As wise and funny as it is thrilling and original--the story of two young men on an impossible adventure A 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.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Absolutely rivetting!:
I have just finished reading David Benioff's "City of Thieves" and what a great read it is! Based on his maternal grandfather's experience as a teenager arrested for looting at the height of the siege of Leningrad in 1942, the book documents what happens when his grandfather, Lev Beniov, and a cocky Red Army deserter, Kolya, are given a chance to cheat execution by fulfilling a seemingly impossible task set for them by the local Police Chief who arrested them. The novel really takes off at that point and is... more info
A young author to watch out for ......:
Benioff is a very young author who is going to make it big if he keeps on churning out this type of readable books. The Siege of Leningrad is a very difficult subject to conjure up a sizzling mixture of humour amidst the hell that it was but the author does it both believably and masterfully with the hate/love rapport between the virgin Jew boy Lev and the street wise, horny Kolya as they embark on their ridiculous quest for a dozen eggs in a starving city. I cannot wait to get into Benioff's first novel... more info
Excellent:
I was moved to pick up City of Thieves on two counts: first off, David Benioff is one of the writers and producers of HBO's forthcoming adaption of George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones, and I wanted to see how good a writer he was. Secondly, and more importantly, it is a novel set during the Siege of Leningrad, one of the lesser-explored conflicts of World War II but an area I studied several years ago, most notably through Harrison Salisbury's masterpiece of historical investigation, The 900 Days, and I... more info
Not that great story I was expecting:
This book is similar to other books written be contemporary writers, specially Americans: they are written as screenplay pitches. It is a quick and short read. I think the only thing I learned was that Shostakovich didn't stay in Leningrad through the whole siege. I thought he stayed. Learning history is not the reason why I read fiction, so I am all right with that. But with so many reviews here saying that this book provides new insight to the siege, I thought I could learn more about it. Or maybe... more info
