A history of the siege of Stalingrad by the Germans in World War II would be a deeply depressing look into mankind and, to many readers, boring. But David Benioff’s novel City of Theives, set during the siege, is a wonderful balance of dark and humor. Two young Soviet men, one arrested for violating curfew, the other an army deserter, are spared execution if they can bring a Soviet colonel a dozen eggs in just a few days. It’s nearly impossible task in a starving city but a great jumping off point to encounter all manner of their countrymen just trying to survive the Russian winter.
There are a number of excellent writers of thrillers currently writing. In my opinion, Dan Brown is not one of them, but he is doing very well financially, so the jokes on us. His latest, The Lost Symbol, set in Washington, D.C. and centered around the mysterious rites and rituals of the Masons, is incredibly formulaic of his last two novels, Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. Very irritating for me, though I didn’t expect much better. I’m sure it will get optioned as a movie and make Brown lots, lots more money.
On the other hand, John O’Hara’s Appointment in Samarra, O’Hara’s first novel and published in the early 1930s, is a wonderful thing done beautifully. Set in a small town in central Pennsylvania, Julian English makes a poor decision at Christmas party that leads to a series of continuing and escalating personal tragedies. In case you couldn’t tell, I enjoyed it immensely. Add to that a recent article in Vanity Fair about Mad Men, the best show on TV today, reaching its own appointment in Samarra.
