just might be his brother or father, with links to his mother who's identity he only holds a shred of clues to.

The history is something I really enjoyed. Graverobbing vs, what's that other word when you take the body but leave the clothes? Anyways, I learned plenty to add to my knowledge of 19th century life.

The conditions were perfect for this story. I didn't know that twins were looked upon as unlucky for the parents in those times. A touch of the mad scientist gives this story a gruesome reality. Torture, fights, drinking and thievery. A Wonderful Adventure of a Story.

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

This novel is an interesting thing for me to digest. I enjoyed the story and was swept along, but once I finished it I did not think it was a great book. What does one make of that?
The first ¾ of the novel was interesting and delightful. The characters were larger than life, had human qualities, and I enjoyed the fact that the novel was not at all pretentious in its style and writing, like so much good literature is these days. It was a good old fashioned adventure story and I can, and did, appreciate that.
However, there were a few characters and scenarios that did not fit in with the story and served as a distraction. The dwarf on the roof, and the whole plot line involving Mr. McGinty was just too much and thus pulled me from the story.
Bravo to Ms. Tinti for writing an enjoyable novel with a sweeping plot. In that sense it is old fashioned, and refreshing. However, she needs to work on endings; this novel's ending is ambiguous and a bit hackneyed. The ambiguity does not go with the straightforward style of most of the text and further weakens the novel. Also her editor needs to rein her in when she gets a little too silly.
Still, I enjoyed the read. Take from that what you will.

The first thing I noticed about The Good Thief, by Hannah Tinti, was that it was going to be a brief read, and so I figured it would be short on prose, long on dialogue, and it was perfect for a long afternoon sitting in the backyard. I wasn't disappointed: It was a rather brief read, but Tinti packs a lot of action and several fun characters into it. Another reviewer mentioned its violence. It is violent in some places, and I'd say it has more "gore" than you will find in Mark Twain or Charles Dickens, but I don't think it is overdone. Unless you have an exceptionally squeamish disposition, it should not get in the way of the sometimes sweet, sometimes dark, sometimes whimsical nature of the story.

It's the collection of characters, from Ren and the young man who "adopts" him from the orphanage to the odd landlady to a bad guy worth redeeming, that make this story so strong and enjoyable. Tinti does a credible job of descriptive writing, such as when she creates the atmosphere of the docks Ren sees as they enter one town. She also does not shy away from introducing sorrow to the reader; a couple of times in the story made me sad. But the time of the story demands it (I was thinking last quarter of 1800s because one person mentions going to California). There is no way you could tell a tale about a disabled orphan having adventures in the 1800s without some tragedy. Yet Ren is so resilient and so good in spite of all he's experienced, and continues to experience, that he carries you along with him as he leaves the sadness behind him.

I don't think Tinti meant this to be highbrow literature. What I read was a good rollicking tale that I have recommended to several people, and they have all come back to me with smiles and want to talk about the book. One or two were a bit disappointed in the ending because it felt rushed, but the others (and I) are wondering if it is setting the stage for a sequel.

I would welcome a sequel, because Tinti's storytelling is marvelous, and I want to know what happens to the fantastic and flawed characters she assembled. But sequels can be tricky. Sometimes the collection of the characters through a book hides a weak plot; a sequel has to have a strong plot to carry those characters along.

Here's hoping Tinti brings them back, and with a good adventure.

I was pleasantly surprised by this gothic story about a one-handed boy named Ren, who is raised in a Catholic orphanage and adopted by a con artist mere months before his caretakers planned to consign him to the army. Although the monks question why anyone would want to adopt a boy with only one hand, Ren's savior, Benjamin Nab, weaves a convincing tale about Ren being his long lost brother who lost his hand when their family was attacked by indians. Benjamin saved him and placed the infant at the orphanage gates before heading off avenge their slaughtered family, which explains why it's only now that Benjamin has been able to return for the boy. The story isn't true - Benjamin is a con artist, after all - but the monks believe him and Ren's adventures with a dark world of schemes, ruthless mousetrap-manufacturing barons, chimney-dwelling dwarves and black-market doctors begins. He learns to lie and swindle with the best of them, yet never loses sight of his innate goodness, which reveals itself in untimely prayers and even a desire to save the soul of a murder unearthed during a grave digging expedition. Overall this 19th century New England tale is an unexpected and enchanting tale of gothic adventure.

Excellent book! Set in New England in an indeterminate year - but early colonial - this book was both whimsical and sad. Ren is an interesting character, as well as Benjamin Nab. There's a lot of Charles Dicken's influence a la Oliver Twist, but Tinti doesn't seem like she's copying his style. Instead, she allows his delightful influence to infuse her own voice. It's a formula that works well. Although there are several moments when the book takes a serious note, the lighthearted chapters make it an enjoyable read that leaves the reader quickly turning the pages for more. So many interesting characters pop up through the book, and Benjamin Nab is one of the more loveable con artists of modern literature. I highly recommend it!

