About this title: Benioff follows up "The 25th Hour" with this hard-to-put-down novel based on his grandfather's stories about surviving World War II in Russia.
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Description: Very Good. 0452295297 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Plume Books
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780452295292ISBN:0452295297
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Very rough area on back cover were a shipping label was removed. Otherwise, unread book. NO writing, highlighting or dog-eared corners. Uncreased spine. Fast confirm and shipping! ! ! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 258 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very Good. Former Library book. Great condition for a used book! Minimal wear. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Adult
Date Published: 2008-05-15
ISBN-13:9780670018703ISBN:0670018708
Description: New. New Hardback Book With Publisher's Inventory Mark. We ship 6 days a week, generally within 24 hours; single CDs and DVDs upgraded to 1st class! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Plume
Date Published: 2009-03-31
ISBN-13:9780452295292ISBN:0452295297
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780452295292. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Plume
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780452295292ISBN:0452295297
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Plum, New York
Date Published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780452295292ISBN:0452295297
Description: New. No Jacket Issued. A hard-to-put-down novel based on the stories told to the author by his grandfather about surviving World War II in Russia. read more
"Very quick and easy to read although parts may be too graphic for some to handle. A different type (at least for me)of coming of age story for a seventeen year old during the seige of Leningrad. Once again, I feel how fortunate I've been to have never faced such hardship (starvation, death, constant fear of death--basically, sheer brutality). Benioff's story illustrates how war changes not only the soldiers but non-combatants as well. Through Lev's and Koyla's journey to find the eggs we encounter different characters who have responded to war in various ways. Not for the faint of heart but a worthy tale nonetheless."
"This is an exciting adventure and story of the friendship of two young men during time of war. I loved this novel! It is not normally the type of book I read but I am so glad I did. I could barely put it down."
"I was so afraid this book would be unbearably grim. I mean, come on, it's the siege of Leningrad, everyone's starving to death, and it's only 1941--the war will just go on and on. Nazis. Russian winter. Are there any OTHER ingredients for grimness in a book.
But this book strikes the perfect balance of brutality and joy. It's all about Kolya, of course, one of those over-the-top characters who is always doing something nonsensical that works out just fine. I won't say he carries the book, because the other characters are amazing, the story is compelling, and the setting is a character of its own--the great city of Piter--but it's Kolya who can find the fun when it seems silly to do so.
If there is a weak link here, I would say it is the women--some books, some male authors, I've noticed, see women as mystical entities, graceful and powerful and all-knowing and self-contained. I wouldn't say this book suffers from this factor, but it's something I noticed--the women are all, in their own ways, flawless.
I really loved this book, and I'm glad the ALA gave it an Alex Award this year, and I'm glad someone picked it for my online book group so I'd pick up something (Nazis? Russian winter?) that I might otherwise never have discovered."
"About as mediocre a book as you could ever find...
Prose readable but never interesting, embedded with excruciating rhetorical questions and banal turns of phrase such as "he shook me till my bones rattled."
Well conceived but poorly imagined, with physical descriptions of a city reading as if lifted from a boring history book...feels like flesh of fiction being draped on a skeleton of historical fact, with the result a wrinkled, gaunt body such as so many described in the book (everyone's starving in it)
Tons of action but zero tension, every moment predictable...characters more than cardboard cutouts but less than paper mache reliefs...
Scenes of the deeply affecting grotesque--cannibalism, rape, murder, freezing to death--but without a passing glance to the human condition...
There's a line in the book about a bad pianist being able to hit all the right notes without being able to make the music his own...and that's what the book feels like..."
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