Book Review: City of Theives

Carrying on with my fascination of the eastern front of WWII, I decided to take on a historical fiction that really put me in the midst of all. After some research on ChatGPT the book City of Thieves by David Benioff was best recommended to take me to that setting. Since I had just read a fiction about the Battle of Stalingrad by Anthony Beevor, I was ready for a new setting on the east. This book was exactly what I was looking for, putting the reader directly into the historical siege of Leningrad, during the winter of 1942. It was actually a very easy read (only 258 pages) and provided a good story with great historical details. 

The German Siege of Leningrad (the city of St. Petersburg) was one of the most atrocious events of WWII. It lasted for 872 days from September 8, 1941 to January 27, 1944 and resulted in approximately 1.3 million civilian deaths. It was unique from Moscow and Stalingrad, however in that the Nazis did not send in a ground force. Rather they decided to surround, bombard, and starve the city to ruin. By cutting off their main food source and supply lines, the Soviet city faced terrible starvation throughout the 3 year period. However they remained very resilient (similiar to the British during the 1940 Blitz). This makes for an incredible setting of resistance and survival, that I don't think Hollywood has really cashed in on yet. Especially Shostakovich's defiant Seventh Symphony on August 9, 1942 during the siege. 

The Plot

The story essentially puts two Russian comrades on a mission to find food in Leningrad during the winter of 1942. The main character is a Jewish 17-year old boy named Lev who decides to stay behind and help protect Leningrad. While his mother and sister have fled, he works as a volunteer firefighter trying to heroically contribute to the defense of the city. One night he and his team notice a German airplane shot down with a pilot falling from a parachute nearby. The run to investigate the scene and discover the pilot has froze to death by the time he has hit the ground. Lev decides to loot the German's hand knife, thinking it a valuable treasure. However they are quickly spotted at the scene of the crime by a Soviet Patrol. All escape the scene but Lev, who is taken prisoner for being out past curfew, not as his post, and for looting (all of which are punishable by death by Soviet Law).

Whilst in a detention center, Lev meets another prisoner named Kolya who has recently been brought down on charges of desertion. Kolya is a younger man in his early 20s, attractive, intelligent, and very outspoken. He is almost the opposite of Lev, with a rather carefree confidence opposed to Lev's youthful anxiety. Both prisoners are brought in front of the NKVD secret police, where they meet Colonel Grechko. Lev fears they will be executed, however the Colonel offers them a rare assignment and opportunity at freedom. Since he considers them both thieves, he sends them on a mission to find a dozen eggs to bake a cake for his daughter's wedding. It seems like an impossible foolish mission in the frozen starving besieged tundra, but at least it gives them a chance to be free of their crime.

Lev and Kolya couldn't be more different at the onset; Lev is eager to find the eggs while Kolya is eager to find girls and talk about Russian literature. They eventually make their way to a black market where they are nearly captured killed by a giant cannibal and his wife. They then find refuge for a night at the house of Kolya's friend Sonya, who lives with some other young students. The next day Lev and Kolya follow up on a rumor of a chicken coop on the roof of a building. When they arrive to the scene, they discover the old owner of the coop is dead, and a young boy is also dying. The boy hands over his chicken before dying. Lev and Kolya begin to hope that the chicken might lay enough eggs in a few days, however they later discover it is a rooster and not a chicken. 

Kolya then decides that their best chance is to leave the city and venture into the rural parts which are much more dangerous under Nazi control. They hike to the town of Mga (which is a good 30 miles away from Leningrad) in the frozen tundra. However they get lost and find refuge in a farmhouse that is occupied by several Russian teenage girls. Kolya later discovers they they are sex slaves to the nearby Nazi SS officers. He offers to help them and ambush the Germans when they arrive back to the farmhouse that night. However the plan is foiled when the Nazis are assaulted by a local band of Russian partisans. Kolya and Lev share their misison with the Russian partisans who take them in under their cover. Lev takes a liking to one of their female sharpshooter snipers named Vika.

