Entry Five

     Overall, I really enjoyed City of Thieves. It was the perfect balance between action and comedy. I think Kolya was my favorite character because he provided the comedy aspect of the novel. Even when he was dying he was making jokes to Lev and the people in the car. Also, he showed his maturity at the end of the novel when he was describing his book The Courtyard Hound. The title is because in the novel, a man won't leave his apartment. He hasn't left his apartment for several years. Than, one day, a dog shows up outside his window. Everyday he throws food down to the dog, and him and the dog establish a connection with each other. One day, he opens his window, and the dog is laying there dead. This makes him ponder whether or not to go outside and bury him because he knows no one else will. In the end, he leaves his apartment and cares for the dead dog.

    I think it is kind of similar to the connection that Lev has with Kolya, as if Lev was the confined man and Kolya was the dog, representing Lev's personality. Lev is a very shy and quiet person, and he hides like the man in the apartment. When Kolya (the dog) comes around, he slower comes out of his shell. He shows how he comes of age, which friendships, sex, humor, and maturity in general. Kolya's experiences with sex and his charisma help Lev mature because he constantly has to compete with Kolya around girls and other people. Vika is a character that shows Lev's growth throughout the novel because he isn't scared to talk to her or think about her. Also, she kisses him on the lips, and, in the last scene, she comes back to visit him.

    One word that I didn't know while reading this section was "bolshevik." The Bolshevik Party led the Russian Revolution, and was the only ruling party of the Soviet Union. The Bolshevik Party is mostly known as the Communist Party, which most people are more familiar with. In the novel, one of the Nazi commanders said, "You understand that Bolshevism is simply the most radical expression of the eternal Jewish quest for world domination" (Benioff 190). I think this is interesting because Bolshevism is associated with all of the USSR, not just the Jews. I think that this shows another example of how the Nazis blame everything on the Jews.

     My favorite part of the novel was when Lev was playing chess with Abendroth, the head of Einsatzgruppe A. Kolya set up the game by talking to the guards at the camp they were relocated. Abendroth was very very intelligent because he knew immediately that Lev was a Jew and Vika was a girl, but they had both disguised as white non-Jewish males. This shows the professionalism that the Nazis had and how much they focused on the details of their enemies. This scene was the main action scene in the novel, where Lev killed Abendroth and they killed the remaining guards. They jumped out of the window and escaped the camp. They didn't stop running until they were being shot at from the front. This is when Kolya gets shot in the butt, and they try to rush him to the hospital, but it is too late. Kolya died in the end of the novel, just like the courtyard hound.

