City of Thieves

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. Free Read Kindle ePUB City of Thieves author David Benioff – kino-fada.fr I have read some good fiction lately, but this one is special like Catcher in the Rye or The Curious Incident or maybe The Kite Runner Instead of telling the story, I will make observations as to why I loved it 1 Many historical fiction novels are written from the perspective of the thinking of the time Although it is interesting to observe how people think people thought in the past, it can be a little too un modern and sometimes boring, like reading Moby Dick or some other great, b I have read some good fiction lately, but this one is special like Catcher in the Rye or The Curious Incident or maybe The Kite Runner Instead of telling the story, I will make observations as to why I loved it 1 Many historical fic...How could you fear anythingthan death Everything else offered moments of escape a paralyzed man could still read Dickens a man in the grips of dementia might have flashes of the most absurd beauty Lev Beniov wants to live He may not be clear about anything else, but he knows that to be true Life becomesprecious when being anywhere, not just in the wrong place, but just existing in space, can turn into a death trap at any moment When his mother and sister fled the city he decid How could you fear anythingthan death Everything else offered moments of escape a paralyzed man could still read Dickens a man in the grips of dementia might have flashes of the most absurd beauty Lev Beniov wants to live He may not be clear about anything else, but he knows that to be true Life becomesprecious when being anywhere, not just in the wrong place, but just existing in space, can turn into a death trap at any moment When his mother and sister fled the city he decided to stay Now he is caught up in one of the worst sieges in the history of t...in the aftermath of my tryst with this beautiful, intelligent novel, I was hobbled by lancinating pain stemming from a burning, itching question repeatedly sounding off in my head why didn t I love this book MORE Why I love historical fiction, especially tales set in WW the Sequel, and Benioff s crisp, effortless prose is smart and pleasurable without ever become overly clever or self indulgent The plot device of surreal forced shopping expedition to track down a dozen eggs against the back in the aftermath of my tryst with this beautiful, intelligent novel, I was hobbled by lancinating pain stemming from a burning, itching question repeatedly sounding off in my head why didn t I love this book MORE Why I love historical fiction, especially tales set in WW the Sequel, and Benioff s crisp, effortless prose is smart and pleasurable without ever become overly clever or self indulgent The plot device of sur...This is what happens during war people will do anything to survive from murder to stealing, to going on exhaustive food hunts Absurdly as it sounds, this becomes the cultural norm.It s the Soviet Union 1942 Tension is thick with famine and war The Germans are beginning their invasion Two soviet thieves, Lev and Kolya are captured and thrown into the same cell However, instead of death, they are given a 4 day reprieve with a mission to find a dozen eggs for a wedding cake for a colonel s d This is what happens during war people will do anything to survive from murder to stealing, to going on exhaustive food hunts Absurdly as it sounds, this becomes the cultural norm.It s the Soviet Union 1942 Tension is thick with famine and war The Germans are beginning their invasion Two soviet thieves, Lev and Kolya are captured and thrown into the same cell However, instead of death, they are given a 4 day reprieve with a mission to find a dozen eggs for a wedding cake for a colonel s daughter This is their mission and the wild egg hunt they go on Trudging through a landscape of death, evading nazis and cannibals, fighting their own fatigue and exhaustion, an unusual friendship begins Well drawn out human characters Lev, Jewish shy and withdrawn paralleling that of Kolya, a mild mannered fellow providing humour on this bleak trek.From calculated neglect to constipation this a story rich in all elements of character development Writing so palatable and simplistic yet rich in texture,...Growing up in Poland you couldn t escape but be exposed to Polish war movies and dramas The war defined this country and its people, with the country being completely destroyed and around 5,6 million people dead because the Western powers trusted Stalin the country borders also changed, with parts of eastern Poland being ceded to contemporary Ukraine and Lithuania But the rotten top of the cake came when the country fell under the influence of the USSR, and disappeared behind the Iron Curtain Growing up in Poland you couldn t escape but be exposed to Polish war movies and dramas The war defined this country and its people, with the country being completely destroyed and around 5,6 million people dead because the Western powers trusted Stalin the country borders also changed, with parts of eastern Poland being ceded to contemporary Ukraine and Lithuania But the rotten top of the cake came when the country fell under the influence of the USSR, and disappeared behind the Iron Curtain for over half a century However, Polish people are stubborn the 1980 Solidarity led to the creation of the Soviet s block first trade union, and the subsequent protests formed a wave of reactions...You know how annoying it is when a book s ending is so unrealistic that you say to yourself in disgust, This would never play out like this in real life It s happenedthan once, right But a funny thing sometimes happens on the way to the forum Sometimes your peevishness gets assassinated Sometimes you re so damned entertained by a book that you act like a sailor on leave and say, Ah, what the hell Sometimes you re so amused by the characters that you see that suspension bridge of You know how annoying it is when a book s ending is so unrealistic that you say to yourself in disgust, This would never play out like this in real life It s happenedthan once, right But a funny thing sometimes happens on ...A terrific book that proves you don t have to write 700 or 800 pages to have real depth I m fascinated by how Benioff managed to describe the characters enduring terrible hardship and the worst of one of the most brutal battl...It s all about the quest.When I read books, I like to do a little research about the author, time period, the book itself, etc I was interested to learn that the creator of the video game, The Last of Us, drew inspiration, in part, from this book.The Last of Us is a game my son keeps begging me to play It takes place in the near future, has nothing to do with World War II era Leningrad, and from...What a wonderful book and why have I not read it before It reminded me of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas both for its remarkable story and the quality of the writing The book is written as a retelling by the author of his Grandfather s early life,specifically one week in 1942, the first week of the year, the week he met my grandmother, made his best friend and killed two Germans During that week the Grandfather, Lev, was just 17 years old and living in Leningrad which was enduring the What a wonderful book and why have I not read it before It reminded me of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas both for its remarkable story and the quality of the writing The book is written as a retelling by the author of his Grandfather s early life,specifically one week in 1942, the first week of the year, the week he met my grandmother, made his best friend and killed two Germans During that week the Grandfather, Lev, was just 17 years old and living in L...City Of Thieves is a rare book, one that fires on all cylinders and almost never missteps It s a modern textbook example of how to write a great story Stories often have their strengths and their weaknesses when all is said and done They can relyon character than plot, or vice versa A story might be strong, but pacing is a problem D...

• English
• 23 May 2017
David Benioff
• Hardcover
• 258 pages
• 0670018708
• David Benioff
• City of Thieves