The Good Thief - Hannah Tinti
3 stars
Twelve year-old Ren does not expect to be adopted. Who would want a boy who is missing a hand? Ren does not know how he lost his hand, who his parents are or why he was abandoned as an infant at St. Anthony's Orphanage for Boys. To his great surprise, a man named Benjamin Nab arrives at the orphanage claiming to be Ren's long, lost brother. It is soon apparent the Ben makes many interesting but dubious claims and has an endless supply of stories. Ren embarks on a life of adventure, filled with theft, fraud, risk and violence. Along the way he gathers clues to his past and manages to piece together his own kind of family.
This book was very difficult to get through. Ren has been compared to Oliver Twist in other reviews. Certainly he has the difficult beginning and dangerous bad luck that also afflicted Oliver. It was difficult to read the endless descriptions of ugly people, vile locations and depraved behavior. The atmosphere of the book was entirely too grim for a young adult audience.

Filled with close calls and death-defying escapes, Hannah Tinti's "The Good Thief" recalls the classic adventures of Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain -- but without Stevenson's vivid authenticity or Twain's satiric bite. At its best, "The Good Thief" is an homage to a meticulously plotted, lean-and-mean writing style that has gone out of vogue. At its worst, it seems like nothing more than a writing exercise or a twice-told tale amped up with lots of graphic violence for contemporary tastes. Younger readers will definitely get a kick out of this fast-paced story and its various twists and turns, which will be new to them. They'll love Tinti's well-imagined albeit generic world of sadistic henchmen, loveable grostesques and gothic settings. And they'll have fun imagining they're in the shoes of Ren, the young orphan of the title who embarks on a quest to find redemption. "He was never going to be respectable," Tinti writes of the rebellious and crafty thief. "And he was tired of trying to be good." Now if only I were 11 again, I could properly enjoy all this!

Ren, an orphan missing a hand, is adopted by Benjamin Nab. Ren is excited to finally have a "family," but he soon learns that Benjamin and his friend, Tom, are thieves and con artists. Ren begins finding his way among the rag-tag team and learns more about himself and his background.

The plot to The Good Thief sounds familiar, and the principle characters are your standard "thieves with a heart of gold," but I still feel Tinti has created an exciting and interesting story with likable characters. Ren's principle feature is his missing hand, but the lost limb rarely affects the way he lives his life. His strong Catholic upbringing adds an interesting additional dimension in the beginning of the novel, but Ren's belief seems to be less important later in the book.

About half-way through, the semi-realistic movement of the book disappears as the events become more and more outlandish. However, even the deus ex machina which ends the book does not feel overly contrived or unrewarding for the reader.

This book really wasn't anything spectacular... After glancing at some reviews for it, I honestly expected a lot more from it. It was fairly well written, but just not all that interesting through the first two parts. The third part was much better and had a quicker pace, but I still didn't love it. Would pass on another of Tinti's novels.
Note: I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.

...a secretive, sneaky man adopts him.

Ren, a twelve-year old boy, appears to be trying to make the best of a bad situation: life in an old, run down orphanage. But one day, everything changes when a man claiming to be a relative adopts him. Ren is skeptical of the man and his farfetched-sounding, convoluted story. Rightly so, it turns out, as he ends up as a sort of pickpocket working for the man (named Ben) and his friend. Things get even weirder with the appearance of a dwarf, a doctor in the business of obtaining dead bodies, a kind woman and a strange, powerful man. The climax of the story occurs when Ren learns how he lost his hand. Best of the book is a whopper of a twist. Worst, some of the story seems contrived. Better: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

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.

While Hannah Tinti's "The Good Thief" is engaging, there can be no denying the feeling that there is a distinct resemblence to Charles Dicken's "Oliver Twist."

Like Oliver, Tinti's protagonist, Ren, is an orphan. Unlike the cruel realities of an English workhouse that Oliver spent the first years of his life during the Industrial Revolution, Ren is raised in 1800's New England by relatively kind Catholic priests, whose orphanage is both accidental and secondary to their wine making. Ren gets his name from what was stiched on the collar of his clothing when he was shoved through the door where babies are abandoned and arrived with his left hand missing but already professionally treated. Because of that, even when the occasional person comes along to possibly adopt one of the orphan boys, even when chosen, the disability is pointed out by the priests, causing farmers looking for able bodied sons to withdraw their offer of adoption. Overall, however, his life is good - he has enough food, is being schooled, is generally liked by the other orphans though the occasional skirmish happens, gets baths and haircuts twice a month by the sister Monastary nuns, who also take away the abandoned girl babies to be raised at their Convent. Aside for required grape stamping for the wine and occasional deserved beatings for, among other things, a bit of kleptomania, Ren is well treated and is an intelligent and quick witted boy.

One day a man comes along looking at the children, not only at their faces, but their arms. Upon finding Ren's stump, he announces to the priests that Ren is his long lost brother, even producing paperwork and an elaborate story about how Ren was lost. Ren is rightfully uncertain to the veracity of the claim but an adoption was better than the eventual fate of orphans who become of age at the monastary, conscription to the army. A reader might wonder why Ren fears this fate when it seems fairly obvious that a one-handed teenager will not make for a good soldier.

