Thieves and Replacements

Hi Bookworms. How are you? I’m sorry I’ve not been about to visit blogs in a while as I was down for the count last week with the knee replacement surgery, but this week should be better and I can see what you all are up to and reading. Man surgery can put you off your game! The first couple days after were quite rough, but now I find with post-op Day 6 the pain has lessened and I’m getting more into a groove of a recovery plan. Come spring, I should be back to some of my regular activities.

In book news, we need to talk about the Booker Prize. Wow congrats to British-Hungarian author David Szalay for winning the prize last week for his novel Flesh. (In Canada they like to point out that Szalay was born in Montreal, lol.) I have not read his novel yet, but I know fellow bookie Carmen liked it and thought it was one to watch. And indeed it cleaned up.

Publishers Weekly says it’s about a “taciturn Hungarian man who serially attempts to build a new life after his traumatic adolescence.” Apparently the judges were taken with it because as chief judge Roddy Doyle said: “We had never read anything quite like it … a novel that uses white space on the page so well … as if the author is inviting the reader … to observe — almost to create — the character with him.” Hmm, food for thought if you decide to get a library copy, which I should be doing soon.

And stay tuned this week when Canada’s Giller Prize will be announced on Monday and the National Book Awards on Wednesday. It’ll be an interesting week. And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel / Knopf / 240 pages / 2023

This is quite an eye-popping true crime account about a 20+ year-old misfit French man (Stephane Breitwieser) who in broad daylight stole more than 200 works of art from museums across Europe between 1995 and 2001, turning his mother’s attic into a trove of treasure.

His girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus was his accomplice along the way. Apparently unlike other art thieves he stole not to enrich himself monetarily through ransoms or the black market but to surround himself with beauty. Hmm, I think the author tries to analyze this angle — as if it gives the thief more depth or gravitas? It’s definitely something unusual in light of other art thieves.

Thanks to Tina at Turn the Page for reading this one with me as part of a buddy read. It is an usual story that vividly recounts how this odd couple were able to pull off this crazy illegal undertaking. The guy, a self-made art freak, seemed pretty pathological … a narcissist who compulsively couldn’t control his urges to take significant artworks, particularly from the Renaissance period. He was out of control and he and his girlfriend were hitting museums at a pace unseen like before. They would visit a museum and sort of obscond with precious works under their clothes. Whether Anne-Catherine was bullied and under his thumb is up for discussion in the book … as well as whether the guy’s mother knew what her son was up to in her attic as well.

The book pretty fascinatingly details their long illegal raid across Europe and also reveals how poor (generally speaking) museum security is and how lenient the prison sentences are for art thieves globally. I had no idea about the ins and outs of much of this, which were a bit shocking. By the end of the book, I think Tina and I were both disgusted and done with all three culprits: the man, his girlfriend, and his mother. They had little to no shred of moral fiber to them nor responsibility. And what happens to the art is tragic. I will let you find out more about it. The book is fast and pretty short.

I’ve read the author’s other book The Stranger in the Woods from 2017, which is also about a freaky guy loner and thief. He seems to have that narrative down cold, so not sure what book will come next. I rarely read true crime books but once in a blue moon I will. Remember the Golden State Killer book from 2018 — I think that was my last one. The Art Thief is a book that counts for my nonfiction challenge.

That’s all for now. I was also planning to leave a review of Bruce Holsinger’s novel Culpability, which I finished recently on audio, but I think I will wait till next week as it’s getting late and I need a breather, lol.

Cheers All. Happy reading.