City of Thieves: A NovelAs 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 Thievesis an intimate coming-of-age tale with an utterly contemporary feel for how boys become men. |
Contents
Section 1 | 1 |
Section 2 | 7 |
Section 3 | 18 |
Section 4 | 25 |
Section 5 | 38 |
Section 6 | 48 |
Section 7 | 63 |
Section 8 | 71 |
Section 16 | 134 |
Section 17 | 149 |
Section 18 | 158 |
Section 19 | 170 |
Section 20 | 177 |
Section 21 | 189 |
Section 22 | 198 |
Section 23 | 204 |
Section 9 | 77 |
Section 10 | 88 |
Section 11 | 94 |
Section 12 | 100 |
Section 13 | 107 |
Section 14 | 113 |
Section 15 | 125 |
Section 24 | 216 |
Section 25 | 234 |
Section 26 | 238 |
Section 27 | 252 |
Section 28 | 255 |
Section 29 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abendroth asked Kolya beneath Berezovka boots bullet chess chicken coat cold colonel Courtyard Hound dark David Benioff dead door eggs Einsatzgruppen Einsatzkommando eyes face farmhouse father finger floor front fucking Galina Gebirgsjäger Germans girls glanced glass glasses of dirt gloved going grabbed grinned Grisha hair hand head hear heard hundred inside joke Katyusha keep kilometers Kirov knew knife Korsakov Lara laughed legs Leningrad lips listening looked Markov mouth move Narva Gate Nazis never Nevsky Prospekt night Nina NKVD nodded Oblomov partisans pistol Piter prisoners pulled Radchenko Red Army rifle Russian schnapps seemed shit shook shoot shot shouted slapped sleep smile snow soldiers Sonya stared stood stopped stupid Sturmbannführer talk tell thought told took troopers turned Ushakovo Vika vodka Vyborg waiting walked watching Wehrmacht window wood worry Zoya