They Russian partisans leave the farmhouse of country girls, to continue their assaults on Nazi pockets in the forest. The partisans are specifically hunting an evil SS leader known as Abendroth that has committed many atrocities in the area. Kolya and Lev hope they can both help each other out, in fighting the Nazis, but also finding their eggs. Lev is of course afraid to fight, but is also eager to do his part for his motherland. The band of partisans is eventually assaulted by a much greater force of Nazis where the majority of them are killed. Vika comes up with a quick plan to join the Russian prisoners, which Kolya and Lev follow along with. The next day the Nazis divided the prisoners by educated vs non-educated. Sensing a trap, Vika tells Kolya and Lev to pretend to be uneducated. The Nazis then line up all the educated prisoners and kill them by firing squad. 

Feeling their chance of freedom is quickly closing in on them, Kolya comes up with a desperate plan to lure Abendroth out. He challenges him to a game of chess, against Lev, where their lives are at stake for freedom and a dozen of eggs. However they also equip themselves with knives to spring their attack during the chess match. Lev is able to outwit Abendroth during the match, and before the final checkmate he pulls out his knife and attacks the SS commander. A battle then ensues in the room between the Nazi guards and Lev, Kolya, and Vika. Lev is able to stab Abendroth and heroically save Vika and Kolya from gunfire. The three are able to leave the scene of dead Nazis with their dozen eggs. 

On their return trip to Leningrad, they bid farewell to Vika who confesses that she is a NKVD Soviet spy and must join another partisan group. She shares a kiss with Lev and promises to find him after the war. Kolya and Lev are both eager and excited to present the eggs to the Colonel. However as they approach the city limits, they are mistaken as Germans and shot at by the Soviet soldiers. They are finally able to convince them that they are on special orders from Colonel Grechko. However the damage is too late, and Kolya suffers a fatal wound in his buttocks. He bids farewell to his new found friend of Lev before he dies. Lev then presents the eggs to the Colonel who has already purchased the eggs by other means. Nonetheless Lev is released from his confinement and after the war he is reunited with Vika.   

The Review

As I mentioned above the book was quite easy to read, a true page turner. Both the characters of Lev and Koyla were likable and the total opposites of one another. It was almost like a coming-of-age story for Lev, who was seeking both adventure and romance. Koyla was like his older bother experienced in life and love, but also the horrors of war and survival. The camaraderie shared between these two in the backdrop of a dystopian/apocalyptic setting is what really made this book special for me. It provided great historical insight on what the conditions were like during that terrible siege of Leningrad, with references to the bombardments, cold winters, starvation, cannibalism, ration cards, Shostakovich's concert, the Lake Ladoga supply line, and the very strict Soviet laws. 

I'd say Kolya is the breakout character and hero of the story. From the get-go he had such a carefree, confident experience about him like someone that had lived two lives at his young age. His passion for women and Russian literature gave him that archetype of the brave heroic intellect. He especially connected with Lev early on, for his similar intellectual characteristics of chess and poetry. Kolya felt comfortable in sharing his novel with Lev, as if it were already a work of famous Russian literature (while in truth it was a story that Kolya himself was working on). It was this trivial conversation of literature, chess, and chasing women during survival that made this such a powerful tale of brotherhood. 

For me it seemed pretty obvious that Kolya was going to die the tragic heroic death, however the manner of his death was the question. When I first read the instance where it happened I was naturally disappointed, more so by the manner of his death. They had achieved their mission on their way to collect their dues, when he was accidently killed by friendly fire. Thus he did not get his heroic moment as I had anticipated. However upon reflection, I would say this ironic death highlights the raw reality of war and was a clever angle by the author, Benioff. It almost seemed as if Kolya was going to survive the minor buttocks wound, but the irony went even further when their route to the hospital was blocked by logistical traffic. I think this further enhances the point Benioff was trying to make on the absurdity of war.

I would say this book had about everything you would want out of a great historical fiction. It was a great story in the backdrop of a great historical setting. It demonstrated comradery, romance, survival, courage, intellectualism, and constant dramatic flair with fight-or-flight chaos. It was also an unpredictable story which I always have in high regards. I could definitely see this book adapted into a proper period-film, and am actually surprised it hasn't been when I look over Benioff's resume. He has wrote the screenplays for Troy (2004), Kite Runner (2007), and 45 episodes for this little show called Game of Thrones (2011-2019). His other major novel, The 25th Hour was written in 2001 and was also adapted into a movie directed by Spike Lee.