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Liar, Dreamer, Thief
A young woman’s carefully constructed fantasy world implodes in this brilliantly conceived novel that blurs distinctions between right and wrong, comedy and tragedy, imagination and "Surreal . . . filled with technicolor lies and terrible truths" (Alix E. Harrow, New York Times bestselling and Hugo‑award winning author).
Most Anticipated by CrimeReads · Good Housekeeping · BookRiot · Goodreads · Bookish · OverDrive
Aardvark Book Club pick · Good Housekeeping Must-Read Book of 2023
Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn’t a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms—like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children’s book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed.
But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt that implies he’s aware of her surveillance, her tenuous hold on a normal life crumbles. Driven by compulsion, she enacts the most powerful ritual she has to reclaim control—a midnight visit to the Cayatoga Bridge—and arrives just in time to witness Kurt’s suicide. Before he jumps, he slams her with a devastating his death is all her fault.
Horrified, Katrina combs through the clues she’s collected about Kurt over the last three years, but each revelation uncovers a menacing for every moment she was watching him, he was watching her. And the past she thought she’d left behind? It’s been following her more closely than she ever could have imagined.
A gripping page-turner, as well as a sensitive exploration of mental health, Liar, Dreamer, Thief is an intimate portrayal of life in all its complexities—and the dangers inherent in unveiling people’s most closely guarded secrets.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
Most Anticipated by CrimeReads · Good Housekeeping · BookRiot · Goodreads · Bookish · OverDrive
Aardvark Book Club pick · Good Housekeeping Must-Read Book of 2023
Katrina Kim may be broke, the black sheep of her family, and slightly unhinged, but she isn’t a stalker. Her obsession with her co-worker, Kurt, is just one of many coping mechanisms—like her constant shape and number rituals, or the way scenes from her favorite children’s book bleed into her vision whenever she feels anxious or stressed.
But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt that implies he’s aware of her surveillance, her tenuous hold on a normal life crumbles. Driven by compulsion, she enacts the most powerful ritual she has to reclaim control—a midnight visit to the Cayatoga Bridge—and arrives just in time to witness Kurt’s suicide. Before he jumps, he slams her with a devastating his death is all her fault.
Horrified, Katrina combs through the clues she’s collected about Kurt over the last three years, but each revelation uncovers a menacing for every moment she was watching him, he was watching her. And the past she thought she’d left behind? It’s been following her more closely than she ever could have imagined.
A gripping page-turner, as well as a sensitive exploration of mental health, Liar, Dreamer, Thief is an intimate portrayal of life in all its complexities—and the dangers inherent in unveiling people’s most closely guarded secrets.
Includes a Reading Group Guide.
337 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 10, 2023
188 people are currently reading
25488 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 662 reviews
January 11, 2023
While I was reading Liar, Dreamer, Thief, I felt like I was living inside the world of Katrina Kim, its infinitely loveable heroine. She’s a college dropout with a terrible job, a mess of a life and an arsenal of questionable coping strategies. One of them is a definitely-unhealthy, apparently random obsession with a coworker, Kurt, who she’s essentially stalking. Another is her tendency to retreat to the mental safe room of her ‘kitchen-door world’, an imagined universe based on her favourite children’s book. When Kurt suddenly vanishes – leaving a cryptic note that seems meant for Katrina – things spiral even further.
This is a cosy book. At the same time, it gets horribly real about the nature and effects of its protagonist’s mental health problems. (Going into detail about my own issues/diagnoses in a Goodreads review is not something I have any interest in doing at this point in my life, but I can confidently say Maria Dong’s portrayal of Katrina and her obsessions is extremely accurate, and I enjoyed and appreciated it a lot.) The writing is sometimes awkward, sometimes brilliant, and it suits the character perfectly – it feels like this is Katrina’s voice rather than a novel. It’s difficult to explain just how much I loved reading about her fascination with Kurt and her hunt for clues to his disappearance.
The story is always shifting and transforming. I felt like I was constantly being kept on my toes not just about where the plot was going, but about the nature of the book. Is it a conspiracy thriller, an ‘unhinged woman’ narrative, a story about a fractured family coming back together? It’s all three and more – a glorious Technicolor starburst of a novel. The closest comparisons I can think of are Catie Disabato’s The Ghost Network and the stories in Elizabeth Tan’s Rubik and Smart Ovens for Lonely People. It’s funny and poignant, colourful and wonderfully weird, totally immersive, and a book I know I will want to return to.
I received an advance review copy of Liar, Dreamer, Thief from the publisher through Edelweiss.
This is a cosy book. At the same time, it gets horribly real about the nature and effects of its protagonist’s mental health problems. (Going into detail about my own issues/diagnoses in a Goodreads review is not something I have any interest in doing at this point in my life, but I can confidently say Maria Dong’s portrayal of Katrina and her obsessions is extremely accurate, and I enjoyed and appreciated it a lot.) The writing is sometimes awkward, sometimes brilliant, and it suits the character perfectly – it feels like this is Katrina’s voice rather than a novel. It’s difficult to explain just how much I loved reading about her fascination with Kurt and her hunt for clues to his disappearance.
The story is always shifting and transforming. I felt like I was constantly being kept on my toes not just about where the plot was going, but about the nature of the book. Is it a conspiracy thriller, an ‘unhinged woman’ narrative, a story about a fractured family coming back together? It’s all three and more – a glorious Technicolor starburst of a novel. The closest comparisons I can think of are Catie Disabato’s The Ghost Network and the stories in Elizabeth Tan’s Rubik and Smart Ovens for Lonely People. It’s funny and poignant, colourful and wonderfully weird, totally immersive, and a book I know I will want to return to.
I received an advance review copy of Liar, Dreamer, Thief from the publisher through Edelweiss.
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September 23, 2022DNF 25% - No rating
There could be a good story here, the 4.79 Goodreads rating and 26 five star reviews would lead me to believe so anyways but I am struggling to get into this.
This book reminds me quite a bit of Carole Johnstone's book Mirrorland which was also a DNF for me.
In this Katrina Kim is a twenty-something that doesn't have her shit together at all and when times get stressful or her anxiety gets the better of her she retreats to her Kitchen Door World which is inspired by her favorite book and fairytale from when she was a child, Mi-Hee and the Mirror-Man. We get long excerpts from that book and I was not interested in the least. She is also obsessed with numbers and figures so The Magical World of Geometry is a prominent feature in which stellations, endekagrams , hendecagrams are discussed ad nauseam.
"Because 11 isn't a special kind of prime number called a Fermat prime, you can't construct a regular hendecagon with a compass and a straightedge - each point inside forms an angle of 147 and 3/11 degree, and 3/11 is one of those fractions that just stretches off after the decimal forever."
Um, what? 😵 And that's just a small snippet. There is a lot more of that and there is nothing thrilling about math to this reader.
I was expecting, from the blurb, that this was a story in which Katrina stalks her co-worker, Kurt, until she witnesses his suicide in which he blames her causing her to lose her mind. That's what I wanted to read about but that's not really what I got and I have totally lost interest in continuing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my complimentary copy.
There could be a good story here, the 4.79 Goodreads rating and 26 five star reviews would lead me to believe so anyways but I am struggling to get into this.
This book reminds me quite a bit of Carole Johnstone's book Mirrorland which was also a DNF for me.
In this Katrina Kim is a twenty-something that doesn't have her shit together at all and when times get stressful or her anxiety gets the better of her she retreats to her Kitchen Door World which is inspired by her favorite book and fairytale from when she was a child, Mi-Hee and the Mirror-Man. We get long excerpts from that book and I was not interested in the least. She is also obsessed with numbers and figures so The Magical World of Geometry is a prominent feature in which stellations, endekagrams , hendecagrams are discussed ad nauseam.
"Because 11 isn't a special kind of prime number called a Fermat prime, you can't construct a regular hendecagon with a compass and a straightedge - each point inside forms an angle of 147 and 3/11 degree, and 3/11 is one of those fractions that just stretches off after the decimal forever."
Um, what? 😵 And that's just a small snippet. There is a lot more of that and there is nothing thrilling about math to this reader.
I was expecting, from the blurb, that this was a story in which Katrina stalks her co-worker, Kurt, until she witnesses his suicide in which he blames her causing her to lose her mind. That's what I wanted to read about but that's not really what I got and I have totally lost interest in continuing.
Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for my complimentary copy.
June 14, 2023
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Liar, Dreamer, Thief had all of the ingredients to be a unique mystery-thriller exploring mental health, but sadly this novel eventually adopted a rather tired formula as it devolved into the typical suspense story where we follow an unreliable woman taking on the role of amateur detective (sometimes to discover what really happened to a friend of hers, who went missing or died, sometimes after she witnesses something troubling, sometimes after she inherited a house or something, etc). Worst still, it relies on the same twist as a lot of these novels do. Maybe if this book had been mid from the very start, I wouldn’t have felt so disappointed, but when I was about ⅓ in, I genuinely thought this was going to be a 4, 5 stars even, read. Not only is too much importance given to that tired twist, but it felt like the middle of the book was just a lot of padding, scenes and internal monologues that come across as repetitive and as if they are stalling for time.
Katrina Kim, our 20-something narrator, is precariously employed at Advancex, a “hospital revenue cycle management” company in NY, where she mostly has to deal with taking calls about people’s insurance, bills, etc. Katrina lives with Leoni, whom she found on craigslist, who for various reasons is often away, either due to work-related reasons or to take care of her ill sister. From the very first pages, we realize that Katrina is not doing well at all. Something happened in her past that resulted in her dropping out of college and being ‘ousted’ by her parents, who have not reached out to her in years. In the present day, Katrina is obsessed with Kurt, a co-worker at Advancex whom she has barely interacted with. Leoni, the only one who seems to know about Katrina’s fixation, tries to tell her that her behavior isn’t healthy and that she is acting like a stalker. But Katrina seems to genuinely believe that there is something connecting her to Kurt, not romantic, as Katrina is into women, but a kinship nonetheless. So Katrina often goes to his desk, when he isn’t around, to look at his stuff, sometimes even stealing things from him. What aggravates Katrina’s loose grip on reality is that she often views the world around her through the magical lenses of her favorite children’s book, identifying real people with characters, or seeing her life or actions as if mirroring those of the book’s protagonist. Katrina has many maladaptive coping mechanisms, rituals, and routines, that have to do with numbers and symbols, many of them connected to that magical world. The first few chapters give us an idea of the ways in which Katrina struggles to maintain a semi-functional facade, emphasizing how day-to-day actions, behaviors, and interactions, that other people do automatically or take for granted, she has difficulty to emulate. Sadly, Advancex doesn’t seem to have a lot of visibility or awareness for disability and accessibility in the workplace. Prone to anxiety attacks and perpetually on edge, we see just how lonely and in difficulty Katrina is, yet, that doesn’t make her inappropriate fixation on Kurt any more palatable. It just so happens that after a particularly bad episode, Katrina turns to one of her more powerful rituals to regain a measure of control, her midnight trip sees her become a witness to Kurt’s suicide. Before jumping to his death, he turns to her and accuses her of being somehow to blame for this.
Reeling, unsure whether she imagined Kurt’s death or not, Katrina loses the little control she had over her life. At work, she finds several clues that lead her to discover that as she was spying and watching Kurt, he was doing the same to her.
What follows is a rather convoluted mystery, with a lot of scenes set in the workplace or in Katrina’s apartment, as we follow Katrina trying to learn more about Kurt and coming across one cryptic clue after the next. In doing so however not only she gets into trouble with her manager but she also puts at risk one of her colleagues, who has always had her back.
At first, I really liked the atmosphere of the story, and Katrina’s surreal, feverish, narration is captivating, despite her troubling behavior. I wasn’t sure if this story was going in the direction of something like Horse Girl, or The OA, or in the murkier realms of Danzy Senna’s Symptomatic or the bizarre world of Sayaka Murata's Earthlings, so I was disappointed when it ultimately went along the lines of those thriller books that are all the rage, with our ‘messy’ unreliable main character doing some questionable sleuthing, often guided by instinct more than logic/proof. While Katrina’s voice was compelling, the characters around her were very cartoonish. From her angry manager to the mean receptionist, to the cat-lady who lives in the same building as her, to the librarian she briefly came across…her colleagues too, both of them behaved in a way and said things that weren’t entirely credible. I also found that the novel tries to go somewhere dark, presenting us with a young woman who is doing things that are irrational, and dangerous even, but it ultimately cops out by making the two people with who Katrina behaves appallingly, into psychopathic villains.
While I appreciated the lack of romance, I did wish that Katrina’s queerness didn’t feel like such an afterthought, almost as if the author wanted to make Katrina’s obsession with Kurt more palatable because she isn’t in love with him…
Also, if I had to be nitpicky since a lot of this book revolves around and in the workplace, there were inconsistencies when it came to how employees like Katrina were monitored. I have a hard time believing that she was able to leave her desk and stalk Kurt for so long without drawing notice. Also, in a lot of workplaces where you have to answer emails/calls from clients/customers, those are monitored, usually for calls to see that they are resolved quickly, and you definitely can’t get away with putting down the phone on someone knowing that they will call again and bother one of your colleagues instead. Additionally, I remember, a friend of mine worked in a call centre and her breaks to pee etc were timed, so if you took longer than 5-10 mins you could be penalized. I wouldn’t be so fussy if it wasn’t for the fact that work surveillance comes into play in the story…
There were times when Katrina's 'other world' seems forgotten, and when it comes into play it almost feels gimmicky.
spoilers ahead
The worst characters were Kurt and Leoni. He was just a one-note generic bad man, and I could never reconcile myself with Katrina’s obsession with him. Sure, she thinks the guy likes the same music as she does and she is lonely, delusional, and prone to obsession….but still. Leoni was even worse. I have come across this type of character one too many times. She is usually the friend or bff of the mc in these books that is super nice and supportive, even when the mc is shitty towards her, but it was all pretend. She is actually a manipulative girlboss who feels like a distant cousin to those golden-age female characters who appear meek, and innocent, only to be then revealed as an evil femme fatale or whatnot. Her motivations were all over the place, and her plan was so convoluted as to lack any sense. Plus, guarda caso, because they are revealed to be as Bad, Katrina’s stalking of Kurt, and her neglectful behavior toward Leoni, are all made moot, because they were actually playing her all along.
I did find Katrina's reunion with her parents moving and rewarding even if I didn't buy into how everyone was seemingly swindled by Leoni's act and didn't care to challenge/question her.
end of spoilers
I guess I just wanted more, from the mystery, from the characters. While the story succeeds in giving readers a glimpse into Katrina, a young woman whose spiralling mental health leaves her vulnerable to other people’s manipulations, it didn’t quite do a lot besides that. The finale was cheesy, almost at odds with the uneasy tone characterizing much of the narrative. This could have been a darker, more subversive read, but it ended up reading like yet another mystery book whose titles usually use words like 'sister', 'girl', 'lies', or a combination of words like 'the other woman', 'the girl you left behind', 'the lies we told', 'the apartment', and so on.
Still, it did have the makings to be something great, so I am actually looking forward to reading more by Maria Dong.
“Once upon a time, there was a girl with a vivid imagination, one who was not entirely sane. She was afraid of many things that weren’t real, but she didn’t tell anyone. They would’ve sent her far, far away, and she wasn’t ready to go.”
Liar, Dreamer, Thief had all of the ingredients to be a unique mystery-thriller exploring mental health, but sadly this novel eventually adopted a rather tired formula as it devolved into the typical suspense story where we follow an unreliable woman taking on the role of amateur detective (sometimes to discover what really happened to a friend of hers, who went missing or died, sometimes after she witnesses something troubling, sometimes after she inherited a house or something, etc). Worst still, it relies on the same twist as a lot of these novels do. Maybe if this book had been mid from the very start, I wouldn’t have felt so disappointed, but when I was about ⅓ in, I genuinely thought this was going to be a 4, 5 stars even, read. Not only is too much importance given to that tired twist, but it felt like the middle of the book was just a lot of padding, scenes and internal monologues that come across as repetitive and as if they are stalling for time.
