Book: I Must Betray You
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Pages: 297
Read On: Kindle
How Long it Took Me To Read: 3 days
Plot Summary: Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.
Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?
Things I Loved:
1. I have read and loved everything Ruta Sepetys has ever written. She is one of writers who's an auto-buy for me. I am always happy and excited to read her brilliant books and learn from them, because she takes you to a part of the world and a period of time that will teach you something new and make you sit and think long and hard about it. In short books are nothing short of an experience that lives on long after you've turned the last page. So I knew I would love this book and I was so happy to jump into it. And I was not wrong. Seriously, before we even begin I'd recommend all her wonderful books. You can read about my thoughts on them HERE. I think I've reviewed all of her books barring maybe one, her last one.
2. My timing reading this book was either perfect or not. Right or wrong. With everything that's happening in the world, in Europe especially this book felt even more relevant and poignant. Reading it was startling, mainly because I knew so little (if at all) about this chapter in history. And reading it was made especially moving because reading about people fighting tyranny and oppression is never ever easy, now or otherwise.
3. As always I enjoyed the writing immensely and the way this time period and this world and it's muted colours and struggles are brought to life is commendable. You feel like you are there in Romania, fighting the bitter cold, standing in long lines for provisions and you feel every fear and every worry these characters feel. You also really understand (the best you can) about living in a world where you can't really trust anyone because you never know who's a spy/insider. This feeling of being watched and always being so cautious and nervous really comes across these pages.
4. The thing I loved best was learning about Romania, it's evil, greedy and unscrupulous dictator and learning how much Romanians endured under his regime. It has made me read several other articles and even talk to my father about those days. I love books that lead you to other books and make me want to deep dive into other readings.
5. This book set in 1989 is sadly still so relatable and relevant. The injustice, the cruelty and the propaganda machinery is sadly alllll too frighteningly familiar. The cult of personality style of leaderships has once again rared it's ugly head in several parts of the world, which makes books like these so important to read and mull over and hopefully learn from. We should never forget our history, because it has a horrible habit of coming back.
6. This book has several wonderful characters. Cristian is the one we spend all our time with and he is a wonderful character to get to know and walk along side with. I also loved his brave Grandfather and his friend Luca and his girlfriend Lilliana. I also liked Cici, Cristian's sister and her cautious and nervous heart.
7. This book pulls you in and never lets go of you, you want to keep reading till to find out what becomes of these character that you grow to care from the get go and you worry and fret and root for Cristian and his friends and family. The pace of this book was superb and the super short chapters keep you hooked. This is the perfect book to pick up and race through.
Rating: 5/5
I loved this book and I cannot recommend it enough. And now is a perfect time to read it. This was my first read for #FemmeMarch and what a great pick to kick-start my month of reading only women.
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