City of Thieves

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. Leningrad, Russia (Chapter 1)

2. Execution (Chapter 1)

Short Answer

1. Kolya is Lev’s cellmate. He is a scholar of literature and has been put in jail because he is believed to be a deserter. (Chapter 2)

2. The colonel tells the boys he will release them if they can find a dozen eggs for his daughter’s wedding cake. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. They’re cannibals. (Chapter 5)

2. It was bombed. (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. Lev and Kolya realize they are not likely to survive without their ration cards. (Chapter 4)

2. Lev feels guilty for abandoning Kolya to the cannibals while he ran. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 7-10

Reading Check

1. Sonya’s house (Chapter 7)

2. It’s a rooster. (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Koyla is brave and has charisma and charm. He is particularly jealous of Koyla’s ease with women. (Various Chapters)

2. The boys make plans to go to Mga, where Sonya’s uncle runs a poultry collective. (Chapter 10)

Chapters 11-14

Reading Check

1. The Courtyard Hound (Chapter 11)

2. Dogs (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. The girls are Russian survivors who are kept for the pleasure of the Germans. (Chapter 14)

2. After the girls were captured, one of them escaped: Zoya. The Germans caught her later and sawed off her feet in front of the other girls. The German captives were afraid to leave after witnessing what happened to Zoya. (Chapter 14)

Chapters 15-16

Reading Check

1. They are shot dead. (Chapter 15)

2. Vika (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. Koyla decides to lie in wait and kill the Germans as they arrive at the brothel. (Chapter 15)

2. They plan to go to Novoye Koshkino to find Abendroth, who killed Zoya. (Chapter 16)

Chapters 17-18

Reading Check

1. Kolya (Chapter 17)

Short Answer

1. Kolya keeps track of Lev and tries to keep him alive. He walks beside him while he is sleepy to prevent him from falling behind the other soldiers. (Various Chapters)

2. The German soldiers have burned it to the ground in retaliation for the soldiers who had been killed at the brothel earlier that night. (Chapter 17)

3. He abandoned his unit to find a girl to ease his sexual frustration. He had planned to return to his unit but discovered he missed his lift when he returned to camp and was labeled a deserter. (Chapter 18)

Chapters 19-21

Reading Check

1. The Germans (Chapter 19)

2. A Bolshevik schoolhouse (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. Those who can read have been told they will have office jobs, but the soldiers lined them up and killed them instead. (Chapter 20)

2. They sleep in a cramped shed. Lev is glad he has the opportunity to be near Vika. (Chapter 21)

Chapters 22-24

Reading Check

1. A chess game (Chapter 23)

2. His surname (Chapter 24)

Short Answer

1. He revealed to the officer that he is an educated soldier, much like soldiers the Germans had killed the day before. (Chapter 22)

2. After challenging Abendroth to a game of chess, Lev pulls his knife from his boot and stabs two soldiers while Vika and Koyla also struggle against the Germans. They escape out a window. (Chapter 23)

Chapters 25-27

Reading Check

1. Russian soldiers (Chapter 25)

2. Two Grade One rations cards (Chapter 26)

3. He’s a journalist. (Chapter 27)

Short Answer

1. Lev married Vika, and she is the same woman at the beginning of the novel who said she could not cook. (Various Chapters)

2. Lev realizes that he is attached to Kolya and loves him as his friend. (Chapter 25)