Benjamin Nab, Ren's adopter, confirms Ren's suspicions by almost immediately telling the boy to not ask questions about family and threatening his life if he did not remain silent and do as he is told. This is quickly followed by a late night con-job of claiming Ren is his exhausted son and another convoluted tale to convince a farmer's family, one who had only recently rejected Ren for another boy after discovering his disability, into sharing their supper and bunking down for the night in the barn. Before Ren can process it, he and Benjamin get up early to not only steal the farmer's horse and wagon, but also their cow.

This is obviously where Tinti's Ren mirrors Oliver Twist's meeting of the Artful Dodger and his induction into thiefhood. At this point, the reader might begin wondering who exactly is the 'good thief' of this story, for Benjamin Nab, his grumpy partner who was a former school teacher, and Ren are all relatively good people who also happen to be relatively good thieves. There is no doubt that once again this is a kinder, gentler version of Oliver Twist as there is no threatening elements in this small group, no Ben Sykes, no prostitutes, not even the shunning of Fagin's counterpart of Benjamin Nab. If anything, Benjamin presents a pleasant image and demeanor that is engaging, unlike the persecuted Jewish Fagin.

After wintering in the city, it is decided to move along to the country for a variety of reasons. They end up in a small village where they rent a room from a deaf, lip-reading, and screaming (because of her late in life deafness making it hard to modulate her voice) landlady. It is at this point that the novel begins to obtain any of the gritty realism of Oliver Twist, focused mainly on the difficulties of grave robbing. It is also where Ren begins to discover the truth of his origins.

The book is well written, somewhat colorful, and has interestingly layered characters. Despite the obvious "Oliver Twist" parallels, it is engaging enough to want to continue reading and to discover the full background of Ren and the other characters. While there are slight discrepancies here and there, they are mild enough to overlook as a whole, and the book can be easily enjoyed by both those who have read "Oliver Twist" and those who have not. The other interesting point about this novel is the title. As previously mentioned, who exactly is the 'good thief?' In the end, in my opinion, it is left up to the reader.

Clear, lyrical voice, endearingly flawed characters and an overall setting that felt real and complete to me. I picked this up randomly in the library and it has instantly become one of my favorite books. I can't wait to see what else Tinti produces.

If I had to choose a favorite aspect of this book, it would be the characters. They are exaggerations, and you need to accept that, but even so they rang extremely true to me. Ren is often the unifier in this menagerie, with an innocence that allows him to love even the most flawed and sometimes ridiculous of characters.

I noticed that a lot of the negative reviews seemed caught up on the surrealist nature of the story and characters. It's true, Tinti ventures into the surreal without ever crossing the line into magical realism. I personally loved this style, but I could understand why it might not be for some people.

This early work gives only hints of the talent and craftsmanship that would blossom in the outstanding Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley. Nevertheless, it was a fast, entertaining read, filled with interesting characters and a winning young protagonist.

I finished The Good Thief three days ago, and have been struggling with the review. Objectively I know there's nothing new here, but the writing is so up my alley and the atmosphere of the novel is so well put-together that I want to rave and rave over it.

Tinti's main character is an orphan named Ren. It's not giving too much away to say he's a minor thief, and he's adopted early on in the book by a man whose motives are unclear at first, but quickly show themselves to be "up-to-no-good" sort of motives. It's set in 19th-century New England, and the story has a lovely gothic feel and all sorts of interesting characters.

It is a little predictable in spots, but I felt the great writing and spot-on descriptions made up for that, and it didn't stop me from ripping through this book in two days.

I would definitely recommend The Good Thief to those who enjoy this sort of thing -- you know who you are -- and probably even to those who are on the fence, due to the quality of the writing. In the meantime, I'll be lounging at the bottom of the fence, impatiently waiting for the next thing from Hannah Tinti.

This is a unique and beautifully written story. I really enjoyed this book. I love the way that the duality of humans is shown throughout the book in all the different characters. "The Good Thief" is such a perfect name for this story. I thought about it many times while I was reading because Ren was good at being a thief, but he was also actually a good person who just happens to also be a thief. Love it! Also loved the way that love and hope are shown through the relationships between all the characters. This story pulled me in and kept me enthralled until the end. Thanks Hannah Tinti.

I am not usually a reader of fiction, usually preferring history and biographies, but I really enjoyed this unique story. The mix of worldly personalities juxtaposed by some fantastical characters made for an interesting and enjoyable read. The main character, a young orphan boy who is missing a hand is given over to the custody of a mysterious man. As their intertwined fates unfold, the author leaves the reader wondering if this enigmatic guardian will ultimately prove to be good or bad -- or some very human mix of both.

As I said, this volume was a pleasure to read. The main story kept my attention sufficiently and was well-developed from beginning to end. However, the author included a couple of side stories which she introduces to the reader but doesn't then develop them sufficiently enough so as to be satisfying to the intrigued reader. Overall, I found it to be a commendable effort by the author which ended in a tale that is worth a read by the average leisure reader.