Katrina Kim, our 20-something narrator, is precariously employed at Advancex, a “hospital revenue cycle management” company in NY, where she mostly has to deal with taking calls about people’s insurance, bills, etc. Katrina lives with Leoni, whom she found on craigslist, who for various reasons is often away, either due to work-related reasons or to take care of her ill sister. From the very first pages, we realize that Katrina is not doing well at all. Something happened in her past that resulted in her dropping out of college and being ‘ousted’ by her parents, who have not reached out to her in years. In the present day, Katrina is obsessed with Kurt, a co-worker at Advancex whom she has barely interacted with. Leoni, the only one who seems to know about Katrina’s fixation, tries to tell her that her behavior isn’t healthy and that she is acting like a stalker. But Katrina seems to genuinely believe that there is something connecting her to Kurt, not romantic, as Katrina is into women, but a kinship nonetheless. So Katrina often goes to his desk, when he isn’t around, to look at his stuff, sometimes even stealing things from him. What aggravates Katrina’s loose grip on reality is that she often views the world around her through the magical lenses of her favorite children’s book, identifying real people with characters, or seeing her life or actions as if mirroring those of the book’s protagonist. Katrina has many maladaptive coping mechanisms, rituals, and routines, that have to do with numbers and symbols, many of them connected to that magical world. The first few chapters give us an idea of the ways in which Katrina struggles to maintain a semi-functional facade, emphasizing how day-to-day actions, behaviors, and interactions, that other people do automatically or take for granted, she has difficulty to emulate. Sadly, Advancex doesn’t seem to have a lot of visibility or awareness for disability and accessibility in the workplace. Prone to anxiety attacks and perpetually on edge, we see just how lonely and in difficulty Katrina is, yet, that doesn’t make her inappropriate fixation on Kurt any more palatable. It just so happens that after a particularly bad episode, Katrina turns to one of her more powerful rituals to regain a measure of control, her midnight trip sees her become a witness to Kurt’s suicide. Before jumping to his death, he turns to her and accuses her of being somehow to blame for this.
Reeling, unsure whether she imagined Kurt’s death or not, Katrina loses the little control she had over her life. At work, she finds several clues that lead her to discover that as she was spying and watching Kurt, he was doing the same to her.
What follows is a rather convoluted mystery, with a lot of scenes set in the workplace or in Katrina’s apartment, as we follow Katrina trying to learn more about Kurt and coming across one cryptic clue after the next. In doing so however not only she gets into trouble with her manager but she also puts at risk one of her colleagues, who has always had her back.
At first, I really liked the atmosphere of the story, and Katrina’s surreal, feverish, narration is captivating, despite her troubling behavior. I wasn’t sure if this story was going in the direction of something like Horse Girl, or The OA, or in the murkier realms of Danzy Senna’s Symptomatic or the bizarre world of Sayaka Murata's Earthlings, so I was disappointed when it ultimately went along the lines of those thriller books that are all the rage, with our ‘messy’ unreliable main character doing some questionable sleuthing, often guided by instinct more than logic/proof. While Katrina’s voice was compelling, the characters around her were very cartoonish. From her angry manager to the mean receptionist, to the cat-lady who lives in the same building as her, to the librarian she briefly came across…her colleagues too, both of them behaved in a way and said things that weren’t entirely credible. I also found that the novel tries to go somewhere dark, presenting us with a young woman who is doing things that are irrational, and dangerous even, but it ultimately cops out by making the two people with who Katrina behaves appallingly, into psychopathic villains.
While I appreciated the lack of romance, I did wish that Katrina’s queerness didn’t feel like such an afterthought, almost as if the author wanted to make Katrina’s obsession with Kurt more palatable because she isn’t in love with him…
Also, if I had to be nitpicky since a lot of this book revolves around and in the workplace, there were inconsistencies when it came to how employees like Katrina were monitored. I have a hard time believing that she was able to leave her desk and stalk Kurt for so long without drawing notice. Also, in a lot of workplaces where you have to answer emails/calls from clients/customers, those are monitored, usually for calls to see that they are resolved quickly, and you definitely can’t get away with putting down the phone on someone knowing that they will call again and bother one of your colleagues instead. Additionally, I remember, a friend of mine worked in a call centre and her breaks to pee etc were timed, so if you took longer than 5-10 mins you could be penalized. I wouldn’t be so fussy if it wasn’t for the fact that work surveillance comes into play in the story…
There were times when Katrina's 'other world' seems forgotten, and when it comes into play it almost feels gimmicky.
spoilers ahead
The worst characters were Kurt and Leoni. He was just a one-note generic bad man, and I could never reconcile myself with Katrina’s obsession with him. Sure, she thinks the guy likes the same music as she does and she is lonely, delusional, and prone to obsession….but still. Leoni was even worse. I have come across this type of character one too many times. She is usually the friend or bff of the mc in these books that is super nice and supportive, even when the mc is shitty towards her, but it was all pretend. She is actually a manipulative girlboss who feels like a distant cousin to those golden-age female characters who appear meek, and innocent, only to be then revealed as an evil femme fatale or whatnot. Her motivations were all over the place, and her plan was so convoluted as to lack any sense. Plus, guarda caso, because they are revealed to be as Bad, Katrina’s stalking of Kurt, and her neglectful behavior toward Leoni, are all made moot, because they were actually playing her all along.
I did find Katrina's reunion with her parents moving and rewarding even if I didn't buy into how everyone was seemingly swindled by Leoni's act and didn't care to challenge/question her.
end of spoilers
I guess I just wanted more, from the mystery, from the characters. While the story succeeds in giving readers a glimpse into Katrina, a young woman whose spiralling mental health leaves her vulnerable to other people’s manipulations, it didn’t quite do a lot besides that. The finale was cheesy, almost at odds with the uneasy tone characterizing much of the narrative. This could have been a darker, more subversive read, but it ended up reading like yet another mystery book whose titles usually use words like 'sister', 'girl', 'lies', or a combination of words like 'the other woman', 'the girl you left behind', 'the lies we told', 'the apartment', and so on.
Still, it did have the makings to be something great, so I am actually looking forward to reading more by Maria Dong.
February 2, 2023
This book spoke to me. Katrina Kim is the most lovable, vulnerable mess of a human. I would find it concerning how much I identified with her* if I wasn't too busy enjoying every bonkers moment of this book. I was worried as I approached the end, given how I'd lost my mind over it so far, that the ending wouldn't do Katrina justice, but I shouldn't have been worried. I cried happy tears and felt much resolution.
*I have OCD and she does too, but it's more than that. I can't explain it!
The blurb for this one does not convey in any way the experience of what it is like to sink into Katrina's story. It makes it seem more hardboiled, dramatic, and depressing, and it's none of those things. Despite Katrina being pretty mentally ill (and in a bad place with her disabilities and neurodivergences) and the book being about her stalking someone and them stalking her back, and then her watching that person commit suicide (this is all within the first twenty pages), the book *sparkles*. There's something about Katrina's first-person narration that almost immediately endears her to you, and while she's making all these messed up decisions and giving in to her terrible coping mechanisms, you absolutely cannot help but care for her. And honestly, yes, identify with her. In her specific neuroses, she is weirdly an everyperson. She wants friends, she wants care and companionship, she longs for the past she gave up, and struggles knowing that it's her own mistakes that have led her to her present unhappy circumstances. The book is also darkly funny. Katrina is funny. The situations she gets into are absurd. (The DUMPSTER SCENE, oh god.) And yet, she's determined and smart, and she figures things out.
I picked this book up on a whim, against my normal inclinations; there was something about it that sparked enough curiosity in me to check out the available audio from Libby, and within about five minutes, my brain was fully in the world of the book, and I feel like my emotions didn't come up for air until I finished it a couple of days later. I then started annoying people with texts, and blathered on for long periods of time about it to bookish friends.
I feel like I am still barely even scratching the surface of what this book is about and why I loved it.
I will 1000% read anything else that Maria Dong writes in the future, and honestly, it will take real self-control for me not to turn right around and read my brand new purchased hardcover all over again (I need to tab all my favorite parts!!) I also apologize in advance for the next eleven months, as I'm sure I will take any chance I get to push this book on any one of you who happens to cross my path.
*I have OCD and she does too, but it's more than that. I can't explain it!