Entry Four

     One thing in this reading section that almost made me sick was when the Einsatzgruppen killed this girl Zora. Lev and Kolya had arrived at a little house along their voyage and had made friends with the girls who lived in the house. The girls were basically whores for Einsatzgruppen, a Nazi group responsible for massacres, or mass killings. Two girls in the house, Lara and Nina, told the two boys about when they killed a girl who was once in the house named Zora. They said she was the prettiest out of all of them and she was the Einsatzgruppen's favorite girl in the house. But, she used to cry all of the time because her parents died and now she was a whore because of them! So, she decided to run away in the morning. But, when the Nazi's arrived the next night and figured out she wasn't there, they went to find her. She was very frail and small, so they found her trekking through the snow, not a far distance from the house. When they brought her back, they made Lara get the head Einsatzgruppen, Abendroth, a saw. "He took the wood saw and he put the teeth of it against her ankle and he began sawing" (Benioff 132). Lara said that they sawed of both ankles and then left her there on the floor, and the girls couldn't keep her alive because she was bleeding too much. This scene involving Zora's death was what sparked my interest in the Einsatzgruppen. So, I did my glog about it. You can view it at: http://jwax999.edu.glogster.com/einsatzgruppen/.
     Another topic that is very mentioned in City of Thieves is literature, especially poetry. First of all, the whole novel, Kolya has been talking about and reciting lines from a novel called The Courtyard Hound by Ushakovo. The lines that Kolya recites are usually very good morally and usually have symbolism or deeper meanings, as well. Lev figures out that there is no book called The Courtyard Hound and no Ushakovo. This whole time, Kolya has been writing this novel in his journal almost every day and he is reciting his own lines. Lev says, "Cannibals and Nazi's didn't make Lev nervous, but the threat of embarrassment did- the possibility that a stranger might laugh at the lines he'd written" (Benioff 165). This is very good characterization of Kolya because it is very true. He is very daring, risky, and a jokester, which should have already caused his death by now. Also, Kolya says that the novel he is writing is inspired by Lev's father's poetry. Lev's father was a famous poet, and Kolya brings him up a lot throughout the novel, showing his significance and the importance of poetry in general. For this reason, I made a glog about poetry from World War II (mostly the Holocaust). You can view my glog at http://jwax999.edu.glogster.com/poetry-from-world-war-ii/.
     Lastly, Lev really grew as a person during this reading section. First of all, he is not scared to have sex anymore. Throughout the novel, Kolya has been talking about and having sex and Lev is still a virgin. They talk about sex a lot, and we figured out that Kolya was arrested as a deserter because he was walking home after having sex on New Year's Eve without any LOA papers. The first time the Einsatzgruppen showed up at the house for the girls, they never made it into the house. A group of Russians had shot all six Nazi's who showed up that night. One of the Russian soldiers was a girl named Vika. Lev had a crush on her and fantasizes about having sex with her. This shows that he is maturing from the beginning of the book. The coming of age genre is very significant in this novel, especially with Lev.

This is a photograph of an Einsatgruppen shooting a man who will fall into the pit and die with all of the other people that the Einsatzgruppen killed.
  

Breakthrough of the Siege of Leningrad Map

http://victory1945.rt.com/s/content/6/231_4_siege_of_leningrad.jpg
Click on the image or the link above because the print is too small on the blog.

Entry Three

     This reading section was very good and it was a lot easier to read because I enjoyed it. At this point in the novel, I am already into the book and I feel like I personally know Lev and Kolya. Throughout the book, I compare myself with them, and I think I am a mix of both of them. I am like Kolya in the sense that I am sarcastic sometimes and I like to have fun. But, I think that sometimes I am very quiet and like to look at what's going on around me like Lev. In this novel, though, I like Kolya more than Lev. He makes me laugh a lot, and he seems to attract girls very easily. Also, he is more daring than Lev and has more determination.
     One thing that surprised me a lot was when the boy gave Kolya the last chicken. You now know that Kolya and Lev are searching for eggs for the colonel's daughter's wedding cake. They haven't found any so far because the Germans and Finns are shutting Leningrad off from the rest of Russia. They have tried to find eggs in various different places. The only two times that they got close, they didn't get any eggs. They heard that there was a man who ran a chicken coup on the roof of a building. They helped some girls carry their pails to the apartment so that they could get inside the building. When Kolya told them they were going to talk to the man about his chickens, one of the girls said, "He'll shoot you if you go up there. He doesn't let anyone get near those chickens" (Benioff 80). But, they didn't care, and they went up anyway. When the went up, they cautiously knocked on the door. When no one answered, they tried to open the door, and it opened. They yelled out so that the man wouldn't kill them, but there was still no response. When they walked a little further in, they found the man, dead, and his young grandson sitting next to him. All of the chickens were gone, but Kolya was still considerate to the boy in case there were any chickens left. The boy wouldn't respond to them, he wouldn't accept any food or water, and he wouldn't find shelter with them. But, he opened up his jacket and gave Kolya the last chicken. I was surprised that the boy would do this because it was the last chicken. It was his family's business and there was nothing left. Also, I was surprised he wouldn't accept anything from Kolya and Lev because, now, he will die shortly. But, I guess he wants to stay with his grandfather, which is very nice, too.
     When Lev and Kolya found the little house on the side of the tracks, I was delighted and disappointed. I was happy because they found shelter. They weren't going to make it to Mga (a city where Kolya's friend's uncle runs a poultry collective and they will hopefully get the eggs) because it was already dark out. As it gets darker, it becomes colder, and there was already snow knee-high outside. They would have probably died if they didn't find somewhere to go because they were at least fifteen kilometers from Mga and Kolya thinks they are going the wrong way. It was kind of stupid for Kolya not to say anything because he said that he had known that they were going the wrong way for hours. If they had turned around when he had noticed it, maybe they would have reached Mga by dusk, but they couldn't now. Also, since they found the house, they will be warm for a little while and will maybe be able to eat something. Frostbite and hunger were probably the biggest reasons for death in World War II because the Germans shut down lots of business, which cut off the people from shelter and money, and money was food.
    (World War II Interactive Map: http://www.worldology.com/Europe/world_war_2_imap.htm) The Siege of Leningrad occurred in Nazi Germany's biggest rival during World War II: the Soviet Union. During World War II, more people died in the USSR than any other country by far. Twenty-three million people died in the Soviet Union and, in second place, is Germany with seven million total deaths. This just shows how much the USSR was involved in WWII. Military deaths (10.7 million) and civilian deaths (12.4 million) are both about double the amount of the next highest amount of deaths in each category. According to the Interactive Map, about 1.1 million people died during the Siege of Leningrad. Through bombs and huge blockades, the Germany's attempt to destroy and starve Leningrad was successful from 1941 to 1945.

