The Robber is a novel by a writer's writer to a sophisticated or playful audience. There are some stunning passages of beauty and wonder, which indicate that the translator has done respectable work at rendering the original even though it is clear some nuances have inevitably been lost in the process. The story meanders and carries with it a bagful of narrative tricks as the author's impish whims pull the writing in all directions at once. There is a great amount of humane understanding and sincerity, a lot of humor and insouciance, romance (sort of), priceless metaphors, and such fine pieces of observation I had to stop and savor them again and again... The Robber is an ostensibly insubstantial masterpiece, a great book, pure at heart, eyes in the stars, pranks in mind. ( )