The blurb for this one does not convey in any way the experience of what it is like to sink into Katrina's story. It makes it seem more hardboiled, dramatic, and depressing, and it's none of those things. Despite Katrina being pretty mentally ill (and in a bad place with her disabilities and neurodivergences) and the book being about her stalking someone and them stalking her back, and then her watching that person commit suicide (this is all within the first twenty pages), the book *sparkles*. There's something about Katrina's first-person narration that almost immediately endears her to you, and while she's making all these messed up decisions and giving in to her terrible coping mechanisms, you absolutely cannot help but care for her. And honestly, yes, identify with her. In her specific neuroses, she is weirdly an everyperson. She wants friends, she wants care and companionship, she longs for the past she gave up, and struggles knowing that it's her own mistakes that have led her to her present unhappy circumstances. The book is also darkly funny. Katrina is funny. The situations she gets into are absurd. (The DUMPSTER SCENE, oh god.) And yet, she's determined and smart, and she figures things out.
I picked this book up on a whim, against my normal inclinations; there was something about it that sparked enough curiosity in me to check out the available audio from Libby, and within about five minutes, my brain was fully in the world of the book, and I feel like my emotions didn't come up for air until I finished it a couple of days later. I then started annoying people with texts, and blathered on for long periods of time about it to bookish friends.
I feel like I am still barely even scratching the surface of what this book is about and why I loved it.
I will 1000% read anything else that Maria Dong writes in the future, and honestly, it will take real self-control for me not to turn right around and read my brand new purchased hardcover all over again (I need to tab all my favorite parts!!) I also apologize in advance for the next eleven months, as I'm sure I will take any chance I get to push this book on any one of you who happens to cross my path.
March 4, 2023
This book was a wild ride! I felt immersed in our protagonist Katrina Kim’s story. She’s stuck in a lukewarm office job, barely making ends meet, while nursing an obsession with her co-worker Kurt. When Katrina receives a cryptic message from Kurt that implies that he knows about Katrina’s lurking, she takes desperate measures to reclaim control in her life even when everything has already spiraled out beyond her wildest imagination.
I liked the mental health components of Liar, Dreamer, Thief as well as the thriller components. I felt a lot of empathy for Katrina in relation to her mental health struggles; Maria Dong does a nice job of showing Katrina’s symptoms in a vivid and realistic way. Similarly, Dong’s writing is fast-paced and entertaining enough that I felt compelled by the more suspenseful parts of the story. I finished this book last night in my apartment and literally felt creeped the heck out, in a positive way, as I learned more and more about the revelations underlying Katrina’s obsession with Kurt.
Unfortunately I’m giving this book three stars because I didn’t feel like the mental health storyline or the thriller storyline were properly resolved? There was a lot of buildup to both parts of the novel though the ending kind of felt like a copout to me. The ending took this approach that almost came across as magical realism to me where certain things fell into place that were either too convenient or too nonsensical, to the point where I couldn’t fully emotionally connect with the narrative anymore.
In sum, Liar, Dreamer, Thief kept my attention for sure, even if it’s not a novel I would recommend right away.
I liked the mental health components of Liar, Dreamer, Thief as well as the thriller components. I felt a lot of empathy for Katrina in relation to her mental health struggles; Maria Dong does a nice job of showing Katrina’s symptoms in a vivid and realistic way. Similarly, Dong’s writing is fast-paced and entertaining enough that I felt compelled by the more suspenseful parts of the story. I finished this book last night in my apartment and literally felt creeped the heck out, in a positive way, as I learned more and more about the revelations underlying Katrina’s obsession with Kurt.
Unfortunately I’m giving this book three stars because I didn’t feel like the mental health storyline or the thriller storyline were properly resolved? There was a lot of buildup to both parts of the novel though the ending kind of felt like a copout to me. The ending took this approach that almost came across as magical realism to me where certain things fell into place that were either too convenient or too nonsensical, to the point where I couldn’t fully emotionally connect with the narrative anymore.
In sum, Liar, Dreamer, Thief kept my attention for sure, even if it’s not a novel I would recommend right away.
December 1, 2022
UPDATE: I was even luckier to get to read the finished copy! Here's what I had to say:
"A gorgeously written, genre-blending take on psychological suspense, Liar, Dreamer, Thief uses the frame of an investigation into a man’s apparent suicide to explore the act of meaning-making itself, as well as the ways neurodivergence and marginality both complicate the process and open it to spectacular new possibilities. This brilliant story is unlike anything I’ve read: provocative and unsettling, but grounded by a warm beating heart. Maria Dong is one of the freshest, most vital new voices in fiction."
Highly, highly recommend this beautiful book!
*******
Was lucky enough to get an early glimpse of this book and it was genre-bending and beautiful. I can't wait to read the finished.
"A gorgeously written, genre-blending take on psychological suspense, Liar, Dreamer, Thief uses the frame of an investigation into a man’s apparent suicide to explore the act of meaning-making itself, as well as the ways neurodivergence and marginality both complicate the process and open it to spectacular new possibilities. This brilliant story is unlike anything I’ve read: provocative and unsettling, but grounded by a warm beating heart. Maria Dong is one of the freshest, most vital new voices in fiction."
Highly, highly recommend this beautiful book!
*******
Was lucky enough to get an early glimpse of this book and it was genre-bending and beautiful. I can't wait to read the finished.
October 29, 2024
I don't know if I can ever fully process this book. I mean that in a good way. This was a phenomenal bit of writing by Maria Dong.
My prevailing thought while reading: How much of the crazy is Katrina and how much of the crazy is the outside world?
It was the reality of mental health that touched upon things that more people than you may realize deal with on a day-to-day basis in lesser quantities. Society's use of social media has shown us firsthand the depth of the lack of grasp on reality possessed by humanity in general. In that same vein, we all have obsessions and/or addictions with/to something. Perhaps your obsession/addiction is more socially acceptable than someone else's, but you still have one or more. In this world rife with online dating it is easy to become momentarily obsessed with someone, or the truth of someone, when much of a public person is faked and created.
I too, am a truth craver. I too have gotten obsessive about answers, about finding justice and logic in an unjust and illogical world. Sometimes this can feel like crippling chaos. I too, prefer the world in my head, mostly through books, to the reality I can't always belong in. This book scared me a bit. I related to Katrina a bit too much. No, not in the same extremes that she is barely holding on to living to the point of being unable to take care of her car, her cleanliness, or other things regular people may not devote much thought to. Whatever spectrum she is on. I am there, too, on a lesser, more functioning level. But I have a fear when I read things like this. What if I reach this level one day? What if I can no longer function as normal as society needs me to survive and thrive? What if I let go of all of my personal enneagram rituals that keep me functioning in a society not made for the neurodivergent? Could I fall to this level too?
This was a brilliant exploration of the mind. Into the ways that those of us spend so much time trying to survive in the "norm" can be taken advantage of by others, how we can struggle to make social attachments or rely on anyone in an extreme trauma response to how people treat us. This resonated with me in a way that John Green put words into a similar thought process of mine in Turtles All the Way Down.
Maria, if you are at all like Katrina, who is written in such a way that I have to believe that you understood her on a mental level, I would love to sit and talk with you about it. It's hard to equate into words the struggles to be the square peg shoved into the round hole of this world. It would be nice to know that it doesn't have to be alone and end terribly.
Sorry, this probably doesn't tell you much about the book. I don't really know how best to describe something that starts out a bit strange and then slowly creeps into your brain like a spider before wrenching it open into one of the most psychological thrillers you may ever experience. If you find no way to relate to this book, I would love to talk about how life and your thought process work for you instead.
Some of the ending left me wanting more details and answers, but that last half was a thrill and a half. The gift to find a way to put words to this. I applaud you, Maria Dong.
A solid 5+ Stars.
My prevailing thought while reading: How much of the crazy is Katrina and how much of the crazy is the outside world?
It was the reality of mental health that touched upon things that more people than you may realize deal with on a day-to-day basis in lesser quantities. Society's use of social media has shown us firsthand the depth of the lack of grasp on reality possessed by humanity in general. In that same vein, we all have obsessions and/or addictions with/to something. Perhaps your obsession/addiction is more socially acceptable than someone else's, but you still have one or more. In this world rife with online dating it is easy to become momentarily obsessed with someone, or the truth of someone, when much of a public person is faked and created.
I too, am a truth craver. I too have gotten obsessive about answers, about finding justice and logic in an unjust and illogical world. Sometimes this can feel like crippling chaos. I too, prefer the world in my head, mostly through books, to the reality I can't always belong in. This book scared me a bit. I related to Katrina a bit too much. No, not in the same extremes that she is barely holding on to living to the point of being unable to take care of her car, her cleanliness, or other things regular people may not devote much thought to. Whatever spectrum she is on. I am there, too, on a lesser, more functioning level. But I have a fear when I read things like this. What if I reach this level one day? What if I can no longer function as normal as society needs me to survive and thrive? What if I let go of all of my personal enneagram rituals that keep me functioning in a society not made for the neurodivergent? Could I fall to this level too?
