City of Thieves

By: David Benioff

 

 

           The main character, Lev, has been changed dramatically of his involvement in the war.  In the beginning of the memoir, Lev describes how he sat by the fire while his mom cooked for all of her husband's friends.  Lev first started changing when Russian intelligence took him away to be tortured and killed.  Lev starts working for the Red army in the fight against Germany.  Lev has been smacked with reality.  He is very lonely and scared by the gruesome things he has seen.  His journey to find a dozen eggs is accompanied by a Red Army soldier, Kolya.  They met in a prison and at first Lev thought Kolya was dangerous because he always back-talked the guards.  Through-out the book, Lev becomes thankful for Kolya to be with him or else he would be dead.  Lev interacts with other people like they were his worst enemy.  Everyone Lev met he distrusted, but most turn out to be on his side.  This quote describes how Lev interacts with Kolya when they meet for the first time.  "I volunteered to be a spy, but nobody listened to me.  So, are you a Jew?" 

"Why do you care?" (Beinoff, 60).  This quote exemplifies how Lev is naturally defensive towards new people.  Lev tries to hide that he is Jewish from Kolya.  Lev doesn't trust Kolya enough to tell him that he is really Jewish.



 

City of Thieves Article

The article I read is about the authors views on the book.  The author gives a brief summary of the book and says how much she loved it.  She said it was her favorite historical fiction novel.