City of Thieves: A Novel | David Benioff

City of Thieves: A Novel | David Benioff | Great story

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City of Thieves: A...

	City of Thieves: A Novel David Benioff Viking Adult, 2008 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 38 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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.

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Terrific and Authentic

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The two main characters were extremely well fleshed out. I found the historic references to the German siege interesting and subsequently purchased "The Siege of Stalingrad" to find out more about that aspect of WWII.

Great story

Very well written. A little history tied into a great story. Well deserving of 5 stars.

A Russian Fairy Tale

City of Thieves is a great read. It is packed with history of the seige of Leningrad. The characters are likeable if somewhat predictable but as a reader I developed a real fondness for them.

The main characters recall the Tale of Peter ad the Wolf, there's Peter, (Lev), going into uncharted territory, Kolya, the brave woodsman, Vika , the little bird and of course, the wolf- the Nazis. The story is told with humor in the midst of the horror of war. Once again you will read of Russia's greatest weapon against invasion- the Russian winter.

I recommend this book; it is well-written and engages the reader until the fairytale ending. Not surprisingly it would make a great movie. If you enjoy this book you may want to read the 44th Child for a splendid tale and more serious take on Germany's invasion of Russia.

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Enjoyable, Crowd-Pleasing Book

I've never heard of David Benioff before, but he's apparently a well-known Hollywood screenwriter, writing the screenplays for films such as TROY and the upcoming WOVLERINE movie. He is also married to actress Amanda Peet, which makes him a modern-day oddity: a fiction writer who is something of a media celebrity. I must admit that Benioff's fame made me somewhat skeptical of his writing talents. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised by his storytelling skills in his new novel, CITY OF THIEVES.

CITY OF THIEVES is a historical novel that deals with the German siege of Leningrad in the early 1940s. It is told from the perspective of two young Russian men (one Jewish, one not), who are ordered to find a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use in his daughter's wedding cake. Given the fact that most of the residents of the city are near starvation, this is a near-impossible task for the two young men to complete. The novel deals with the young men's weeklong journey across a nation devastated by war and poverty, as well as their developing relationship.

This novel is well written, but quite formulaic. For example, it's easy to predict that the two young men, who are opposites of one another, will eventually become friends by the end of the book. I also found the ending of CITY OF THIEVES to be on the cornball side, containing several plot twists that most experienced readers will spot way in advance.

Still, I don't mind predictable plotlines as long as they are well executed, and Benioff knows how to tell a good story. The two main characters are quite likable, and the story is well-paced and contains a lot of suspenseful moments. In particular, Benioff does an exemplary job with the setting, re-creating the desperation of daily life in Leningrad during the German siege. I know very little about this period of history, and CITY OF THIEVES made me interested in learning more about it.

In the end, I found CITY OF THIEVES to be a highly enjoyable read. If you're looking for a short, highly readable novel that will tug at your heartstrings a little bit, this is a good choice.

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Great read; not a great ending

A very entertaining and well-written story. Like a previous reviewer I did not care for the treatment of Kolya at the end (trite), but other than that I enjoyed this novel, and recommend it.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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