The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

Amy    
Lynnie 

nonfiction

The Art Thief is the true story of Stéphane Breitwieser, the most prolific art thief in the world. He and his partner, Anne-Catherine, stole 239 pieces of art/weaponry from museums and cathedrals across Europe between 1994 and 2001 estimated to be worth over a billion dollars. He stole all these pieces for his own personal collection. 

Amy's Review

Really, you know most of the pertinent facts from the first few chapters but you keep reading to find out how he was finally caught. The book goes into his early life, his motivations, his personal life, his methods of theft, his opinions on his own actions versus other art thieves, his psychological profile, the items he stole, input from others who knew him, how he was caught, and what happened afterwards.

Despite all the necessary facts that Michael Finkel had to share in the book, it held my attention for the most part. (It did get a bit slow between the 50% and 65% mark.) Breitwieser’s audacity, hubris, denial of criminal actions, and cunning in carrying out his thefts was fascinating. I like it when nonfiction reads like a novel.

The audiobook was narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Edoardo Ballerini.  While this nonfiction did not challenge his vocal repertoire or acting skills, he did a terrific job of conveying factual information in a non-tedious way. He gets an A.

Lynnie's Review 

Finkel's book reads like fiction at times, but that might be because so much of it seemed unreal to me. The audacity of Breitwieser's thefts and the carelessness with which he treated the pieces in his possession over time infuriated me. The book discusses various theories about why Breitwieser steals, but I found them all unsatisfying. Perhaps, in the end, he stole because he is a thief and that's all there is. After all, he has continued to steal, with his most recent trial held in 2023.

While I enjoyed learning about this, I also found that the book got tedious at about the 40% mark. Whether it was Breitwieser's naval gazing or Finkel's was hard for me to determine, but at that point it felt repetitive and I feel that I could have skipped large portions without missing much at all.

Still, I learned something new, which is what I want from a nonfiction book, so I'm calling it a win. It will definitely give me a new perspective when I'm visiting local museums.