City of Thieves: Chapter 17 Summary & Analysis

On Korsakov's orders, Lev, Kolya and the partisans walk single file in the snow, nine paces between each person. Lev, fighting extreme exhaustion, falls in and out of consciousness. He considers that the situation must not be real, and thinks that they're mice in the snow, looking for a sorcerer, hunted by giant black cats. Lev trips but doesn't lose his footing.

Lev explains to the reader that Lara, Nina, Galina, and Olesya left the farmhouse when the partisans did. Since Abendroth had taken their coats and boots after Zoya ran, the girls had to layer sweaters and leggings. Kolya and Lev kissed their cheeks at the doorway and the girls, rather than heading to Leningrad, headed south, in high spirits despite the poor odds.

Lev realizes he's been falling asleep when Kolya suddenly appears beside him. Kolya says he'll walk with Lev to keep him awake, saying he won't take orders from Korsakov. He turns the conversation to Vika, explaining to Lev that redheads (Vika has red hair) are "demons" in bed and hate men, thanks to the fact that they're descended from Vikings who raped Russians.

Lev confirms that they're marching to the house on the lake to steal eggs from the Einsatzgruppe, but Kolya amends that to add that they're going to kill the Einsatz because they need to be killed. Lev doesn't reply, and thinks that Kolya is very much a true believer in the Russian cause, but isn't wrong about the Einsatzgruppe. Lev thinks that he just doesn't want to destroy the Einsatz himself, and considers that while the story of his quest would've seemed a great adventure a week ago, he now wishes he'd evacuated with his mother and sister (Taisya).

Kolya brings up a scene from The Courtyard Hound, making the joke again that Lev hasn't read it, which Lev finds comforting. Kolya recites a passage and Lev compliments it, asking if Kolya has the entire book memorized. Lev then asks what Kolya writes in his journal, and shares a theory that Kolya is in fact writing The Courtyard Hound. Kolya demurs, but it becomes clear that Lev is correct, and Kolya cites Lev's father as inspiration. Lev asks why Kolya didn't tell the truth at first, and Kolya replies that he thought they were both going to die in the Crosses so it didn't matter what he said.

Lev asks what Kolya was doing that night if he wasn't defending his thesis on The Courtyard Hound, but Kolya only says that it's complicated. Vika asks them if Lev and Kolya are going to have sex in the bushes, and calls them out for not walking in line appropriately. Kolya outs Lev as a Jew, and Vika calls Lev the first dumb Jew she's met, shoving them back to their places in line.

Lev thinks about the revelation that Kolya is writing The Courtyard Hound, and finds he's not angry. He thinks that Kolya fears embarrassment most of all. Lev tells the reader that his father had many writer friends who gathered at his house to debate and share their work. Lev describes how the drunk poets would sometimes stand and recite a poem as he watched from the hallway, eight years old. Usually the response was modest approval, and occasionally the poet received a "Bravo!", but more commonly they had to deal with silent disdain. The poet would stay long enough to not seem a coward and then leave, the remaining poets joking about the horrific poem. Lev thinks that Kolya protected himself by inventing the author Ushakovo, allowing him to test his work without fear of that silent disdain.

Lev feels more awake after his conversation with Kolya. He wonders how the light of the stars works compared to flashlights, and why the sky isn't bright all the time. Lev finally runs into Kolya's back. Vika is on top of a boulder and calls down that the Nazis are burning villages. Lev explains that the Germans promised to kill 30 Russians for every German soldier killed, and were following through with that. Korsakov mutters that they're no longer heading for the house on the lake, since they've already found the Einsatz, out hunting for the partisans.