City of Thieves

by David Benioff

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.

List of Characters

Lev Abramovich Beniov: Lev is a Jewish teenager living alone in Leningrad with his peers. He feels insecure about himself sometimes, but is also a brave, streetsmart, and intelligent youth. The story is read from his perspective. Being a teenage boy his thoughts aren't always the purest, but he has good intentions and a kind heart.
Nikolai Alexandrovich Vlasov: Companion of Lev's, "Kolya" is a soldier charged with desertion.
Markov: One of the partisans in Vika's and Korsakov's group.
Olesya: A girl with pigtails, living with Nina, Lara and Galina, but who never speaks.
Lara: Half Spanish-Russian (though she looks Chechen) girl who lives with Nina and Galina, all who are reserved for the German invaders' pleasure.
Galina: One of two sisters that Lev and Kolya encounter on their circuitous trek to Mga. After realizing they were going the wrong way, they seek shelter from Nina and Galina. Young and brunette.
Nina: One of two sisters that Lev and Kolya encounter on their circuitous trek to Mga. After realizing they were going the wrong way, they seek shelter from Nina and Galina.
Vika: Vika is a young tom-boyish girl working with a group of partisans fighting Germans. She hides her identity by posing as a man. She learned to shoot from her father and is an incredible marksman. Very cynical most of the time, she has a rough exterior. She seems very guarded, but is also one of the braver characters.
Pavil: Ferret-faced young man friend of Sonya's
Timofei: Leningrad surgeon who occasionally sleeps at Sonya's home with other physicians and nurses not on shift at local hospital.
Vera Osipovna: A talented cellist who is Lev's neighbor at the Kirov
Sonya Ivanovna: Kolya's friend and occasional lover.
Korsakov: The leader of the partisan group; rough, smart and penetrating. He seems often suspicious of other characters but maintains a strong leader role to the other partisans.
General Abendroth: The intimidating and all-powerful German general who challenges Lev to a game of chess. He is the only German in the story the reader becomes really acquainted with. He fully encompasses the characteristics of Nazis as we think of them; prejudiced, rude, cruel and scary.

Setting

St. Petersburg, 1942 (Russian Federation)

Quotes

    “There is a place beyond hunger, beyond fatigue, where time no longer seems to move and the body's misery no longer seems fully your own.”-Lev Beniov

    “Truth might be stranger than fiction, but it needs a better editor.”-David Benioff

Readers Guides

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/city_of_thieves.html
http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/202-city-of-thieves-benioff?start=3