This was a brilliant exploration of the mind. Into the ways that those of us spend so much time trying to survive in the "norm" can be taken advantage of by others, how we can struggle to make social attachments or rely on anyone in an extreme trauma response to how people treat us. This resonated with me in a way that John Green put words into a similar thought process of mine in Turtles All the Way Down.
Maria, if you are at all like Katrina, who is written in such a way that I have to believe that you understood her on a mental level, I would love to sit and talk with you about it. It's hard to equate into words the struggles to be the square peg shoved into the round hole of this world. It would be nice to know that it doesn't have to be alone and end terribly.
Sorry, this probably doesn't tell you much about the book. I don't really know how best to describe something that starts out a bit strange and then slowly creeps into your brain like a spider before wrenching it open into one of the most psychological thrillers you may ever experience. If you find no way to relate to this book, I would love to talk about how life and your thought process work for you instead.
Some of the ending left me wanting more details and answers, but that last half was a thrill and a half. The gift to find a way to put words to this. I applaud you, Maria Dong.
A solid 5+ Stars.
January 12, 2023
Liar, Dreamer, Thief is an immensely ambitious novel that doesn’t miss the mark once. It brilliantly tackles mental health, workplace isolation, estrangement, support or lack thereof, reunions and so much more. Maria Dong manages to cast her net wide and catch every ambition perfectly. This book is an absolute treat for anyone looking for a novel that feels both escapist and all too real all at once.
Quick Summary: Katrina Kim is the black sheep of her family but she isn’t a stalker. She may have an obsession with her coworker, Kurt, but despite what her roommate says she isn’t stalking him. Her obsession is just a coping mechanism, just like her visions and her number rituals. But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt implying he knows she’s been watching him, her carefully constructed life begins to crumble. In a desperate act to reclaim control, she arrives to the Cayatoga Bridge just in time to witness Kurt’s suicide and have him blame it on her.
Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a truly stand out novel. The prose so beautifully matches Katrina Kim’s voice. One mark of a great novel is when the prose matches the characters, which is not something that is often mastered, and Maria Dong blows it out of the water. This story flows like a train of thought and switches direction in the blink of an eye but as readers, we’re always guided with ease. Even as we intimately navigate the bumpy road of Katrina’s mind. This story gifts us with a perfect balance of feeling out of control but also knowing we can trust the author to bring us to the end.
Continue Reading
I also had the privilege to do the cover reveal for this beautiful book and I got to interview Maria for it! Come read Maria's interview!
Bookish Brews | Ko-Fi | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr | Facebook
Quick Summary: Katrina Kim is the black sheep of her family but she isn’t a stalker. She may have an obsession with her coworker, Kurt, but despite what her roommate says she isn’t stalking him. Her obsession is just a coping mechanism, just like her visions and her number rituals. But when Katrina finds a cryptic message from Kurt implying he knows she’s been watching him, her carefully constructed life begins to crumble. In a desperate act to reclaim control, she arrives to the Cayatoga Bridge just in time to witness Kurt’s suicide and have him blame it on her.
Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a truly stand out novel. The prose so beautifully matches Katrina Kim’s voice. One mark of a great novel is when the prose matches the characters, which is not something that is often mastered, and Maria Dong blows it out of the water. This story flows like a train of thought and switches direction in the blink of an eye but as readers, we’re always guided with ease. Even as we intimately navigate the bumpy road of Katrina’s mind. This story gifts us with a perfect balance of feeling out of control but also knowing we can trust the author to bring us to the end.
Continue Reading
I also had the privilege to do the cover reveal for this beautiful book and I got to interview Maria for it! Come read Maria's interview!
Bookish Brews | Ko-Fi | Twitter | Pinterest | Tumblr | Facebook
June 20, 2022
I loved every moment of this. A beautiful, unsettling, deeply compassionate novel about mental health, obsession, and complicated families. Did I cry at the end? Definitely yes.
September 23, 2022
Told in first person present tense. A dysfunctional protagonist leads us through her obsession with a coworker. The main character self-consciously sabotages herself through ritual superstitions and coping mechanisms. The list of her disorders is not delineated but the reader may observe tell-tale signs of nearly every social issue a person can contain within one body.
The writing is fluid, way more commercial than literary fiction, a page-turner trick or two implemented at the end of most chapters. This is a quick read, but patience is required to put up with the protag's deplorable decision-making paralysis, her awful judgment constantly triggering the next disaster. The only tension or conflict present in the book is the direct result of Katrina's ill-adapted actions. It was frustrating, and I did not sympathize with her. I have met many who have dug their own graves while living lives they always complain about, but few of them matched Katrina's level of unbelievably broken.
It was a harrowing experience in the same way riding along for a train wreck is. But there is little complexity, and not much literature to a train wreck. It is simply a sad and destructive force barreling toward doom. Misery loves company. Anyone who has worked for a staffing company or as a recruiter will sense the seething hate for the industry felt by our anti-heroine. But how else would you expect corporate America, let alone the healthcare system, to function? Hate it all you will, but she is the one to blame for her deplorable job, her circumstances, etc. She did not work hard and had the gall to complain about how her workplace treated her. The worst employees get treated the worst. Sorry not sorry.
The problem with reading a very intimate and close perspective is that you can easily hate the person you are keeping company with. I do not believe this was the author's intention.
The better parts of the book are related to a slapped-together mystery and the disparate fascinations of the protagonist's secret world intersecting. Overall, I was extremely unimpressed, but it is the kind of book you have to finish.
The writing is fluid, way more commercial than literary fiction, a page-turner trick or two implemented at the end of most chapters. This is a quick read, but patience is required to put up with the protag's deplorable decision-making paralysis, her awful judgment constantly triggering the next disaster. The only tension or conflict present in the book is the direct result of Katrina's ill-adapted actions. It was frustrating, and I did not sympathize with her. I have met many who have dug their own graves while living lives they always complain about, but few of them matched Katrina's level of unbelievably broken.
It was a harrowing experience in the same way riding along for a train wreck is. But there is little complexity, and not much literature to a train wreck. It is simply a sad and destructive force barreling toward doom. Misery loves company. Anyone who has worked for a staffing company or as a recruiter will sense the seething hate for the industry felt by our anti-heroine. But how else would you expect corporate America, let alone the healthcare system, to function? Hate it all you will, but she is the one to blame for her deplorable job, her circumstances, etc. She did not work hard and had the gall to complain about how her workplace treated her. The worst employees get treated the worst. Sorry not sorry.
The problem with reading a very intimate and close perspective is that you can easily hate the person you are keeping company with. I do not believe this was the author's intention.
The better parts of the book are related to a slapped-together mystery and the disparate fascinations of the protagonist's secret world intersecting. Overall, I was extremely unimpressed, but it is the kind of book you have to finish.
March 1, 2023
An exhilarating mystery which blurs the line between truth and fantasy. Unsettling, suspenseful, and filled with twists and turns, Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a wild ride of vengeance, obsessions, and the need to uncover lost truths. Layered, with enchanting insights of emotion and humanity, this debut is a truly remarkable blend of imagination and the terrible reality that humans are capable of crafting. A fantastically engrossing read.
December 20, 2022
My thanks to Moon for recommending this book . . .
What a wonderful book I would not have discovered were it not for great book friends on GR and their recommendations. "Lair, Dreamer, Thief" tells the story of Korean-American Katrina Kim, three-years estranged from her immigrant parents, living in a big city and scraping by a living at her temp job. Her world is further complicated by her tenuous grip on her reality, as she struggles with mental illness and an obsession with her co-worker Kurt, whom she is stalking. Even though Katrina is an unreliable narrator, her voice is endearing and hopeful, and as she digs more and more into the past and the mysterious actions of her co-workers and roommate, I couldn't help but feel for Katrina. Even as I wanted to clean up after her garbage messes and tell her to get it together. This is an addictive story of childhood memories, music and numbers, mental illness, alienation, even temp work grind. I'm thankful to have found it. Kudos to the author!