This is an unusual book: reminiscent of a fairytale Oliver Twist set in New England sometime in the 19th century. It's the story of an orphaned boy called Ren, who was abandoned in an orphanage as a baby. The only clue that he has to his origins are a scrap of clothing initialed R.E.N. He is also missing one hand.

Unexpectedly he is rescued from the orphanage by a con man named Benjamin Nab. Benjamin claims to be his brother, although it quickly emerges that his chief interest in Ren appears to be using him as a prop in many of his scams. Ren is desperate for a family, and as they travel, he makes some highly unusual friends: among them a dwarf who lives on a rooftop, a murderer who was buried alive and a girl with a harelip who makes mousetraps in a factory. Eventually he will also discover the secrets of his past.

I enjoyed the early parts of this novel but as time passed I got fed up with the high sense of unreality. The characters are all distinctive and unusual, but none of them feel even remotely believable. The plot is highly uneven (almost random) and riddled with coincidences. There is also absolutely no sense of place: it's set in New England but I never felt that I could "see" the story unfolding before me.

The Good Thief starts well - full of intrigue, drawing you in immediately. But then it loses its way. It's an easy enough book to read and the action continues at a good pace throughout, but it just left me cold.

This book was a powerful walk through the seedier side of the New England back woods in the 19th century. Ren is a one handed orphan, without hope of finding an adoptive family because of his disability - and with a short military future to look forward to. But all that changes when someone claiming to be his long lost brother - Benjamin Nabb, comes to claim him.

The themes of the book are strongly reminiscent of an American Dickens, even if the writing is much more modern. This book is a very good read, and draws the reader in to the mystery of what once happened to Ren, who he is and how he got to be where he was.

This is a story that draws you in and keeps you reading until you turn the last page, and put it down with a satisfied sigh.

Abandoned as an infant and missing one hand, eleven year old Ren has been raised as an orphan at Saint Anthony's - a monastery appropriately named after the patron of lost things. Knowing that his disability will give him little chance at being adopted, Ren is excited yet nervous when a charming young man named Benjamin Nab arrives one day claiming to be Ren's brother. Benjamin quickly fills in the details about Ren's life and whisks the boy away from the orphanage.

However, Ren soon learns that Benjamin is not all he appears to be - the story of Ren's past is only one of many that the man is used to spinning. Craving the freedom and intrigued by the adventure, Ren is swept up in Benjamin's world of thieves, con artists and grave robbers. It may just be that the keys to Ren's past lie in this uncertain future.

Hannah Tinti's The Good Thief was a wonderful book. The characters are realistic and instantly likable and the adventure and mystery run at a great pace. Tinti does a beautiful job coloring her historical landscape. I found myself fully enthralled through the whole story and when I reached the epilogue, I didn't want the book to end. With themes of friendship, family and belonging, this tale is sure to find a welcome home in the hearts of readers everywhere!

THE GOOD THIEF -- the store VINE PROGRAM

I truly wanted to like this book -- and I did, to a certain degree. And, please, make that 2.5 stars!!!!

The plot was good -- an eleven year old, one handed boy, Ren, grows up in a Catholic orphanage. He doesn't remember any of his past, where he came from, how he lost his hand, any people.

He gets released into the custody of Benjamin Nab who is a con-artist, thief, liar, grave robber. The adventures begin with a cast of characters from all walks of life.

At first I thought this would also be a good book for young adults, especially boys. The further I got into the book I changed my mind! The book dealt with grave robbing, extracting teeth from the dead, all sorts of ghoulish things! Well, now that I think about it, boys would probably LOVE that! However, all of the just mentioned did fit into the story line and worked for the book.

I found I was skimming the book, not really caring much about the characters or what happened to them. I felt as if something was missing and I kept on reading, hoping I would find that missing jewel but alas! I never did!

I think the plot was good, but went nowhere. This seemed to be a merry-go-round of constant repeated chases in grave yards, alleys, factories.

Ren was a good character, full of good will and kindness even though his life hadn't been such a great one. He was wise beyond his years and seemed very street smart for living such a sheltered life under the influence of priests in an orphanage.

I think this book is in a special genre. While it was good writing, was a good plot, I personally could not get into the book as I had hoped I would. Ms. Tinti is a good author and I will check out any further books from her. There are plenty of other reviewers who loved the book, so this is just probably me and just not a book up my alley. Check it out, as you may love it as others have.

Thank you.

Pam

This novel goes nowhere fast. The characters are two-dimensional, the plot is a tangle not worth untangling. Tinti seems to consider herself a trendy Dickensian writer, but she does not have the novelistic gifts to pull off a straightforward story, much less a complex work of fiction. Buy Oliver Twist or Jonathan Wild by Fielding, or best of all, some Smollett; read the real thing, and not a sophomoric attempt at emulating it by a writer in way over her head.

