City of Thieves

Review

So much fun! Or maybe I should say very sad. Anyway, I really enjoyed this one. It was exactly what I was looking for after reading a couple of denser philosophy tomes recently. I found the growing friendship and love between Lev and Kolya to be touching and interesting, and I loved all of the discussion of Russian literature and music. I even enjoyed the love story between Lev and Vika, despite it feeling a little shoehorned in. I blame it on my personal weakness for the "hapless fool falls for dangerous woman with a kind heart" trope (am I manifesting?). I think the book strikes that difficult balance between centering on really tough, difficult, depressing subject matter and still maintaining a sense of levity and hope. Highly recommend it!