(Words to the speech: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1941/11/07.htm)
     This is a video of Joseph Stalin's speech on November 7, 1941 at the Red Army Parade on the Red Square. It is really interesting that at the end of Stalin's speech, he talks about how much Germany is suffering. He is talking about how bad the enemy is doing, but he doesn't really focus on how bad Russia is suffering. The USSR is in a much worse condition than Germany because they have a much worse shortage of food and a much greater number of deaths in the war. As I mentioned before, Germany had a total of seven million deaths and the Soviet Union had a total of twenty-three million deaths! This just goes to show how different leaders can brian-wash their people. The leader who probably brain-washed his peoples the most was Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, who was Stalin's opponent in World War II.

Entry Two

     There are two main characters in City of Thieves, Lev and Kolya, who met in jail. Lev was walking in the street with his friends when a dead Nazi landed in front of them after falling from the sky with a parachute. They took his liquor and knife, and, then, when the cops were chasing them, his friend, Vera, slipped on ice. He went back to get Vera, helped her over the gate, and then the police grabbed Lev's foot just as he was escaping. Nobody helped him, and he was taken into jail for looting. When he got to the jail cell, his inmate, Kolya, arrived. He was a deserter, and the first thing he asked Lev was if he was Jewish. Lev was Jewish and Kolya was not, and, fortunately, it didn't matter to Kolya. The next day, the soldiers took Lev and Kolya out of the jail cell and led them to a colonel's home. Lev and Kolya were pretty scared because they were not sure what was going to happen to them. The colonel saved their lives because instead of executing them, he gave them a mission; it was an extremely difficult mission to complete, but it wasn't impossible. The mission was to get a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake. Sounds simple right? But, in Leningrad during World War II, they barely had any food or other goods because the Nazis and the Finns completely cut off Leningrad from the rest of Russia. Lev and Kolya have to either steal the eggs or bargain everything they have to get the eggs for the colonel in less than one week.

