HoopDance

Read the fifteen perfect lines opening screenwriter David Benioff’s novel, City of Thieves, and you will be hooked.

Transported into the Nazi siege of Leningrad, with the Russian winter clamped down harder than God’s fist, you become third-party to the abomination of war and fanatic politics, and eavesdrop on conversation between a wildly bawdy Russian con-man/deserter and the skinny teenaged son of a Jewish poet, a pair of the most unlikely heroes in recent fiction. Five days of comic interchange between these outrageous side-kicks propels the plot, as they seduce, struggle, hoard, hide, scrounge, punch, and trick their way through a devastated and starving city reduced to the lowest denominator of survival, and traverse frozen, corpse-littered forests, on a life-or-death quest for ingredients of, oh yes, a wedding cake.

A supporting cast of Nazis, black-market butchers, wooden-faced jailers, stinking and filthy partisans, “hungry” girlfriends, and a chicken named Darling, populate this grotesque journey through the dark side of Baba Yaga territory. Made real by Benioff’s evocative imagery, and literary dialogue so wide-ranging, forceful, and convincing it seems inevitable, City of Thieves examines life’s brutal extremes; creating a surprising meditation on the human condition no less riveting for being cynical, absurd, cruelly funny, and finally, tender. Highly recommended.

•  Temple Isaiah Monthly Jewish Book Group Selection, June 2009
•  American Library Association Notable Book 2009 Award Fiction
•  American Book Sellers Association Indies Choice 2009 Honor Book Fiction
•  Southern California Independent Booksellers Association 2008 Fiction Award Winner
•  American Library Association Alex Award 2008, Top 10 Best Adult Books that Appeal to Teen Audiences


Labels: David Benioff, City of Thieves, Book Reviews, Val Morehouse, HoopDance, Blog, Jewish fiction

 ©2009 Val  Morehouse