What a wonderful book I would not have discovered were it not for great book friends on GR and their recommendations. "Lair, Dreamer, Thief" tells the story of Korean-American Katrina Kim, three-years estranged from her immigrant parents, living in a big city and scraping by a living at her temp job. Her world is further complicated by her tenuous grip on her reality, as she struggles with mental illness and an obsession with her co-worker Kurt, whom she is stalking. Even though Katrina is an unreliable narrator, her voice is endearing and hopeful, and as she digs more and more into the past and the mysterious actions of her co-workers and roommate, I couldn't help but feel for Katrina. Even as I wanted to clean up after her garbage messes and tell her to get it together. This is an addictive story of childhood memories, music and numbers, mental illness, alienation, even temp work grind. I'm thankful to have found it. Kudos to the author!
December 18, 2022
*3.5 stars
Liar, Dreamer, Thief centers around 20 something Katrina Kim. Katrina is a broke, college dropout stuck with a job that she hates. Katrina develops an unhealthy obsession with her co-worker Kurt and essentially is stalking him. One night Katrina arrives at a bridge and she witnesses Kurt commit suicide. Before he jumps, he tells Katrina that this is all her fault. Katrina then goes over the clues she has collected and wonders if maybe he was stalking her all along
Liar, Dreamer, Thief takes the reader inside the mind of someone suffering from mental illness. The author did a fantastic job with Katrina's character, her portrayal of someone suffering from mental illness is very accurate. The story delves into the everyday life of a person with mental illness and how they often struggle to navigate the adult world with paying bills, maintaining relationships, and keeping a job. Liar Dreamer Thief also does an excellent job discussing race, and sexuality.
Liar Dreamer Thief is a genre bending story that's a mix between literary fiction and psychological thriller. The beginning introduces the reader to Katrina's her inner world and the rest of the story morphs into a suspenseful edge of your seat thrill ride.
The only issue I had with this one is the pacing. I felt as if certain parts were a bit too long and that quite a bit of the story could be removed to make for a more compelling read. But overall I truly did enjoy Liar Dreamer Thief.
Liar Dreamer Thief will be available on January 10. Many thanks to Libro FM, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Audio for the gifted audiobook!
Liar, Dreamer, Thief centers around 20 something Katrina Kim. Katrina is a broke, college dropout stuck with a job that she hates. Katrina develops an unhealthy obsession with her co-worker Kurt and essentially is stalking him. One night Katrina arrives at a bridge and she witnesses Kurt commit suicide. Before he jumps, he tells Katrina that this is all her fault. Katrina then goes over the clues she has collected and wonders if maybe he was stalking her all along
Liar, Dreamer, Thief takes the reader inside the mind of someone suffering from mental illness. The author did a fantastic job with Katrina's character, her portrayal of someone suffering from mental illness is very accurate. The story delves into the everyday life of a person with mental illness and how they often struggle to navigate the adult world with paying bills, maintaining relationships, and keeping a job. Liar Dreamer Thief also does an excellent job discussing race, and sexuality.
Liar Dreamer Thief is a genre bending story that's a mix between literary fiction and psychological thriller. The beginning introduces the reader to Katrina's her inner world and the rest of the story morphs into a suspenseful edge of your seat thrill ride.
The only issue I had with this one is the pacing. I felt as if certain parts were a bit too long and that quite a bit of the story could be removed to make for a more compelling read. But overall I truly did enjoy Liar Dreamer Thief.
Liar Dreamer Thief will be available on January 10. Many thanks to Libro FM, Grand Central Publishing, and Hachette Audio for the gifted audiobook!
October 16, 2023
This includes spoilers:
Also, to be clear, I wish nothing but the best to this author. I just want to provide my honest review on reading this book.
In a book haul of 9, this was the book I anticipated reading the most based on the proposed plot. I was deeply disappointed in the execution of it all.
To start, I HATED the alternate world. I know part of this is because of my unfamiliarity with the book that it reference, but every time the author dived into Katrina escaping through the kitchen door, I wanted to pull my eyes out. The analogues provided no real value in the end. It appears the only reason it was there was to help paint a picture that Katrina was mentally unwell, something that was IRRELEVANT when we get to the end of the book.
To piggyback off the the alternate universe analogues being unnecessary, there were also other moments that I thought were not needed or flushed out TOO much (example: Katrina looking for particular yearbooks in the library, Katrina looking for the keys in the garbage chute, Katrina’s interactions with the security guard at the first desk of her job). Interactions that took up PAGES that had no relevance to the conclusion of the story.
Meanwhile, the actual plot that we should care about of Leoni seeking revenge on Kurt was SEVERELY neglected. Even when we discover that Leoni is not who she appears to be, that lead is quickly abandoned for more irrelevant plot lines. We then find ourselves racing to the finish line to bring all of this together on the last 40 pages. I think a lot of those pointless scenes could have been replaced with more scenes of Katrina observing Leoni, so that we are atleast somewhat prepared for what is to come.
The parent storyline was also poorly executed. We spend 3/4ths of the book believing her parents are evil, just to find out it was tiny mistake? Lol. Terrible
Going back to my first point, Katrina’s mental health struggles were truly not needed when we find out she’s honestly just a casualty in the war between Kurt and Leoni. Stalking or not, she was just a chess piece in their game, so again, I ask why was that a focal point of the book? I was so invested in this point about her hallucinations that I spent MAJORITY of the book believing none of what she was saying was real. Seeing Kurt jump off the bridge, Kurt spying on her and leaving a message for her on his mirror, HIM LIVING DOWNSTAIRS! It wasn’t until she shows her parents those items she found in his house that I realize I was actually supposed to take those items as reality.
I finished this book in less than 24 hours because I was eager to move on my next book without having to DNF it.
Also, to be clear, I wish nothing but the best to this author. I just want to provide my honest review on reading this book.
In a book haul of 9, this was the book I anticipated reading the most based on the proposed plot. I was deeply disappointed in the execution of it all.
To start, I HATED the alternate world. I know part of this is because of my unfamiliarity with the book that it reference, but every time the author dived into Katrina escaping through the kitchen door, I wanted to pull my eyes out. The analogues provided no real value in the end. It appears the only reason it was there was to help paint a picture that Katrina was mentally unwell, something that was IRRELEVANT when we get to the end of the book.
To piggyback off the the alternate universe analogues being unnecessary, there were also other moments that I thought were not needed or flushed out TOO much (example: Katrina looking for particular yearbooks in the library, Katrina looking for the keys in the garbage chute, Katrina’s interactions with the security guard at the first desk of her job). Interactions that took up PAGES that had no relevance to the conclusion of the story.
Meanwhile, the actual plot that we should care about of Leoni seeking revenge on Kurt was SEVERELY neglected. Even when we discover that Leoni is not who she appears to be, that lead is quickly abandoned for more irrelevant plot lines. We then find ourselves racing to the finish line to bring all of this together on the last 40 pages. I think a lot of those pointless scenes could have been replaced with more scenes of Katrina observing Leoni, so that we are atleast somewhat prepared for what is to come.
The parent storyline was also poorly executed. We spend 3/4ths of the book believing her parents are evil, just to find out it was tiny mistake? Lol. Terrible
Going back to my first point, Katrina’s mental health struggles were truly not needed when we find out she’s honestly just a casualty in the war between Kurt and Leoni. Stalking or not, she was just a chess piece in their game, so again, I ask why was that a focal point of the book? I was so invested in this point about her hallucinations that I spent MAJORITY of the book believing none of what she was saying was real. Seeing Kurt jump off the bridge, Kurt spying on her and leaving a message for her on his mirror, HIM LIVING DOWNSTAIRS! It wasn’t until she shows her parents those items she found in his house that I realize I was actually supposed to take those items as reality.
I finished this book in less than 24 hours because I was eager to move on my next book without having to DNF it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 17, 2023
Longer review later, but grabbed the audio version of this on a whim when it came across my feed. I have ocd (the real clinical kind not the omg I'm like so ocd kind.) This book was one of the better representations of certain aspects of ocd that many people don't see or understand. It's a bizarre book with interesting characters and the narrator was perfect.
January 25, 2023
I've sought out and thoroughly enjoyed Maria Dong's short fiction, so the wait for her first novel was practically spent with 'bated breath. But what kind of a thing would it be? The short stories she's written are startlingly different from one another.