     Lev and Kolya are very different in their behaviors. Lev is quiet, shy, and down-to-earth. Kolya is loud, rude, and somewhat obnoxious. I think Lev and Kolya are opposites, but opposites attract, and Lev and Kolya develop a unique friendship. Kolya says a lot of stupid things that could get him in a lot of trouble or a lot of pain. He is generally not scared of anything or anybody. He also talks back to a lot of people, including the colonel and a huge man who was going to sell them eggs Everything Kolya says something stupid, Lev tries to stop him or thinks to himself that he shouldn't have said that. It's like when somebody does something dumb, and you put your head into your hands as if to show that you know the person shouldn't have said that. Most of the time, Kolya is just trying to be funny (and most of the time I laugh), but usually, he is talking to someone who deserves more respect. Also, Lev and Kolya are both very smart, but Kolya is loud about it, and Lev is not. There are two times in the first reading section where Lev and Kolya get into a tiff about who's right and who's wrong. The first time is when Lev directly asks Kolya why he thinks he's such an expert at everything. Kolya replies, "I'm twenty. I'm not an expert at everything. Just girls, literature, and chess. Mm. And dancing" (Benioff 43). This shows that Kolya really is a know-it-all, and he thinks that is really is an expert at those things.

     Another time, that they have a quarrel is when they hear somebody playing the piano and argue about a pianist named Shostakovich. Kolya said that he was evacuated and Lev says he wasn't. Kolya said, "I know that Shostakovich was on the radio in September talking about our great patriotic duty to fight Fascism, and three weeks later he's in Kuybishev, eating porridge...Anna Akhmatova, she was on the radio, too. You remember? Telling all the women of Leningrad to be brave, to learn how to fire a rifle. Now, where is she? Shooting Germans? No, I believe not. At the Works, grinding shell casings? No, she's in f***ing Tashkent, pumping out more of that narcissistic that made her famous" (Benioff 67-68). This reminded me a lot of the article that Mr. McDaniels showed us called President Obama, say the "D-word" (http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/01/201112811331582261.html). It is about Obama's speech in Egypt about how the Egyptians deserve to have a democracy, and then they asked to have a democracy, and it resulted in a revolution. President Obama is at no fault here (sarcastically) and he's still the President of the United States of America. There are no consequences for him for basically encouraged the Egyptians to start a revolution against America's second leading receiver of foreign aid. This just goes to show that people who do wrong, don't always get punished for their sins. (Other example currently in the news: Charlie Sheen.) I just wanted to make a connection to Kolya's train of thought and current events.

     One thing that surprised me was why the colonel chose two random inmates to complete his mission. He does say that it is because he thinks nobody could find a dozen eggs in a country with no eggs better than two thieves. I think that he should've sent one of his soldiers to complete the mission, but I guess that would put them at risk. Also, to be honest with you, if I was just released from prison with a letter from the colonel making sure the police don't arrest me for anything, I would probably try to escape Leningrad. But, Lev has a very good point: "If Leningrad fell, Russia would fall; if Russia fell, Fascism would conquer the world" (Benioff 10). This is the reason that Lev didn't leave with his mother and sister; he wanted to stay and help fight the Fascists. Throughout the section, I have been laughing at Kolya because he is so foolish. He says stupid things to higher people than he, and he isn't worried that he could be killed in one second. He tries to play mind games with the huge "giant" that was going to sell them the eggs before Kolya punched his wife in the face. He also got dissed by a child because he thought he was being cool by bullying him about being a painter, but he was working for the government and could have gotten Kolya in a lot of trouble. Kolya also says random stuff that are very hilarious. He talks about everything from girls to poop, and a lot of the time it is very funny.

     One prediction I have is that Kolya will get in trouble for something that he says and Lev will have to rescue him. He can't get in trouble by the police, so I think that he will be too much of a wise-guy to one of the vendors at the Haymarket again. But, this time, it will be a different person, and he won't be able to deal with Kolya. Another prediction I have is that every time they thing they have a seller for the eggs, they will mess up the transaction, like with the "giant." I think (because it is a book) that Lev and Kolya will not be able to find any eggs until the night before they are due. Lastly, another scenario that could occur is that Kolya spends all of the money from the colonel for the eggs on something stupid like the library candy. But, in the long-run, I think that Lev and Kolya will eventually find the eggs, even if it means risking their lives. 

Entry One

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!

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