Theft (Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature)

Reviews

Praise for Theft

“Entirely engrossing. . .There are no single truths in this steady, mature novel, which may be why it feels so true as a whole." —Wall Street Journal

“A tightly focused, beautifully controlled examination of friendship and betrayal.” —The Economist

“Compassionate, revelatory. . .a kind of argument about the value of true character, about worth calibrated outside the marketplace of money, status and drama. . .[Gurnah’s] sentences follow the riverbed of some ancient legend, even as he describes complicated modern lives.”— Washington Post

“A vital addition to Gurnah’s remarkable body of work; a novel steeped in heartbreak and loss but one that ultimately refuses despair."—The Guardian

“A satisfying melodrama. . .[that] builds to an engrossing climax.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Beautifully rendered. . .a profound examination of lineages, legacies and lies.”—BookPage

“Intimate. . .but the way Gurnah writes it, it all comes off as pretty heroic.”—NPR.org

“Theft takes many forms intimate and cultural, subtle and obvious in the newest web of interconnected lives masterfully spun by Nobel laureate Gurnah… Written with transfixing precision, wit, insight, and suspense, Theft is profoundly nuanced and revealing.”—Booklist, STARRED review

"Gurnah is a captivating, enthralling storyteller whose characters are vibrant and sympathetic. The pages fly by quickly in his wonderful new novel." —Library Journal, STARRED review

“Nobel Prize-winning novelist Gurnah delivers a story whose title reverberates throughout. . . No word is wasted. . .A tightly constructed family drama with surprising complications.” —Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

“At once culturally specific and emotionally universal. . . Gurnah is at the top of his game.”—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review


Praise for Abdulrazak Gurnah

"[Gurnah] is a novelist nonpareil, a master of the art form who understands human failings in conflicts both political and intimate — and how these shortcomings create afflictions from which nations and individuals continue to suffer, needlessly, generation after generation.” —New York Times Book Review

"Gurnah's greatest act of love and artistry [is] his ability to gather the fragments of broken lives and create a breathtaking mosaic in print." —The Washington Post Expand reviews