As it turns out, this is, too. As I was reading, I kept marveling happily that this book found a home with a publisher, because it doesn't lend itself to being pigeonholed into genre. If I were to describe it to a prospective reader using the bones of the plot, it would sound like a thriller. Maybe a psychological thriller. But that would be missing so much of the real substance.
I felt a bit lost through the first section of the book: is this magical realism? Is it a disturbed young woman? Is there actually a mystery, or just obsession?
There's definitely some ambiguity surrounding perception, and our main character occupies a number of liminal spaces at once: she's the first-gen American child of immigrants and has a fraught or broken relationship with her parents, she's definitely not neurotypical and may be suffering from one or more mental illnesses, she is living hand-to-mouth as a temp and seems in real danger of becoming unhoused; Katrina Kim is barely holding her self and life together at the seams, and you as the reader really feel it.
How reliable should we count on our narrator to be? Is there weird stuff going on or is this the fantasy world that a person retreats to in order to escape the banality of corporate temp work? When things pick up speed, they do so dramatically... and all of a sudden I found I needed to stay up quite late to finish the book because what the hell is actually even happening here??
The thriller-esque plot is neat and surprising and it works, the perspective shifts lurch in a delightful way, but the real art of the book is in the characterization of Katrina and what it's like to be her in the world and barely hanging on. And as realistically (and at times anxiety-inducingly) as that experience is rendered--of being one late bus/car problem/sick cat away from everything coming apart--I was really bracing myself for a gritty or bleak ending. (I used to be more stoic about those before the last few years in the world; I find I'm awfully fond of a hopeful note these days.) But I'm pleased to report that the ending left me feeling nice. Even positively cozy, with that hopeful note, but not in a tacked-on way. It works.
An enthusiastic four stars for a hell of a debut novel.
[I was provided an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.]
As it turns out, this is, too. As I was reading, I kept marveling happily that this book found a home with a publisher, because it doesn't lend itself to being pigeonholed into genre. If I were to describe it to a prospective reader using the bones of the plot, it would sound like a thriller. Maybe a psychological thriller. But that would be missing so much of the real substance.
I felt a bit lost through the first section of the book: is this magical realism? Is it a disturbed young woman? Is there actually a mystery, or just obsession?
There's definitely some ambiguity surrounding perception, and our main character occupies a number of liminal spaces at once: she's the first-gen American child of immigrants and has a fraught or broken relationship with her parents, she's definitely not neurotypical and may be suffering from one or more mental illnesses, she is living hand-to-mouth as a temp and seems in real danger of becoming unhoused; Katrina Kim is barely holding her self and life together at the seams, and you as the reader really feel it.
How reliable should we count on our narrator to be? Is there weird stuff going on or is this the fantasy world that a person retreats to in order to escape the banality of corporate temp work? When things pick up speed, they do so dramatically... and all of a sudden I found I needed to stay up quite late to finish the book because what the hell is actually even happening here??
The thriller-esque plot is neat and surprising and it works, the perspective shifts lurch in a delightful way, but the real art of the book is in the characterization of Katrina and what it's like to be her in the world and barely hanging on. And as realistically (and at times anxiety-inducingly) as that experience is rendered--of being one late bus/car problem/sick cat away from everything coming apart--I was really bracing myself for a gritty or bleak ending. (I used to be more stoic about those before the last few years in the world; I find I'm awfully fond of a hopeful note these days.) But I'm pleased to report that the ending left me feeling nice. Even positively cozy, with that hopeful note, but not in a tacked-on way. It works.
An enthusiastic four stars for a hell of a debut novel.
[I was provided an ARC by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.]
May 21, 2023
I love books with characters who you think are totally crazy, but end up being interesting, quirky and smart!
Read
July 3, 2023Reading this feels like falling down the rabbit hole of Katrina Kim's mind, making it both, for better or worse, a compelling and frustrating read.
January 26, 2023
Thank you, NetGalley, for the copy!
What's good?
- Kat, as a character, is well-flushed out. For someone with mental and abandonment issues, the author has done a marvelous job showing us how she struggles with day-to-day activities.
- The investigative portion is quite good. It's exciting and hard to predict.
- A special shoutout to the scene where Kat gets confronted by her employers. That is some sharp writing and a witty scenario.
CONS
- The first half of the book is so hard to read. The repetition of Kat's rituals and the obsessive counting makes for a dull read. I understand this is necessary to establish a character struggling with mental issues. However, a better-edited and crisper first half would have increased my liking of this book.
-The continued references to the Mei's book and its world are a drag - it's not exciting, and it doesn't interest me (though the idea by itself is pretty fascinating).
- Kurt and Leoni, two of the most prominent characters in the book, are pretty one-dimensional. First, Kurt - a simple, no-motive bad guy. What baffles me is how the author made it a point to emphasize that Kat's obsession with Kurt was not romantic. Then, why was Kat obsessed with him? - he was not that interesting person. Then, Leoni, who was kind and took care of Kat at the beginning, turned out to be the most manipulative. However, there is barely any insight into her contrasting personalities.
- Finally, the climax - the part that takes place with Lydia/Leoni is very abrupt. There is no proper justification for things. I found it really hard to follow. While the author spent a lot of time in the first half, this part was so quickly wrapped that it left me with a sense of incompletion.
What's good?
- Kat, as a character, is well-flushed out. For someone with mental and abandonment issues, the author has done a marvelous job showing us how she struggles with day-to-day activities.
- The investigative portion is quite good. It's exciting and hard to predict.
- A special shoutout to the scene where Kat gets confronted by her employers. That is some sharp writing and a witty scenario.
CONS
- The first half of the book is so hard to read. The repetition of Kat's rituals and the obsessive counting makes for a dull read. I understand this is necessary to establish a character struggling with mental issues. However, a better-edited and crisper first half would have increased my liking of this book.
-The continued references to the Mei's book and its world are a drag - it's not exciting, and it doesn't interest me (though the idea by itself is pretty fascinating).
- Kurt and Leoni, two of the most prominent characters in the book, are pretty one-dimensional. First, Kurt - a simple, no-motive bad guy. What baffles me is how the author made it a point to emphasize that Kat's obsession with Kurt was not romantic. Then, why was Kat obsessed with him? - he was not that interesting person. Then, Leoni, who was kind and took care of Kat at the beginning, turned out to be the most manipulative. However, there is barely any insight into her contrasting personalities.
- Finally, the climax - the part that takes place with Lydia/Leoni is very abrupt. There is no proper justification for things. I found it really hard to follow. While the author spent a lot of time in the first half, this part was so quickly wrapped that it left me with a sense of incompletion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2022
Haven't read it yet, but I have a feeling in my bones this is going to be a 5 star read that'll blow my mind.
December 11, 2022
After having read a long list of short stories by Maria Dong, I was definitely intrigued by what she could be able to explore in a novel, and Liar, Dreamer, Thief delivers. Divided in four parts (not the only nod to East Asian elements), the story follows the messiest character I've read this year —a bold bet that Maria Dong balances gracefully by showing that, if the capitalist hellscape hustle is difficult in "normal mode", just imagine it in the "nightmare mode" that Katrina Kim lives. With no concessions to what it means to be mentally unstable, Maria Dong drives us to a mystery in which Katrina has been involved and is struggling to get out of, with the little steps that she is able to take. This is not a story about thriving, about a person pursuing success and bending the environment to their will, but a story about survival instincts, mistakes and lots of good heart.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
January 5, 2023
If I was forced to use one word to describe this book it would be bizarre. Katrina Kim is a college drop out with an untold amount of psychological and mental health issues that make simple tasks like getting to work on time almost impossible. When the extreme anxiety and obsessive compulsive impulses take over her brain retreats to Kitchen Door Land, the setting of her favorite childhood book. There are excerpts from the book, Mi-Hee and the Mirror Man, that made the story drag. At times you are literally reading a math or geometry text book and that took me out of the story completely. The stalking of her coworker, his subsequent suicide and blame of her for it, and the unraveling of the mystery all came secondary to Katrina's obsession with numbers and the very long descriptions of a multitude of geometric star polygons which I hope to never hear about again.
did-not-finish
May 23, 2023After sales and Kindle points I only paid about a dollar for this, and I'm bailing at 33%. The protagonist is so selfish and frustrating that basically everything she does makes me want to punch her in the face. Even after peeking at spoilers I'm not motivated to continue. At first, I thought the premise was going to make this one of my new favorite books! (Character stuck in a corporate temp job imagines living in a fantasy dream world and it starts to take over her daily life.) But her obsession with the coworker doesn't make much sense and frankly, she sucks all around. On to something else!