This novel goes nowhere fast. The characters are two-dimensional, the plot is a tangle not worth untangling. Tinti seems to consider herself a trendy Dickensian writer, but she does not have the novelistic gifts to pull off a straightforward story, much less a complex work of fiction. Buy Oliver Twist or Jonathan Wild by Fielding, or best of all, some Smollett; read the real thing, and not a sophomoric attempt at emulating it by a writer in way over her head.

The Good Thief is set in the mid-nineteenth century, before the Civil War, in a New England that is an uneasy conglomeration of hard scrabble farms and labor intensive factories.
The story centers around Ren, a twelve year old inmate at St. Anthony's Orphanage. Life is hard at the orphanage for everyone, but especially for Ren who is missing one of his hands and who therefore has no hope of ever being adopted by one of the local farming families.

More than anything Ren wants to be part of a family, but when Nab turns up claiming Ren is his long lost brother, Ren soon learns that the mystery of his lost family is far from solved. Unwillingly he helps Nab with his many schemes to defraud unsuspecting farmers. When that business goes sour, Nab turns to a much more unsavory profession, to Ren's horror.

Along the way Ren meets a murderous giant, a mysterious dwarf, a rough but kindly landlady,
a disgraced school teacher, and a group of young girls known as the Mousetrap girls. In every face Ren looks for a friend or a lost family member. As the story progresses he learns that his heartfelt desire to be part of a family has led him to a dangerous and deadly place.

This is Tinti's first novel, and it is a credit to her vivid imagination, whirlwind pacing, and remarkable characters that she has been compared to Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Good Thief is exciting and surprising right down to the very last chapter. It's a page turner and a delight!

Hannah Tinti’s The Good Thief was recommended to me by the same person that recommends every other book that she has ever read in her life, my mom. Only this time the premise of the book seemed actually interesting, a one-handed orphan is suddenly adopted by a man claiming to his long-lost brother and brings him into the dark world of thieves and con-artists. The summary on the inside of the book cover sounded fairly attractive, especially to a teen boy who’s a strong patron for all sorts of mischief. Unfortunately the attractiveness stops there; everything past the hard-covered first page is a combination terribly bland characters, an extremely lackluster plotline, and absolute sophomoric writing. Hannah Tinti was rewarded with several awards for The Good Thief, including the American Library Association's Alex Award which picked up Tinti an extra ten grand, and after reading her work for myself I have no idea how she has attained such praise for a book that left you wanting so much more.
I have seen several reviewers compare the novel to the works of Charles Dickens, but other than a young down-on-his-luck orphan participating in some less than legal activities, not much else relates to any Dickensian classic. Throughout my reading I was having a hard time deciding who was Tinti’s target audience for her novel. The Good Thief certainly has enough dark material to be considered more adult, but Tinti’s juvenile writing style makes one wonder if it was intended to be read by elementary students. The novel also suffers from miserable character development and diversity as Tinti fails to put any effort into creating anything charming or even memorable into any character. Every character is the same good-hearted outlaw with slight differences, such as one only shouts when she talks and another always sleeps underneath the mattress. Tinti never introduces anything that distinguishes each character as their own person.
Though poorly written, the first half of the novel kept me fairly entertained and engaged in the fictional world that Thief so poorly envisioned. Tinti continuously had me guessing of what was in store, but as time went on I started to believe that she too was unsure of what was to become of her novel. After an extremely dragged out section of the novel dedicated to grave robbing that was seemingly going no where, Tinti digs her way out by suddenly introducing a villain in the last fifty pages of the book. The plotline was beyond uneven, it picked up from time to time but then seemed to disappear entirely, only to then come out of left field with the most absurd conclusion I’ve ever read. Tinti has displayed not only her amateur writing skills but her complete lack of any storytelling ability. I picked up this book expecting so much from the great premise it had, however it loses its way leaving you wanting so much more.

I have been waiting for this amazing One Story editor and author's newest book since I heard it was being released. Published to rave reviews and for good reason, The Good Thief is a book that you won't soon regret.

I loved the amazing, Dickensian tone that contemporary authors don't tackle as much, sympathetically drawn characters and compelling narrative. This book is haunting and I found myself lying awake at night picking it back up because I needed to know what happened next, leading to a few bleary-eyed days at work! Because the plot has been detailed so much already I won't go into that but PLEASE do yourself a favor and read this. And then if you haven't already, read Animal Crackers.

Hannah Tinti is a FORCE and a writer to be watched and grateful for!!!

I finished answering some questions before getting to the space to write a review, which is irritating for a reviewer who has been writing reviews for over sixty years. Fill-in-the-blank doesn't leave much else to mention in support of a title. The mood was somber, brutality more than violence,and brief hints of sexuality. The computer's vocabulary is minimal. A canned review is ugly that does the author a disservice.
THE GOOD THIEF was interesting; different from our previous book club selections, hence I enjoyed reading it. It had a very Dickens' atmosphere or faint echoes of the Parisian Court of Miracles.
Hannah Tinti has a marvelous sense of time and place without conveying her characters in a maudlin manner.
Nash Black, author of Games of Death.

