“City of Thieves,” by David Benioff, 272 pages, based on stories of author’s grandfather in Russia in WWII. A 2009 Alex Award winner.
If you've read this book, please leave a comment about it and whether you think it would be of interest to a wide audience of 30,000 university readers.
5 comments:
Hell of a story--I enjoyed it thoroughly. Not surprisingly for a man who makes his living as a screenwriter, Benioff's dialogue is always crisp and fresh. I don't know how much interest there would be among SJSU students for a story set during the Nazi siege of Leningrad, but this book meets all of our other criteria--short, quick read, pulls you in, memorable characters, themes to discuss, visibility to the wider reading audience.
i really enjoyed this book. it completely captivated me and i also learned a lot about the Russian experience during WWII. even though it is about a boy, i think girls would be engaged. it might not be immediately "relatable" to our students, but once you start this book it's engaging. i would put it at the top of the list.
I agree with Nick’s take on this book: it seems to meet the criteria for one of our selections. Personally, I think a book that shows Nazis and Communists hating each other might actually be useful in that it could help some students (who hear the epithets “Nazi” and “Communist” often used interchangeably these days on some cable news talk shows) better understand the different ideologies and histories associated with these two belief systems.
The book has lots of action and adventure and a healthy dollop of young inquiry into romance—it is a fine addition to the coming-of-age genre, a category of literature that works very effectively for our purposes. Plus I love the ending, how it all ties together and helps connect the relevancy of what might seem to be far off and distant experiences with the immediacy of the now we are living in. For those concerned that Part Time Indian is too juvenile, this work, while engaging, is of greater depth and at times delightfully lyrical in its use of language. Nazis as villains should be one group almost any student will have had some experience with, in videogame, film, TV, or literature, and they have heard lots of stereotypes about Russians that can and should be addressed, so I wouldn’t worry too much about the topic seeming too removed from their life experience. I would support this selection (but then again, I would be happy with almost any of the finalists—I see potential for interdepartmental connections or interdisciplinary inquiry generating out of all of them).
This is an enjoyable book to read: a plot driven story, engaging characters, and sure-handed pivots between humor and tragedy. You feel like the writer is taking care of you as you read this book. In terms of its suitability for the campus reading program, I'm not sure that its central plot and thematic concerns (WWII, Siege of Leningrad, Nazi vs. Communists, coming of age story) are as vital to our students and the wider SJSU community as those of "Part Time Indian," for example. But the book is well written and offers a real study in craft.
I enjoyed this book although I found the first few pages to not be too engaging. But the story of Lev and Kolya, who in "normal" life likely never would have met and their odd journey was very captivating. Lev's interest in the girl seems will go nowhere but then has a surprise that the author also leaves the reader to figure out - which is a nice ending.
It is quite disgusting, violent and bloody at points which many may find offensive, but provides perhaps a more realistic view of war and its affects on the soldiers and the civilians. Also, the setting of the story may seem puzzling to students. Why read a story today about a relatively small aspect of the Nazi attack on Russia.
So, I found it engaging, but not sure it is the best book compared to prior years' selections.
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