The Art of Stealing Art

The Art Thief

Noah Charney

1416550313

I picked up this book on a lark while at Waldenbooks the other day, intrigued by the title and by the plot description on the back cover.

As its title suggests, The Art Thief is about, well, the theft of art.  The plot ranges from London to Rome and places in between.  The human characters are interesting, if somewhat forgettable.  Where Charney's effort excels, though, is in the inclusion of many "art characters" - paintings that are brought to life through the brilliant descriptions employed by Charney.  Of course, this is to be expected from Charney, who is himself an art historian and the founder of an international thinktank on the topic of art theft.

It is, however, this same expertise that proves to be The Art Thief's downfall.  In many chapters, Charney delves so deeply into the esoterica of the art world that he risks losing the interest of all but the most intellectual readers.  These educational excursions frequently come across as just that, academic lectures that would be more at home in the classrooms of any major university.

Beyond the somewhat obtuse forays into the technical side of the art world, Charney's use of two foreign languages - French and Italian - provides another obstacle to a reader's thorough enjoyment of the tale.  While adding to the authentic feel of the plot, Charney's frequent uses of these languages frequently leave the reader wondering whether he or she should drop everything and get a translation of the conversation in question or risk missing out on some intricate part of the plot.

The overall verdict on The Art Thief?  If you're interested in art and understand the foibles Charney brings to the book, it can be quite entertaining.  In the interview with the author that is included at the end of the book, Charney reveals that he has two upcoming nonfiction releases.  I suspect that Charney's extreme expertise and ability to make the technical at least somewhat approachable will make both of these must reads.  For the time being, though, Charney's fiction comes across as average to slightly above average.