The story was average, but the author is quite creative. I enjoyed the author's writing style and prose. Not the best novel I've read, but certainly not the worst. But, it did leave me uninspired. I was somewhat taken aback by the author's fixation with penises (i.e. the dwarf and the naked man in the cemetery). And it seems the author has a fixation with human oddities (giant, giantess, and a dwarf) not to mention the main character's missing hand. Overall, the story was dark and hopeless, but I knew this going into it. What I did like about the story is that I haven't read anything like it before and it was quite illustrious. Therefore, it did very well in keeping me fully engaged and I never lost interest. Another positive aspect to the story is that it remained unpredictable and it was placed in a historical setting that I was unfamiliar with.

I give it a 3-star rating for a decent story and wonderfully written, but nothing captivating or award winning in my estimation. I don't have any desire to seek out other works by Hannah Tinti, but if one were handed to me for free, I would likely read it.

I found this book to be unpredictable and creative. This group of odd misfits find and support each other, offering hope in dire circumstances. It is about goodness and not so good choices, trust and loyalty. The characters are accepted with all their unique and often negative qualities, and shown to us with a sense of humor. It was suspenseful throughout. I will read more by this author.

This book presents a grand adventure in the Dickension tradition, with orphans, thieves, and evildoers of various kinds. It takes place in New England some time in the 19th century, and involves an 11-year-old orphan boy who's missing one hand. The story itself is gripping, the characters complex and interesting, and the writing is excellent. Overall, I enjoyed it very much. However, I do have a couple of complaints. First, some of the imagery and themes were overdone (just how many drowned people does a book need??). And second, some of the plot twists were entirely too coincidental. Still, it's a good story and I recommend it.

The Good Thief in author Hannah Tinti's book title is a good, God-fearing, eleven-year-old orphan named Ren. He reluctantly turns to thievery when he's rescued from a Catholic orphanage by a fast-talking con artist named Benjamin Nab who claims to be his long-lost brother. Benjamin introduces the boy to his ways and Ren has no choice but to go along, even though his conscience bothers him. As the good fathers at the orphanage have taught him, he apologizes to God for his bad ways, even as he attempts to strike bargains with Him.

Before Benjamin comes along, Ren is always hopeful that the next person who comes to get a boy will adopt him. He's rejected so many times, it saddened me to read about the poor little tyke's heartbreak. You see, Ren is handicapped, making it more difficult to find anyone who wants him. It will make you weep when you see how smart, creative and lovable he is; how hard he works to be noticed by the prospective "parents."

Since Ren is missing a hand, it's harder for him because most of those seeking a "son" only want strong boys to do physical labor. Always hopeful, though, Ben keeps trying. What keeps his hopes alive is the thought of a loving mother waiting just for him in one of those households.

Even as Benjamin takes him away with him, the boy is hoping he will have a woman somewhere who will nurture and care for him. Since he was left on the church steps when he was an infant, he has always longed to know about his mother and his background.

As Benjamin sweeps Ren from one adventure to another--from scam artists to grave robbers to petty thieves--the boy begins to suspect that the man might be the one to unlock the mystery of his past. He thinks that Benjamin knows more about his life and how he became handicapped than he's sharing.

But is Benjamin really his brother, or is that just a scam to get the priests to allow him to take Ren? Will Ren ever find his own mother, learn the truth of why she abandoned him and what happened to his hand? Is Ben a good man or a bad man? Why is someone chasing him? And will they ever reach a "home" destination?

To learn the answers to those questions, I suggest you read this book. It's a real page-turner that sweeps the reader along with this one-handed, quick-fingered boy as he learns all about the real world beyond the orphanage walls.

Hannah Tinti is a beautiful writer; I found her character descriptions fascinating, especially the portrayal of a boarding house owner and her "dwarf" brother who lives on the roof. Brilliant writing went into these secondary characters. And the New England landscape comes alive under her touch.

Another thing I enjoy about this book is that it doesn't portray the priests at the Catholic orphanage as bad like too many books do. Certainly, they are strict, but they are also caring and kind to the boys, as kind as their responsibilities allow. I especially liked Father John who gave Ren much good advice as he was growing up.

I can picture The Good Thief as a Young Adult adventure movie that would appeal to adults as well as children; slightly reminiscent of Tom Sawyer.

Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, April 2009
Author of "Millennium Babe: The Prophecy"

A page turner, reminiscent of Oliver Twist, Hannah Tinit's novel is a delight to read. Ren, a young orphan boy, wants only to belong to a family. Adopted by an extravagant storyteller and criminal, Ren is torn between what he thinks is right and his allegiance to his new mentor who propels him into a 19th century New England world of grave robbers, blackguards, thieves, murderers, giants and dwarfs - a wild and wonderful adventure! Bravo, Ms. Tinti, for such a tale!

A novelist from New England

3.5 stars

Though there are some memorable characters, I did not find this a compelling book at all.There are some great images, primarily dealing with the characters, the deaf yelling landlady, the large simple murderer, the hat boys, the dentist, the doctor, the very New England factory owner. In many ways I found them more interesting than the main characters of Ren and Benjamin and in some cases more sympathetic. Though reasonably developed, I never warmed up much to Ren or understood his actions, and I found Benjamin to just be irredeemably amoral.

