Make this your next book club selection and everyone saves. Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club. Simply enter the coupon code BENIOFFCITY at checkout. This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per purchase. From the critically acclaimed author of "The 25th Hour," a captivating novel about war, courage, survival -- and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime. During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is ...
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Make this your next book club selection and everyone saves. Get 15% off when you order 5 or more of this title for your book club. Simply enter the coupon code BENIOFFCITY at checkout. This offer does not apply to eBook purchases. This offer applies to only one downloadable audio per purchase. From the critically acclaimed author of "The 25th Hour," a captivating novel about war, courage, survival -- and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime. During the Nazis' brutal siege of Leningrad, Lev Beniov is arrested for looting and thrown into the same cell as a handsome deserter named Kolya. Instead of being executed, 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 Soviet 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 through the dire lawlessness of Leningrad and behind enemy lines to find the impossible. By turns insightful and funny, thrilling and terrifying, "City of Thieves" is a gripping, cinematic World War II adventure and an intimate coming-of-age story with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men.
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Add this copy of City of Thieves: a Novel to cart. $24.49, fair condition, Sold by McConnell Content Creation rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dayton, OH, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Penguin Audio.
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Fair. Item is Ex-library rental. Includes disc s case and artwork. Will have slight to moderate wear library security stickers and ink writing. Artwork may have been modified for library case.
Add this copy of City of Thieves: a Novel to cart. $54.59, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Santa Clarita, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2008 by Penguin Audio.
I found this book quite fascinating for the information it gave on the horrors of the Nazi siege of Leningrad during World War II. I grew up in a time when American history only focused on U.S. and European allies' campaigns. I would guess that because of the "Cold War' that ensued with the Soviet Union there was little emphasis on or interest in the plight of Russians during the war.
I wasn't aware that Benioff is also a screenwriter until after I read the book. I kept thinking that the "scenes" read as if the author was hoping to get it picked up as a film project--maybe I'm right.
The characters, the trio at least, are believable and interesting. I wondered whether Benioff's grandfather or some other relative really had at least the experience of losing a finger to the Nazi's. Some of the events seemed predictable or as if Benioff threw in every horror he could find about the Nazi occupation of Russia. I was sad when Kolya, the most colorful of the characters, died--and such an unnecessary, ignominious death after all he had been through--but one could see it coming.
I really like the narrator and was glad he "got the girl" at the end, although the reunion was a bit pat.
Overall this is a good read--and maybe we'll all see the film version some day soon!!
Susan W
Oct 7, 2010
Good not Great
Engaging story about Russians surviving World War II by their wits.
northanger
Sep 30, 2010
a really excellent read
This is a very lively novel which doesn't mask the sometimes gruesome details of life during the Siege of Leningrad, but at the same time is, amazingly, very funny.
The two main protagonists present vastly different types of young person, but both are entirely credible and endearing. Their relationship reveals a great deal about the ways in which an immensely stressful adventure can change an individual - or not.
Beanie
Jan 22, 2010
Coming of age during the Siege of Leningrad
An off the wall tale of a search and adventurers of a Jewish teenage boy and a young awol Soviet army soldier on an impossible quest for a dozen eggs for the wedding cake of a corrupt Nazi officer ( and father of the bride) during the siege of Leningrad. Horror, depravity, ruthless killing, honor in the search for survival. Creative in plot giving details of the fight for existence of all protaganists..Nazis, Soviets, Russian people and the few remaining Jews who are hated by all.
pamela1717
Jul 14, 2009
Very quick and easy to read although parts may be too graphic for some to handle. A different type (at least for me)of coming of age story for a seventeen year old during the seige of Leningrad. Once again, I feel how fortunate I've been to have never faced such hardship (starvation, death, constant fear of death--basically, sheer brutality). Benioff's story illustrates how war changes not only the soldiers but non-combatants as well. Through Lev's and Koyla's journey to find the eggs we encounter different characters who have responded to war in various ways. Not for the faint of heart but a worthy tale nonetheless.
