City of Thieves: A Novel
by David Benioff
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Book Summary Information
Author: David BenioffEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-15
ISBN: 0670018708
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Viking Adult
Book Reviews of City of Thieves: A Novel
Book Review: Humor, Hunger, Grief, Despair and a Dozen Eggs during the Frozen Siege of Leningrad
Summary: 5 Stars
"City of Thieves" is an extraordinary book. I was enthralled and engrossed from Page 1. While it is easy for a reader to over-praise what one feels in the moment about a book's high quality, in this case I am confident that Benioff's work will remain popular and important. In my opinion it ranks with some of the great anti-war novels: "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque; "Soldier of the Great War" by Mark Helprin; and "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut (and others). Time will tell as to the lasting power of "City of Thieves."
Lev is the primary character, 17 years old, small, emaciated and fearful, a sad but smart teen-age survivor of the early years of WWII in war-torn Leningrad. He is filled with negativity and self-pitying teen age complaints. Then into his life comes the Siege of Leningrad, which lasted 872 days. This story takes place during early stages of the Siege in the middle of the dead, unspeakably cold winter of 1941-42. Koyla, age 20, is Lev's unlikely sidekick, with Vika the heroine. The story is at once moving and funny, tragic and heart wrenching. How can any reader not be charmed by, touched by and completely enmeshed in this page-turner? The idiocy of war, with its horrors and despicable conduct by the Nazis, is driven home like a stiletto into your heart. It is also very funny.
Structurally, for the story's sake, Koyla is Lev's alter-ego, his brave and fearless side, the man he always wished he were: handsome, tall, physically powerful, educated, imaginative, fearless, sophisticated, woman-knowledgeable, even arrogant and over-confident. Thus, Koyla is everything that Lev is not. Lev is full of fear, a nerd, greatly lacking self-confidence, pre-occupied with impossible sexual fantasies about girls (though completely inexperienced in real life) and glum to the extreme. In a sense toward the end, they become one person, heroic and admirable but with all aspects of their complete personalities intact.
The play of one side of Lev against the other is skillfully acted out by both young men in the early moments of their friendship. They embark upon a "fantasy adventure" to locate one dozen eggs (and their souls) in ravaged, devastated, below-zero, enemy-encircled Leningrad and its German-held outskirts. There are no eggs in Leningrad, but they need to find the dozen eggs to satisfy a somewhat demented Russian officer, who will then grant them a pardon for their earlier transgressions, if they return in one week with the eggs - to be used for the wedding cake of the officer's daughter. Thus, the bulk of the story spans a period of approximately 7 days. This literary device is clever, and one quickly forgets that it is far-fetched. Benioff snags you hook, line and sinker.
What keep Lev and Koyla going is their built-in personality conflict, their oh-so-Russian humor, and their resilience - to say nothing of a clear admiration of one for the other and the desire to satisfy the requirements of their "sentence." Each contributes equally to the story's progress and power. Vika, the young sharp shooter girl, becomes their erstwhile companion, as their often misfired attempts to reach their objective (the eggs) take them from one debacle to another. She is a most remarkably developed character. Please note that there is considerable sickening violence and some gruesome scenes along the way. This Troika of young Russian personalities embed themselves into your being, and you'll find, as I did, that you will be unable to put this book down. It's a 5.
Summary of City of Thieves: A Novel
As wise and funny as it is thrilling and original-the story of two young men on an impossible adventureA writer visits his retired grandparents in Florida to document their experience during the infamous siege of Leningrad. His grandmother won't talk about it, but his grandfather reluctantly consents. The result is the captivating odyssey of two young men trying to survive against desperate odds.
Lev Beniov considers himself "built for deprivation." He's small, smart, and insecure, a Jewish virgin too young for the army, who spends his nights working as a volunteer firefighter with friends from his building. When a dead German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged to jail, fearing for his life. He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a shot at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. In a city cut off from all supplies and suffering unbelievable deprivation, Lev and Kolya embark on a hunt to find the impossible. A search that takes them through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and the devastated surrounding countryside creates an unlikely bond between this earnest, lust-filled teenager and an endearing lothario with the gifts of a conman. Set within the monumental events of history, City of Thieves is an intimate coming-of-age tale with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.
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