Reviews with content warning for Cursing - City of Thieves

This was recommended in a FB book group, and it has high reviews (both on GR, and included at the beginning of the book) ... maybe I came into it expecting too much, or perhaps it just wasn't my thing. I've read a LOT of WW2 stories. Given the topic, there is bound to be things that are hard to handle. Here though, it just felt so overly crude with all the sexual joking around, the profanity (f-bomb over 40 times, in such a short read) and the extreme violence. Not saying it was unrealistic, unfortunately.

I went with the audiobook, and the kindle copy became available after I finished. I often like to look over books I've listened to, make some notes, highlight some quotes (there are a lot that others have highlighted here on GR, as well as discussions and questions - I like books that inspire that) ... but I found that I didn't really WANT to re-read, or even skim. This book was not enjoyable to me, and didn't have enough redemptive or informative content to pull me back in.

As this started up ... it wasn't listed as an introduction, or a prologue, the section isn't even included in the TOC, it just started. It was the author, talking first person/present tense, talking to us, the reader? Giving us the background of the book like an author's note. It had a little bit of a "Princess Bride" feel, with a grandfather telling stories to his grandson (even if these stories were not a fairy tale, and the grandson was grown). If you've read The Princess Bride, you might remember there is a similar introduction in it ... that sounds completely legit, but is complete fiction. Made me wonder if that was the case here, maybe because I had The Princess Bride on the brain.

When chapter 1 starts, it shifts to first person/past tense (for a moment it seems possibly second person, as it says "You have never been so hungry, you have never been so cold" but he isn't speaking to US, the reader, or a character as much as saying "one had never been so hungry ..." a generalization. This reminded me a little of The Murmur of Bees with some rambling memories of someone we know is going to survive this story, with statements like "Even today, even when I've forgotten the faces of people I loved" ... we know he will grow old and be able to tell this tale.

Listening to the audio, I stopped a couple times to note things:

... mullioned windows (just a term I've noticed in several books)
...The dog dies (for lots of people this is a no-go/trigger)
... music at the beginning/end of chapters in audio. Did NOT like this.
...narration is a bit bland. At first I wondered if it was author narrated, as sometimes that sounds more like a "reading at a bookstore" but no, it was actor Ron Perlman.

So much more sex/vulgarity/violence than I would have expected... but I guess perhaps should have anticipated, if this is the same author as GOT screenplay.

Looking over the quotes that other people saved, and the questions asked ... I think that if I DID do a re-read, delved a little deeper, had discussions, I likely would appreciate it more. But after my single reading, I'm left with a negative feeling about the book, and don't know that I really want to spend more time with it. I feel the same way about Lord of the Flies which of course is a classic. Sometimes you just don't like a book, even if it is well written.

Content Warnings

stephe's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This book is part of that tired, old genre, “Oh, You Thought WWII was Bad? You Have NO Idea.” Yes, truly horrifying, awful things happened in WWII, but here they’re played for shock more than anything else, as if cannibalism and torture and rape were less tragedy and injustice and more spectacle and opportunities for shallow, serendipitous “heroism.” Not to mention, the prologue frames the book as a fictionalization of events in the life of the author’s grandfather, which one must actually google to find out is it’s own fiction. In short, a fairly self-focused and self-exultant perspective.

I will say, the story was plotted and paced well, even gripping in spite of the exploitative use of fictionalized historical pain and tragedy. And I loved the absurdity of a mission to find a dozen eggs. But the main characters felt flat, as did my feelings toward them; it was hard to care one way or another about their success. And such a non-empathic depiction of human suffering, especially with regard to historical events, was off-putting.

Content Warnings