The plot I found to be pedestrian and borderline confusing despite a paradoxical simplicity. Much happens with little explanation. Though there is a delightfully nasty twist at the end over all I found the story unsatisfying.

Put a one-handed orphan, two thieves, a killer, a dwarf, two unlucky twins, and a deaf landlady together and what do you get? The best book I've read all year. The story of Ren (the one-handed orphan) is a magical adventure of a young man trying to find his place in the world, not to mention his family and what exactly happened to make him one-handed. Reminiscent of Charles Dickens, the plot in Tinti's book is filled with roof top chases, thrilling escapes and characters that will stay with you forever. Tinti's characters are unique, well rounded and even through all of their travails, you care for them and wish them well. The coincidences and interweaving of the plot keeps you guessing as to who is connected to whom and what could possibly happen to this cast of characters next. Read this book, you will not be sorry. As a matter of fact, I'm planning on buying extra copies to give to my friends.

The Good Thief is a wonderful, highly readable book about (with a strong tip of the hat to Dickens)a young orphan in New England in the 1800's. He is adopted by a thief, grifter, and learns the trade, garnering sympathy because of a missing hand.

Ren longs to know about his family, however, and slowly, along with Ren, we learn the truth of his history. And what a great read getting to the truth! The characters are wonderful: the Franciscan brothers who take care of the orphans, the grifter who adopts Ren, the grifter's partner, and a wonderful assortment of characters. This book includes resurrection men, giants, midgets, kind hearted landladies, thwarted true love, etc.

I highly recommend this marvelous book to anyone who enjoys a good old fashioned, solid book.

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.

Starting with the main character in the book I found it impossible not to care where the story lead. I care for Ren and his direction much in the same way as reading "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens.

The story is a mixture of "Oliver Twist", "August Rush" with a pinch of "A Series of Unfortunate Events" thrown in for good measure. Please keep in mind though the story doesn't actually follow any of those. It just gave me the same feeling.

I can see this novel being listed with some of the classics in later years. A very fun novel from the begining to the very end.

Tildi's first book garners a lot of comparisons to Dickens and Kipling, and for good reason. Her tale of orphaned Ren and his compatriots makes for a great gothic mystery set in New England, and has much to say on the nature of family and belonging.

I will say that I had a little trouble trying to decide who I thought this book was written for - it seems to zigzag from adult to young adult and back again, without ever finding a happy medium that appeals to both types of readers. I suppose in the end, I'd recommend this book for older teens.

If people describe this author as "Dickensian", they must mean Dickens at his very earliest stages of becoming a writer. Tinti may someday live up to this comparison, but isn't there quite yet.

Tinti's characters and plot twists have potential, but she never fully develops them. The plot is at once contrived and disjointed. The dwarf on the roof has the promise of being a beloved main character and instead remains aimless and ancillary. Dolly is like a drawing in a child's coloring book; what we see of him is wonderful but if only he were colored in, what a sight to behold he would be!

If this were marketed as a young adult book, it would have been enchanting and fun. Instead, it didn't come close to meeting my expectations and I was disappointed.

If you're looking to read a marvelous adventure, then you will enjoy "The Good Thief." A magical tale of an orphaned boy and his unique band of friends and outrageous enemies where the adventures, both good and bad, never seem to end. Hannah Tinti's writing is engaging and her story riveting, with twist and turns that keep you reading long into the night, and at a quick pace to just keep up with this spellbinding story. It's hard to complain about "The Good Thief", but I do have one complaint - I wanted more. The novel is 326 pages long and yet I wanted to know more about the characters and the place. Literary authors and critics have compared Tinti to Stevenson, Dickens and Twain, but "The Good Thief" lacks the depth and detail that catapulted those authors and their novels to the pinnacle of literary greatness. I do, however, think that Hannah Tinti has the talent to achieve greatness if she continues on the path that led her to write "The Good Thief." And I can't wait to read her next novel.

This is an excellent novel with terrific characters with whom the reader really enjoys spending time. I picked it up from the overstock table at B&N because it was cheap and I liked the title and the Dickensian plot. I was happily surprised. I just finished reading it and checked the store to see if others found it as delightful as I did. The author deserves recognition and I was pleased that her book earned several significant accolades. I'll be looking for her next work.

This novel of 19th century New England's underbelly was a pleasure to read. Tinti captures the poverty, superstitions and harsh living and working conditions using descriptions that you can feel, taste and smell. It reminded me somewhat of David Copperfeild in this respect, but thankfully there are no convoluted Victorian conventions to endure.

The main character, Ren, is a 12 year old boy with only one hand who was dumped in infancy at the gate of a Catholic orphanage. It is a waiting game for him and his comrades. If they are lucky, they will be taken away to live with a family as farm laborers. If no one takes them they will be sold to the army when they are too old to adopt. From the beginning his world is one of paradoxes. In spite of having only one hand he excels at stealing anything that is not nailed down. In spite of this knack for thievery, he is totally captivated by a book of fantastical stories about saints which one of the priests frequently quotes from. This war between personal values and unsavory natural talent unfolds throughout the book.

