Thief
A literary crime masterpiece that follows a Japanese pickpocket lost to the machinations of fate. Bleak and oozing existential dread, The Thief is simply unforgettable. The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly sometimes he doesn't even remember the snatch. Most people are just a blur to him, 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 in his life, and offers him a job he can't refuse. It's an easy job: tie up an old rich man, steal the contents of the safe. No one gets hurt. Only the day after the job does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, and that he was brutally killed after the robbery. And now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
4mentions
3people
2018–2019years
75% recommend25% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I just read a noir-ish novel, a French novel, The Lady in the Car with the Glasses and a Gun by Japrisot. There's another French writer, Jean-Patrick Manchette, who has written a few great crime novels.
But, really, noir-tinged stuff is everywhere. I liked The City & The City (China Mieville, a police procedural with a fantasy twist) and I loved The Thief (Fuminori Nakamura).
None of these are strictly speaking noir but they've descended from it. Noir from the 30s-50s has really held up, though. I was shocked when I read stuff like Pick-Up, They Shoot Horses Don't They? and so on. It has aged extremely well.
- Enjoyed:
- Chocky - John Wyndham
- Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
- The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti
- The Executioner Weeps - Frederic Dard
- The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei
- The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars
- Ms Ice Sandwich - Mieko Kawakami
- Such Small Hands - Andres Barba
- The Thief - Fuminori Nakamura
- Ties - Domenico Starnone
- Trick - Domenico Starnone
- As others have said Kawabata is great. Banana Yoshimoto too. Personally I really enjoyed Fuminori Nakamura, especially The Thief.
- Non-fiction:
7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton Helmer
American Wolf - Nate Blakeslee
Atomic Habits - James Clear
Conspiracy - Ryan Holiday
Courage To Be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi
How To Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan
Open - Andre Agassi
Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker
World After Capital - Albert Wenger
Fiction:
Chocky - John Wyndham
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti
The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei
The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars
Such Small Hands - Andres Barba
The Thief - Fuminori Nakamura
Ties - Domenico Starnone
Trick - Domenico Starnone
