It even reminds me a bit of Street Boys by Carcaterra, in its depiction of the common people just trying to stay alive during war. Think Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn or the young men in Richard Bachman's The Body. Koyla and Levs quest to procure the eggs is reminiscent of many a boyhood adventure. The quest for eggs is no easy task in Piter, where little food is available and the hungry are forced to boil the glue from books (library candy) or even worse, resort to cannibalism for sustenance. Without these, death is certain to follow. If they bring the eggs within the week, they will get back their ration cards. He offers a reprieve if they can supply a dozen eggs which will be used to bake his daughters wedding cake. Enter The Colonel, the only one who can pardon them. Both are certain their fate will be death. Caught in the act by soldiers, only Lev is actually captured and imprisoned. On New Year's Eve, Lev and his friends loot the dead body of a German paratrooper. The story's main focus is on two young men, Lev (David's grandfather) and Koyla, doing their darnedest to survive the coming siege. David Benioffs debut novel takes us on quite an adventure. He flies off to Florida to interview his grandfather and here the story begins. Realizing his life and writing career borders on dull, he decides to write a story about his grandfather's experiences living during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II. In the opening chapter of City of Thieves we meet David, who lives in Los Angeles and writes screenplays about superheroes. Read it, eat a large meal, and appreciate that meal.
This is one of those books where you never forget its ending. Hunger is a bitch, quite frankly, and he describes it well. Petersburg) endured and the will of human nature to survive even through such adversity.
Most impressive is how well Benioff portrays the absolute hunger the surviving citizens of Leningrad (St. Trudging into enemy lines during the brutal winter of Russia, the pair encounters many close calls of the Nazi persuasion, meet’s up with an fire-haired, Archangel girl sniper who stirs the love interests of the poet and play’s a life or death chess game with the atrocious commandeer of the feared Einsatzgruppe all the while searching for a dozen of precious eggs. Mission: in a city under Nazi siege and suffering from dyer hunger, find a dozen eggs for the wedding of the colonel’s daughter. Lev the poet and Kolya the heartthrob are bonded together by a ridiculous mission with upon completion they will be spared execution even though the mission itself is basically a death sentence. I am so thankful for this banana I am eating currently and this book shall make you feel the same.įollowing an unlikely duo of a poet looter and a handsome deserter through a tale of war in the city of Leningrad, David Benioff’s City of Thieves delivers a page turning story and outstandingly hearty characters.
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