Map of German's Approach of Leningrad During WWII
The book I am reading is City of Thieves by David Benioff. While I was looking through a list of good historical fiction novels on Barnes & Noble's website, I came across this book. I remember my friend Spencer reading it before, so I called him and asked if it was a good book. He said it was, so I went to Barnes & Noble and bought the book. I have never heard of David Benioff, but I was quite surprised when I read about him. His first novel, The 25th Hour, was made into a movie directed by Spike Lee. Benioff's second novel is titled When the Nines Roll Over. He also adapted The Kite Runner, a bestseller and, now, a film and wrote the screenplay for two great new movies: Brother and Wolverine, as well. City of Thieves was the SCIBA Fiction Award Winner in 2008, and has received praise from many great sources such as The Oprah Magazine, Los Angeles Times, New York Magazine, Men's Journal, and Publisher's Weekly.
City of Thieves takes place during the "Siege of Leningrad," also known as the "900-day Siege," during World War II. This blockade started on Sept. 8, 1941 and ended on Jan. 27, 1944 (actually 872 days). Nazi Germany made their way to the city of Leningrad (in the USSR) after they invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. The Germans surrounded Leningrad from the west and south, and the Finns approached from the north. By early November, Leningrad had been almost fully surrounded. In 1942, the Germans killed about 650,000 Leningraders. Most of them died from starvation, exposure, disease, and shelling of German weapons because they were completely cut off from food, communication, medicine, and other necessities that they imported from the Soviets. Soon, the Soviets drove into the German army, and luckily gave some supplies to Leningrad. In January 1944, a Soviet offensive successfully ended the siege by moving the Germans westward away from Leningrad.
The only knowledge of the plot and characters that I have about the novel is from the back cover. It sounds very interesting because the main character, Lev Beniov, is arrested for stealing. Instead of being executed, Lev and his cell mate, Kolya, receive a huge, secret task: secure a dozen eggs for a Soviet colonel's wedding cake. Even though this seems like a very easy mission in today's world, it wasn't because the Germans and Finns did not allow any supplies to be let into Leningrad. The only way to get the eggs is to either sneak past the surrounding enemies and out of Leningrad, or to get the eggs from a secret messenger, maybe a friend, from outside of Leningrad.
I predict that Lev and Kolya will get caught by one of the enemies. This will be a huge problem because the Nazis and Finns were both very powerful armies during WWII, and it will be hard to escape from them once they are taken to jail. I also predict that even though they start off as complete strangers, Lev and Kolya will become very close friends because the back cover says that it is a coming-of-age story and because these types of missions are bound to create a brotherhood between them. City of Thieves sounds like a very adventurous novel and I think I will enjoy it a lot! I think that I will be sitting on the edge of my seat at the end of every reading section!
I predict that Lev and Kolya will get caught by one of the enemies. This will be a huge problem because the Nazis and Finns were both very powerful armies during WWII, and it will be hard to escape from them once they are taken to jail. I also predict that even though they start off as complete strangers, Lev and Kolya will become very close friends because the back cover says that it is a coming-of-age story and because these types of missions are bound to create a brotherhood between them. City of Thieves sounds like a very adventurous novel and I think I will enjoy it a lot! I think that I will be sitting on the edge of my seat at the end of every reading section!
Reading Schedule:
Entry Two 3/4: Ch. 1-7
Entry Three 3/11: Ch. 7-14
Entry Four 3/18: Ch. 14-21
Entry Five 3/25: Ch. 21-END