February 9, 2023
WOAH! I am blown away by this read! Colorful, compelling, and intimate in a way I haven’t experienced before, Maria Dong knocked it out of the park with her debut novel! Katrina was lovable because of her quirks (aka mental illness) and the way the story turned into a surprise thriller left me speechless! This is a must-read!
February 15, 2023
Maria Dong's Liar, Dreamer, Thief surprised the hell out of me!
First of all, this book had such choke hold on me that I listened to it in its entirety in just two sittings. I felt compelled through this story similarly to the way I felt compelled through Bunny by Mona Awad. I was pretty much intoxicated by the writing and the protagonist's perspective and the overall weird and unusual fever dream that this story was.
Like Bunny, this book has an unreliable narrator, which seems to be a point of contention for many readers, but I really, really enjoy being in the head of someone who is... atypical. I do want to mention, though, that Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a much lighter read than Bunny as far as tone is concerned. There's a charm to this protagonist and her story that Bunny lacks.
Liar, Dreamer, Thief still deals with heavy topics, but the protagonist carries them better than the girl from Bunny.
The most interesting part of this book is that the protagonist, Katrina, lives with several mental illnesses. I felt that Katrina's story was a very real and accurate look at the life of someone who's functioning with her disabilities, but only barely so.
Katrina has an unhealthy obsession with her co-worker, Kurt. She's also on very thin ice with her employers and is one late clock-in away from being fired. Her apartment is a mess. She no longer speaks to her parents. She's engages in strange and risky OCD rituals. She often retreats into her "kitchen door world," which is similar to Sherlock's mind palace; an imagined world of comfort based on her favorite children's book.
Katrina's obsession with Kurt, at first, seems to be just a symptom of her mental illnesses. I was happy that it was not a romantic obsession (Katrina is not interested in men), because something like that would make sense. It was much more unnerving to know that Katrina was drawn to him for no seemingly logical reason.
I do need to admit that this book isn't perfect by any means. My biggest complaint is that I didn't like the way the plot played out towards the end. The narrative turns from a surreal mental health experience to a goofy thriller and it kind of disappointed me. Despite that, I had a lot of fun with Katrina and enjoyed this book more than I've enjoyed any thriller in recent memory.
I rated Maria Dong's Liar, Dreamer, Thief 4.25 out of 5 stars.
First of all, this book had such choke hold on me that I listened to it in its entirety in just two sittings. I felt compelled through this story similarly to the way I felt compelled through Bunny by Mona Awad. I was pretty much intoxicated by the writing and the protagonist's perspective and the overall weird and unusual fever dream that this story was.
Like Bunny, this book has an unreliable narrator, which seems to be a point of contention for many readers, but I really, really enjoy being in the head of someone who is... atypical. I do want to mention, though, that Liar, Dreamer, Thief is a much lighter read than Bunny as far as tone is concerned. There's a charm to this protagonist and her story that Bunny lacks.
Liar, Dreamer, Thief still deals with heavy topics, but the protagonist carries them better than the girl from Bunny.
The most interesting part of this book is that the protagonist, Katrina, lives with several mental illnesses. I felt that Katrina's story was a very real and accurate look at the life of someone who's functioning with her disabilities, but only barely so.
Katrina has an unhealthy obsession with her co-worker, Kurt. She's also on very thin ice with her employers and is one late clock-in away from being fired. Her apartment is a mess. She no longer speaks to her parents. She's engages in strange and risky OCD rituals. She often retreats into her "kitchen door world," which is similar to Sherlock's mind palace; an imagined world of comfort based on her favorite children's book.
Katrina's obsession with Kurt, at first, seems to be just a symptom of her mental illnesses. I was happy that it was not a romantic obsession (Katrina is not interested in men), because something like that would make sense. It was much more unnerving to know that Katrina was drawn to him for no seemingly logical reason.
I do need to admit that this book isn't perfect by any means. My biggest complaint is that I didn't like the way the plot played out towards the end. The narrative turns from a surreal mental health experience to a goofy thriller and it kind of disappointed me. Despite that, I had a lot of fun with Katrina and enjoyed this book more than I've enjoyed any thriller in recent memory.
I rated Maria Dong's Liar, Dreamer, Thief 4.25 out of 5 stars.
July 15, 2023
1.5
Welp. This started weird and cool and ended up being too long, nonsensical, and blergh. It would have been better as a novella.
Welp. This started weird and cool and ended up being too long, nonsensical, and blergh. It would have been better as a novella.
January 27, 2023
Liar Dreamer Thief is a vivid and wonderfully strange debut novel. Meet Katrina Kim, she's working temporary at a medical billing company, where she has developed an intense obsession with her co-worker, Kurt. Katrina's mental health is off the rails: her apartment is a mess, barely performing the basic tasks, and her coping mechanisms begins to rule her life. Katrina escapes into her kitchen-door world when the world gets too much for her. The Kitchen-door world was inspired by Katrina's favorite childhood book.
Then one night, Katrina witnesses Kurt's suicide at the bridge. But right before he jumps from the bridge, Kurt tells Katrina that his death is all her fault, sending her spiraling into world of coded messages, secrets, and paranoia. Katrina feels so real with her struggles, the frustration and shame of her own behavior.
A sensitive Portrait of mental health, heart-wrenching family drama and a page-turning thriller mixed in one novel.
Then one night, Katrina witnesses Kurt's suicide at the bridge. But right before he jumps from the bridge, Kurt tells Katrina that his death is all her fault, sending her spiraling into world of coded messages, secrets, and paranoia. Katrina feels so real with her struggles, the frustration and shame of her own behavior.
A sensitive Portrait of mental health, heart-wrenching family drama and a page-turning thriller mixed in one novel.
April 18, 2023
This was a wild ride. READ THIS BOOK!!!
……..
Ashley is making me write something more substantial, but this book scrambled my brain.
Or…put me into Katrina’s, which was fairly disorienting to begin with. So please press on, it does eventually make much more sense later. Katrina is extremely lovable, but I also wanted to take her home, put her to bed, and feed her. She was so alone for most of the book and yet far more capable and intuitive than she was able to realize. It’s a really great depiction of mental health in that way.
I saw a reviewer (I’m sorry I don’t know who) state that this book kept bringing up the question whether Katrina is insane or the world around her, and I thought that was extremely spot on.
Everything else I say will ruin things, but this book deserves to be read!
……..
Ashley is making me write something more substantial, but this book scrambled my brain.
Or…put me into Katrina’s, which was fairly disorienting to begin with. So please press on, it does eventually make much more sense later. Katrina is extremely lovable, but I also wanted to take her home, put her to bed, and feed her. She was so alone for most of the book and yet far more capable and intuitive than she was able to realize. It’s a really great depiction of mental health in that way.
I saw a reviewer (I’m sorry I don’t know who) state that this book kept bringing up the question whether Katrina is insane or the world around her, and I thought that was extremely spot on.
Everything else I say will ruin things, but this book deserves to be read!
March 14, 2023
This was so great! I didn’t even realize what it was until like 60-70% of the way through, which was a very good thing. It’s refreshing to read something I can’t predict. The ordinary tropes weren’t there so I felt as rudderless as the narrator, and I just think this was so clever. I think the less said about what actually happens, the better. The experience is totally worth it. Give this book a try!
January 15, 2023
Liar , Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong
Rating (4/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Short synopsis: Katrina Kim is slightly unhinged, she has an obsession with a co-worker Kurt, prime numbers, a children’s book, and geometric shapes. When she witnesses Kurt jump off the Cayatoga Bridge, he yells something to imply his suicide is all her fault. Katrina I’d determined to unravel the clues he’s left behind.
Very thought provoking and unlike anything I’ve previously read.
Rating (4/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Short synopsis: Katrina Kim is slightly unhinged, she has an obsession with a co-worker Kurt, prime numbers, a children’s book, and geometric shapes. When she witnesses Kurt jump off the Cayatoga Bridge, he yells something to imply his suicide is all her fault. Katrina I’d determined to unravel the clues he’s left behind.
Very thought provoking and unlike anything I’ve previously read.
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