Saxton Reads! & Reviews

*****ckubala
Darn Good  Debut!

In the opening chapter of City of Thieves we meet David, who lives in Los Angeles and writes screenplays about superheroes. Realizing his life and writing career borders on dull, he decides to write a story about his grandfather's experiences living during the Siege of Leningrad in World War II. He flies off to Florida to interview his grandfather and here the story begins.

David Benioff’s debut novel takes us on quite an adventure. The story's main focus is on two young men, Lev (David's grandfather) and Koyla, doing their darnedest to survive the coming siege. On New Year's Eve, Lev and his friends loot the dead body of a German paratrooper. Caught in the act by soldiers, only Lev is actually captured and imprisoned. Here he meets the wise-cracking Koyla. Both are certain their fate will be death. Enter The Colonel, the only one who can pardon them. He offers a reprieve if they can supply a dozen eggs which will be used to bake his daughter’s wedding cake. If they bring the eggs within the week, they will get back their ration cards. Without these, death is certain to follow. The quest for eggs is no easy task in Piter, where little food is available and the hungry are forced to boil the glue from books (library candy) or even worse, resort to cannibalism for sustenance. Koyla and Lev’s quest to procure the eggs is reminiscent of many a boyhood adventure. Think Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn or the young men in Richard Bachman's The Body. It even reminds me a bit of Street Boys by Carcaterra, in it’s depiction of the common people just trying to stay alive during war. Benioff’s writing is stronger, and the overall story is superior. It does not give the a detailed view of the siege but a fairly good picture of what it would be like to live in the future Saint Petersburg. Some of the violence made me cringe but this was redeemed by the humor and love in the story.

I'm certain some readers will think parts of the plot improbable but that doesn't bother me; it's fiction, right? In fact, just that, the improbability, makes the story for me. David, while interviewing his grandfather,notes "A couple of things still don't make sense to me.” His grandfather's answer, "David," he said. "You're a writer. Make it up.”

I had the pleasure to visit Russia this past June and recognized many of the places that were part of Lev's and Koyla's journey. The bitter cold of Benioff’s story reminded me why I didn’t visit in January.

It always fun to read a debut novel. You get a hint of a promise of a writer’s worth and if the story’s good you eagerly await the next outing. I’m hoping David Benioff doesn’t keep me waiting too long.