82 pages • 2 hours read
David BenioffCity of Thieves
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2008A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 17-18Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 17 Summary
Lev, Kolya, and the partisans set off into the night for the long walk to Novoye Koshkino, intending to arrive before sunrise and take Abendroth by surprise. Though the partisans know nothing about the mission for the colonel, Lev and Kolya hope they will also find eggs at the headquarters. Korsakov instructs them to walk single file, nine paces apart, and as they trudge through the snow, Lev is so exhausted he drifts in and out of consciousness while walking. Kolya shows himself a true friend by keeping a close eye on Lev and walking alongside him, though they receive a sharp scolding from Vika for disobeying Korsakov’s orders.
As Kolya once again acclaims and quotes from The Courtyard Hound, Lev correctly guesses that there is no Ushakovo: Kolya himself is the true author, and the novel is yet to be completed or published. Lev realizes that it was a harmless lie designed to protect Kolya’s pride. Lev remembers his father’s literary parties and the humiliation suffered by new authors when their work was not received well: “the reaction of disdainful silence, nobody willing to meet the poet’s eye” (250).
The partisans suddenly come to a halt and gather together. In the distance is the horrifying smell of villages being burned, retaliation for killing the six German officers. Lev notices that Korsakov and the other partisans display no signs of regret that their actions “triggered a slaughter of innocents” (253). He accepts with sadness that this is the nature of war.
Chapter 18 Summary
Forced to abandon the plan to go to Novoye Koshkino, Lev and Kolya follow the partisans to their safe house near Lake Ladoga, arriving just before dawn. As they lie down on the floor to sleep, Kolya confesses to Lev the real reason he was arrested for desertion: Consumed by sexual frustration, he had left his unit for a few hours to find a girl in the city. Missing his lift back, he was picked up by the NKVD and taken to the Crosses, where he met Lev.
Chapters 17-18 Analysis
The nighttime walk to Novoye Koshkino brings more insight into Kolya’s character. He is deeply concerned about Lev, who is struggling to keep going, and risks Korsakov’s wrath by disobeying orders to walk alongside his friend. Lev is once again amazed by Kolya’s strength and apparent cheerfulness before discovering his vulnerable side. As Kolya admits he lied about being the author of the (as yet unfinished) novel The Courtyard Hound, Lev realizes that Kolya does experience fear:
Kolya seemed fearless, but everyone has fear in them somewhere; fear is part of our inheritance […] Cannibals and Nazis didn’t make Kolya nervous, but the threat of embarrassment did—the possibility that a stranger might laugh at the lines he’d written (248).
Given the slaughter, starvation, and desperation around them, Kolya’s fear of something so trivial yet personal affirms his humanity, which remains intact despite the oppressive circumstances wrought by war. It also reveals how Kolya yearns for external validation, which emphasizes his youth.
Kolya’s confession about his arrest for desertion also shows a weak side: His inability to control his sexual desires has been his downfall, and his tale of escaping his unit for a few hours to search Leningrad for a girl is somewhat farcical. In contrast, Lev now appears the more mature of the two men, as Kolya comments: “I’m not like you. I don’t have your discipline […] I get this hunger, I’m telling you. I go a week without it and I can’t concentrate, my brain doesn’t work” (258).
