Model Thief

By Autumn De Leon

Ben Schrank's debut novel, Miracle Man (William Morrow; 290 pages; $13), is a brilliantly observed story about the desire to live in an egalitarian world. The protagonist, Martin Kelly Minter, is a white middle-class son of hippie schoolteachers who finds himself increasingly troubled by the socioeconomic inequality that he sees all around him. He also happens to be a kleptomaniac. Kelly's crusade to redistribute the world's wealth begins when he drops out of Vassar, moves into an illegal sublet in Spanish Harlem and takes a job with the Miracle Moving company, which specializes in relocating rich clients.

The only remnants of Kelly's past that survive his ideological overhaul and self-exile from his family are his relationship with his childhood "brother," a Puerto Rican Fresh Air Fund kid named Felix, and their shared devotion to theft. As a Miracle mover, Kelly pockets small valuables and gives them to Luz, his girlfriend and fellow criminal, or buys food for the neighborhood homeless. Still, he never manages to feel "full." He finds he can't change the world or heal his own heart with petty crime. His eventual shift into large-scale art theft fails to solve this central problem.

Schrank, who was himself a moving man as well as a teacher in Harlem, creates a protagonist who, despite his moral shortcomings, remains an affable presence. Imbued with streetwise passion, Schrank's characters expose a frustrated fringe society that simply wants to feel comfortable.

--By Autumn De Leon