The Palace Thief

William is the younger brother to Clive, a math genius, oddball, who communicates in an incomprehensible language (which turns out to be Hungarian). It is the spring of 1973, “the year everything changed in [their] family” (63). The family notices that Clive is unlike other kids at school and thus “always suspected there was something wrong with Clive, but [their] suspicions were muddled, especially in those days, by his brilliance” (65). Kids at school beat Clive up for being different, although the family cannot understand the cause of his difference. Meanwhile, the boys’ parents, who come from conservative Jewish stock, convert and become peace-toting Quakers to adapt to the changing world around them. Although the boys’ father Simon served in the navy in World War II, he invites them to a ritual ceremony where he throws his old service revolver into the river; however, William still refers to him as “captain,” and he refers to William as “sailor” (93).

Clive teases William about having ordinary abilities compared to his own, and their father pretends he is okay with William having an unimpressive report card. While the parents accept that the two brothers are different, they insist that William attends Clive’s math tournaments. Clive’s girlfriend, Sandra Sorento, secretly moves into their family basement, and a flirtatious dynamic develops between her and William. William tries to get Clive to talk about how Sandra is living in their basement by muttering the word “lover” to him (75), but Clive is unresponsive. Instead, Clive hangs out with Sandra and his best friend Eliot, smoking weed and speaking their seemingly made-up language. Sandra overhears William telling Simon that she is attractive and teases him about it. Later, Sandra pays a visit to William’s bedroom, and the two flirt and kiss. From then on, he begins searching for the dictionary of Clive’s made-up language but cannot find it.

Simon smokes marijuana with Clive in an attempt to bond with him, then, at dinner, he drunkenly says, “I only have one son left” (103). William is perturbed by this statement and fears he has been disinherited. He finds his father after dinner, and the two bond as they watch their pretty neighbor, Mrs. Cubano, from their window. They agree that Clive would not enjoy the sight because “he’s not a sailor” (106). William goes on a swimming trip to the stone quarry with Clive, Eliot, and Sandra. While Clive and Elliot disappear off together, Sandra finds William and has sex with him. After Clive draws in a Math tournament, William confesses to his mother that Sandra is living in their basement. William’s mother claims she does not mind, although she wishes to ascertain that Clive and Sandra are indeed boyfriend and girlfriend.

One night, when William and his father are playing ping pong and go in search of a missing ball, they find “[Clive] and Elliot, asleep on the folded blankets that were Sandra’s bed, naked, their arms entwined” (115). Simon deals Clive a blow that makes him bleed. Then the boys’ father gets on his knees and prays. William, on the other hand, feels a “sea change in [their] family” as he becomes aware of “the beginning of [his] own ascendence” over Clive (116). Fifteen years later, Clive, now a dean of students, is dying in Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Clive and William, an editor at The Boston Globe, have enjoyed a “tender and comradely” (115) relationship as adults, so William is devastated by his loss and weeps.