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Dec 26, 2013JCLChrisK rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A rousing buddy adventure wrapped in a desperate, tragic setting. Amusing, entertaining, philosophical, eminently quotable, humane, and poignant; also, brutal, sad, grotesque, and dismaying. It's not the story of the siege of Leningrad in WWII, just a story of it, one in which the setting is essential for the way it defines the characters and their interactions--and, through them, readers come to understand the setting--yet really it's the story of a young man doing what he can to survive outrageous circumstances. It's a character story, describing a pivotal, defining week in 1942, the first week of the year, the week he met [his wife], made his best friend, and killed two Germans. He's a captivating character with a highly engaging story. ----- I just finished the book and already I want to read it again. I rarely, if ever, read books again. Something tells me I will this one. ----- "I could not handle the morning's peaks and valleys. One moment I thought I had a few minutes left to live; the next a sniper from Archangel was flirting with me. Was she flirting with me? The days had become a confusion of catastrophes; what seemed impossible in the afternoon was blunt fact by the evening. German corpses fell from the sky; cannibals sold sausage links made from ground human in the Haymarket; apartment blocs collapsed to the ground; dogs became bombs; frozen soldiers became signposts; a partisan with half a face stood swaying in the snow, staring sad-eyed at his killers. I had no food in my belly, no fat on my bones, and no energy to reflect on this parade of atrocities. I just kept moving, hoping to find another half slice of bread for myself and a dozen egg's for the colonel's daughter. / . . . / "Somewhere along the way I told her the true story of why Kolya and I had snuck out of Piter, crossed enemy lines, and eventually stumbled onto the farmhouse beneath the larches. . . . I told her about the colonel's daughter, skating on the Neva; the cannibals and their grisly wares hanging from the ceiling chains; the dying boy Vadim and his rooster, Darling; the antitank dog bleeding in the snow; and the dead Russian soldier rooted in the ice." ----- This just scratches the surface.