City of Thieves
Written by David Benioff
read by Ron Perlman
I love nice suprises. And this book was a very nice surprise. First of all, a bit about the author. He's a screenwriter, and did the screenplays for movies like Troy, Stay, The Kite Runner and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He's also married to actress Amanda Peet (The Whole Nine Yards, Syriana).
Now to the story. It's the tale of two young Russian men (boys, really) and their adventure during the seige of Leningrad (1941-1944). Lev Beniov is a quiet, chess-playing Jewish boy (and the son of a poet) who stays behind in the city while his mother and sister escape to the relative safety of a country home owned by relatives. He meets Kolya, a handsome young deserter from the Red Army, in jail. Together, they are given the opportunity to escape severe punishment if they can go out and find a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake.
What follows is a haunting, delightful, fascinating journey which lasts the entire allotted time for their quest. There is the constant cold and hunger, plus adventure, love, lust, terror, violence...and above all, a developing friendship between the reckless young solider and his cautious younger accomplice. A word of warning: Because this story is written from the perspective of a 17-year-old boy, it's filled with sexuality (albeit mostly in the forms of longings). So if you are put off by those things, you might want to avoid this one. But if you listen, you will be drawn to these two very different characters...and to the descriptions of the environment will have you feeling the weariness, hunger and bone-chilling cold.
The messenger for this tale is Ron Perlman (Beauty and The Beast, Hellboy). While he doesn't do as many voice characterizations as some other readers do (ironic for an accomplished actor), he handled the Russian affect beautifully...and words just roll off his tongue. Not to mention he has a wonderful vocal timbre...so it's a real pleasure to listen to, despite the 8.5 hour length. Perlman, who turns 60 this year (amazing that he can still pull off a physical character like Hellboy!), brings to the table a breadth of experience in voice work (I was unaware of this until I checked his Wikipedia page). I'd love to listen to him read again.
The quality of this Penguin Audio production is very good. It features a some classical music during a few breaks. I only caught one missed edit, fairly early in the book. So it didn't detract much.
Two thumbs up for this one!
16 Responses to "City of Thieves"
1. Moira
I agree. Two thumbs up. Another word of warning about content: there is fair amount of brutality, again not surprising given the subject matter.
Regarding Perlman. He has done three other books on tape/DVD. The best of these is 'Caliban's Hour'. Beautifully written, beautifully read. Two lesser books are 'Superstitious' and 'The Forth Perimeter'. Any fault lies in the writing here, Mr. Perlman's rendering of both is superb.
2. olly from from Computer Parts
Sounds like you enjoyed this one so will be worth checking out - great site by the way - a really handy resource for audio book reviews!
3. James from Free Line Rental
Sounds like a good book to read/listen to. I I've had a look around your site and it looks like a great place to find reviews, I'll be back to look some more!
4. roundcurtain
City Of Thieves
I loved this review, it truly shows how much you listend and liked this story.
5. Paul from Sony MDR 7506
Interesting book. Generally I stick to business related non-fiction such as Management books, marketing books, etc, but I've been getting more into fiction lately, so I'll have to check this book out.
6. Frisco Real Estate
Wow, this sounds great and Perlman has such a deep strong voice I would say that it gives the audio a lot of cred. I have a long trip planned next month and I look forward to hearing the book then.
7. Xena Costume
A few years ago I saw one of David Benioffs work, a project called "25th Hour" or something like that. I remember it well because it was very gripping and entertaining. I would be keen to see more of this stuff without doubt.
8. Bias Tape
I'm not much for reading and started listening to audio books. Though the last few have been disappointing. The City of Thieves sounds interesting. It's definitely going on my short list.
9. Smithy from movie trailers
I really like the title. I haven't read the book and honestly I am not really big fan of reading books but since this looks like it has good plot, I am going to read it soon. I hope the stores have this book in my country.
10. patrick from anunciar no google
Personally I'd rather read a book than listen to it. I think the two together gets a little confusing, but is still very interesting. And I really liked the title by the way!
11. Judith from X Men Costume
This sounds like a great story.
I will have to give it a go. I think audio books are a good way of getting thorugh a lot of material quickly. I also have little patience which means I put a book down five minutes after I have picked it up so audio is by far my most preferred method of reading.
12. Jenny from portrait photographer raleigh
I wanted to read this City Of Thieves story but I wanted to watch is if they have a film on this already. I heard a lot of good things about this story
13. Julie from Art Studio 21 Photography
This book sounds interesting. I've always loved books that recount war experiences. And this coming from a 17-year-old boy adds a new perspective to war. This will surely be among my must-read books for the month. I just hope thay have a copy in our local bookstore.
14. Mia from Whirlwind wedding
The books that come from the screenwriters are usually very interesting so much so that they are made into films. I love works of Nicholas Sparks he has written some really fantastic novels like Dear John, The Last Song, The Notebook, PS I Love You.
15. Nike Camo Shorts
I happened to read the forbidden version (a pdf download from torrent) of "City of Thieves" by David Benioff. How could a man just in his thirties write an unputdownable novel like this one! And man, is he frustratingly handsome. The story unlocks in the winter of 1942 during the Nazi siege of Leningrad. It chronicles the surreal life of 17-year-old Lev Beniov on the war lands of Russia. It unfolds like a dream and ends making the readers disappointed that the story has ended. The "City of Thieves" is a rich text of history and a must-read if you love reading historical fiction.
16. brittany
This is a great book. The characters are good to start with and the actually make significant visible changes until the end.It actually made me smile and laugh out loud a little.And the ending has me actually sad.I think a book that brings out actual emotion is definitely a good book. Its definitely not for kids though.