This was a delight to read, a lovely novella about a thief that holds up a bank. This wonderfully elaborate thief, with his distinctive purple hat takes from each person, not their money, but that which they attach the most sentimental value to upon their person. An old key, a cheap watch, photographs and so on. If that wasn't peculiar enough, things, weird things, start to happen to the victims of this confusing crime. One lady's lion tattoo roars to life and starts to chase her wherever she goes, another woman turns to candy, and our narrator's wife, Stacey, begins to shrink. Each victim's story is a fable in itself, not all of which have a happy ending.
This a book that makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and is quite beautiful, creative and endearing. It is most definitely about the things we value most, even our fears, and facing up to those things. It is because of this that this book would make the perfect gift to a close friend, or someone that could do with a smile. It is short and sweet and only really took about an hour to read in it's entirety, if it had been any longer I really don't think it would have had such an impact. Kaufman is the master of the touching, soulful short novel. I think the only aspect of the novel that would put people off is it's gentle weirdness, I would say to put your judgements aside until you have read it, you will likely be surprised.
A big thumbs up from me, as you can probably tell. This one is due out on the 1st of September, so I would imagine it will be in a lot of people's Christmas stockings. All I want to know is, when will we be seeing an omnibus of Kaufman's novellas? I want one now!
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