Once he is removed from the orphanage by a charming mountebank claiming to be a relative, he is introduced to a world where subterfuge dominates every encounter. Like Ren, we soon come to accept their initially unnerving morality. Except for a horse that is stolen from the farmer who loved him, most of their escapades involve fleecing the dead rather than the living. We are also introduced to a host of oddball characters who exist on the fringe of society for reasons related to their physical appearance. There is a giant who kills for contract money, a dwarf who is afraid to face the world beyond his rooftop home and a courageous girl with a hare lip. The only major flaw I found in the book was that that these odd characters were introduced too close together. Meeting a giant, a dwarf and a hare lip girl in quick succession interrupted the Gothic feel of novel and made me wonder if they were going to form their own circus. In the end all of these characters are valuable to the plot but it might have worked better if their appearance had been foreshadowed in some way.

Through all of this, Ren is led to redefine what it means to have the family he has always dreamed of. He learns about friendship, love and loyalty and goes from being a thief to someone who will be the protector and benefactor of those he has come to love, even though the person he loves the most will not be at his side.

Ren's an orphan. Sometimes people come there to adopt a child, but most of them are farmers and since Ren is missing his left hand, he's never chosen. But one day a man comes along and claims Ren as his long lost brother.

Of course, the tale Benjamin Nab tells the priest in charge is not true. With Benjamin, Ren embarks on a series of con jobs, theft and grave robbing. Though it sounds grim, there's a lot of humor in the story and some very memorable characters, such as a roof-dwelling dwarf and a huge, bald assassin. And a very nefarious mousetrap factory owner.

I really wanted to like this book. I was intrigued by the reviews and open to the experience.

I read this book over the course of two days, and was very disconcerted by it's unrelenting ugliness, despair, hopelessness, and horror. Despite the cover and the fact that the protagonist is a child, please be aware that this book is NOT appropriate for kids (unless you want your kids to read a vile scene in which a character cuts off a man's hand and then uses it to eat soup with while Ren--who has an amputated hand-- watches helplessly, characters who dig up and sell rotting corpses, and a cover-to-cover parade of pointless cruelty and ugliness). Need more reason not to read this book to your kids? You may not want to have to explain the incest reference, or what Benjamin means when he says that he put his hands under the skirts of BOTH elderly Mrs. Sands and a teen girl "to make them happy" (after 12 year old Ren witnesses these events). Ren comes to consider a completely remorseless killer (of dozens of people by the end of the book) a friend, simply because he has absolutely noone he can trust (the killer, incidentally, is dug up after having been buried alive-- an example of the endless convoluted and improbable horrifying details in the book). I am pretty appalled that anyone would think this is an appropriate book to read to or give a child.

Most of the characters in this book are BOTH utterly unbelievable and extremely unpleasant (although to be fair, some are only unbelievable OR unpleasant). Almost all of the characters are in a state of extreme moral decay-- the author paints a world of chronic cruelty, widespread lack of caring or empathy for others, and real horror and helplessness. Many characters with disabilities are little more than caricatures who disparaged, devalued, and belittled by the author (a deaf woman who screams every word, a dwarf who is helpless, a girl with a harelip who is considered unloveable). I question whether or not the author has ever even met a deaf person, after the ridiculous portrait she paints of Mrs. Sands. The main character is also consistently devalued and even treated as worthless due to his amputated hand. Little of this is in service of historical accuracy; instead, it feels like a carnival of stereotypes thrown together haphazardly for effect.

I am an open-minded person who loves all sorts of books. But I found this book to be grindingly, grindingly depressing and pointless. I kept reading in the hope that it would somehow improve/that there would be a point to all the awful stuff. In the final pages a twist "explains" a bit, and we have a small amount of hope that a few of the characters may have improved circumstances in their futures. But overall I felt almost abused by the author-- I can't find a better way to put how I felt after finishing it. This book had so much potential, but the constant sick (sometimes stomach-churning) twists and overall nihilism destroyed it for me.

****Those who have read the book will understand me when I say that the fate of the horse sums up this book in a nutshell for me. Pointless cruelty, ugliness, and pain.

I read the enthusiastic New York Times review of this book and was thrilled to get it at the library. What a walloping disappointment. The concept is great..somewhat picaresque which is always enticing but there was some confusion about the time frame and I was unclear who all the soldiers were who appeared intermittently. Somewhat boggled with a pretty weak ending and some of the writing made it difficult to create mental images of the vague time frame. Not quite as stellar as reviewed.

Ren, the young protagonist of The Good Thief, is an orphan "adopted" by a dashing man with dubious ways of making a living. From the very start of this book, the plot is off and running on a twisting trail. The story is populated by characters familiar to any fairy tale: villains wearing red and black, dimwitted giants, and dwarves. The Good Thief makes for an afternoon of fine, if ephemeral, entertainment. This simplistic tale serves its purpose but is quickly forgotten

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?