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A review by hedonicbooks
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
5.0
I am Romanian. I was born in 1989, just a few months before the Revolution started. I haven't lived through the Ceausescu regime enough to have experienced that helplessness and paranoia, but my parents and grandparents have.
This book genuinely broke me. I cried from beginning to end because the entire story is based on facts. I feel that most people (who don't know much about the struggles the Romanians went through under the Ceausescu dictatorship) will think the things mentioned in this book are fabricated. They are not.
My own parents used to stay in line for hours to wait for their ratio of 500 grams of sugar and half a liter of cooking oil per month, per family. They used to dream about eating a banana or an orange or a little square of chocolate. Meat? Bread? You must be kidding. There was no such thing. This went on for over two decades, until 1989. And somehow, the Ceausescu family managed to hide everything from the world and shamelessly fool everyone .
I was talking to my grandma while reading this book because while I knew how difficult it was to survive (let alone thrive) back then, the spying aspect of the book baffled me. I knew about the Securitate (secret service) and their dubious undertakings, but I didn't think it was that bad. Pitting people against each other and manipulating them into doing Ceausescu's bidding was a real occurrence. People were spying on one another and reporting back to the Party. There were no liberties to be had, you had to worship your leader without question. My parents STILL barely talk about any of it. The paranoia that was created back then through the constant surveillance still lingers. I honestly think that most people that lived in communist Romania are still incredibly closed off and suspicious of everything as a result of that.
This was my first book by Ruta Sepetys, but I have a few more on my TBR and I'm looking forward to reading them.
I'm going to be honest with you, the writing threw me off a bit at the beginning. It seemed too dramatic, too fractured. But as the story progressed, I got used to it, I could understand its purpose.
The book follows Cristian Florescu, a 17 year old high school student, that is approached by the secret service and forced into spying on a foreign diplomat. He does it even if he is clearly conflicted, but the promise of treatment for his grandfather's leukemia is too strong of an incentive.
His relationship with his Bunu (grandpa) is pretty much the spark that lights Cristian's eagerness to escape the horrors of his everyday life . He is fueled by his own desires of freedom, but ultimately his Bunu is the one to steer him and shape him into a revolution advocate.
The structure of the book is really good, the pacing is just right. I feel however that some characters' story lines were brushed off too quickly. I think Cici, Cristian's sister, deserved more attention since her arc is so important in the grand scheme of things. I liked the tiny romance aspect woven into the narrative, seeing as I really enjoyed the development of Cristian's relationship with Liliana.
I loved the use of Romanian words and phrases, it made everything more authentic.
I do think this is a great example of historical fiction, but I fear that for people going in blind, without previous knowledge of the Ceausescu dictatorship and the 1989 revolution, the information offered in this book isn't enough to encompass the enormity of the events.
21st of December marked the beginning of the revolution in Bucharest and the fall of the Communist Party, but days earlier, people stood up against the regime in Timisoara. All these events are mentioned in the book, but I would have liked more details on them. I feel the book's emphasis was too strong on the living conditions of Romanians back then and not enough attention was given to the actual street fights and horrors of those days.
But, alas, this is not a history book, it's a fictional novel.
I'm giving it all the stars because it was a very emotional read for me, personally. I would like to recommend it to everyone. It's a page in history that not enough people know about.
This book genuinely broke me. I cried from beginning to end because the entire story is based on facts. I feel that most people (who don't know much about the struggles the Romanians went through under the Ceausescu dictatorship) will think the things mentioned in this book are fabricated. They are not.
My own parents used to stay in line for hours to wait for their ratio of 500 grams of sugar and half a liter of cooking oil per month, per family. They used to dream about eating a banana or an orange or a little square of chocolate. Meat? Bread? You must be kidding. There was no such thing. This went on for over two decades, until 1989. And somehow, the Ceausescu family managed to hide everything from the world and shamelessly fool everyone .
I was talking to my grandma while reading this book because while I knew how difficult it was to survive (let alone thrive) back then, the spying aspect of the book baffled me. I knew about the Securitate (secret service) and their dubious undertakings, but I didn't think it was that bad. Pitting people against each other and manipulating them into doing Ceausescu's bidding was a real occurrence. People were spying on one another and reporting back to the Party. There were no liberties to be had, you had to worship your leader without question. My parents STILL barely talk about any of it. The paranoia that was created back then through the constant surveillance still lingers. I honestly think that most people that lived in communist Romania are still incredibly closed off and suspicious of everything as a result of that.
This was my first book by Ruta Sepetys, but I have a few more on my TBR and I'm looking forward to reading them.
I'm going to be honest with you, the writing threw me off a bit at the beginning. It seemed too dramatic, too fractured. But as the story progressed, I got used to it, I could understand its purpose.
The book follows Cristian Florescu, a 17 year old high school student, that is approached by the secret service and forced into spying on a foreign diplomat. He does it even if he is clearly conflicted, but the promise of treatment for his grandfather's leukemia is too strong of an incentive.
His relationship with his Bunu (grandpa) is pretty much the spark that lights Cristian's eagerness to escape the horrors of his everyday life . He is fueled by his own desires of freedom, but ultimately his Bunu is the one to steer him and shape him into a revolution advocate.
The structure of the book is really good, the pacing is just right. I feel however that some characters' story lines were brushed off too quickly. I think Cici, Cristian's sister, deserved more attention since her arc is so important in the grand scheme of things. I liked the tiny romance aspect woven into the narrative, seeing as I really enjoyed the development of Cristian's relationship with Liliana.
I loved the use of Romanian words and phrases, it made everything more authentic.
I do think this is a great example of historical fiction, but I fear that for people going in blind, without previous knowledge of the Ceausescu dictatorship and the 1989 revolution, the information offered in this book isn't enough to encompass the enormity of the events.
21st of December marked the beginning of the revolution in Bucharest and the fall of the Communist Party, but days earlier, people stood up against the regime in Timisoara. All these events are mentioned in the book, but I would have liked more details on them. I feel the book's emphasis was too strong on the living conditions of Romanians back then and not enough attention was given to the actual street fights and horrors of those days.
But, alas, this is not a history book, it's a fictional novel.
I'm giving it all the stars because it was a very emotional read for me, personally. I would like to recommend it to everyone. It's a page in history that not enough people know about.