{"id":3907,"date":"2015-01-12T07:24:52","date_gmt":"2015-01-12T12:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=3907"},"modified":"2015-01-12T07:24:52","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T12:24:52","slug":"city-of-thieves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=3907","title":{"rendered":"*****City of Thieves"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Siege

The Siege of Leningrad (Dennis Jarvis, flickr, CC license)<\/p><\/div>\n

By David Benioff<\/strong> \u2013 Santa put this 2008 book in my Christmas stocking, and though I\u2019d listened to it in the audio version several years ago, I enjoyed it just as much the second time around, in print. If you asked whether I\u2019m a fan of coming-of-age novels, I\u2019d probably say \u201cno,\u201d but this is the second one<\/a> I\u2019ve recently given a top ranking.<\/p>\n

The story takes place during the 872-day siege of Leningrad, one of history\u2019s longest, in which the starving residents were reduced to eating the glue in their books. Two young Russians, strangers to each other, are thrown together on an impossible quest: Lev\u2014a short, dark, Jewish 17-year-old caught looting a dead German\u2014and Kolya, 20 years old, tall, blond, and charming, a Red Army private accused of desertion. Either of these crimes is punishable by firing squad, no questions asked, and they have only this one sliver-thin chance to save themselves: find a dozen eggs so that the daughter of an NKVD colonel can have her wedding cake.<\/p>\n

Lev narrates the tale of how the two search the desperate, lawless city and the countryside thick with snow and Nazis, in their search. It begins: \u201cYou have never been so hungry; you have never been so cold.\u201d And while there is misery in drifts, Kolya\u2019s irrepressible nature brings much humor to the telling as well so that, as USA Today<\/em> said, \u201cThis spellbinding story perfectly blends tragedy and comedy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benioff is the co-creator and showrunner for Game of Thrones<\/em>, and wrote the screenplay for The Kite Runner<\/em>, so it\u2019s no surprise he can tell an exciting story\u2014and he can tell it well.<\/p>\n