That's My BREAD!

City of Thieves is about these two Russian boys living in Leningrad during World War II. One is Lev, the narrator, a small, virginized 17-year-old boy, who is caught stealing from a dead German paratrooper. The other is Kolya, handsome, a womanizer, a soldier who is caught deserting his post. The two are thrown into the same cell, where they quietly wait till they are summoned to execution. However, instead of a bullet to the back of their heads, they are instead charged with an unusual mission. Leningrad has run out of eggs. The colonel's daughter is getting married in five days. The colonel figures that you can't really have a proper wedding without a proper wedding cake. And wedding cakes need eggs. If Lev and Kolya can sneak behind enemy lines, secure a dozen fresh, unbroken eggs, and return to Leningrad by Thursday, the colonel will let them live. So the two Russian boys set off on their journey to find some eggs. 

I was really taken by this book. Granted, I had sort of grown unreasonably excited to find a copy. Every bookstore that I went to, City of Thieves was always displayed. And I was always titillated by the cover. If you look really closely, next to the second small tree, you can see that the two men are chasing this adorable-looking cartoon chicken, who's leaving tiny footprints as it hobbles away. And I kept thinking to myself, "This looks delightful. I can't wait to read this delightful thing."

It wasn't delightful. It's a story about the war, and lots of terrible war-esque things happen within. Murder, sawed-off limbs, bullets into jawbones, that kind of thing. You know. But really, it's a story about friendship. And trying to sleep with women, or at least catch a glimpse of a naked breast. And it's about eggs. And a rooster/chicken named Darling. So, maybe it was a little delightful after all. 

Anyway, I recommend it.