Beyond the end of whispers: rethinking historical fiction in “I Must Betray You”

Book review
The 1989 Revolution has left open wounds and unanswered questions that still haunt the country today. Is an outsider suited to tell that story?
If you have been around here for any length of time, you know that my main area of interest (at least reading-wise) is classic literature with a focus on XIXth-century novels. This book would definitely have flown under the radar if it hadn’t been for a young family friend who introduced me to the Boovie Festival, a contest that “proposes a new way of approaching books, by transforming them into book-trailers by teams of students”. “I must betray you” by Ruta Sepetys is one of the five books students could choose from for this year’s contest, in the highschool category. I was born in 1989, just two months before the central events of this book, but my family, relatives and their friends have lived and seen them first hand. So, as you can imagine, my interest was piqued.

The Romanian Revolution of 1989

Albeit a work of “historical fiction”, this book was written by an award winning author famous for her thorough research into the subjects she writes about, so my expectations were very high when I finally put my hands on it. My own childhood and youth were filled with stories about what happened: the famous speech with the infamous “Ceausescu moment“, that instant when he realizes he has lost the crowd and they have turned against him like a tsunami of hate; the escape via helicopter, with all sorts of legends about the betrayal of the pilot and his mysterious death years later; the trial; the pathetic last words and last moments, when the death sentence was read and Elena pleaded not to have her hands tied, for she had been like a mother to the people; the execution; the deaths and torture of civilians all over the country; the aftermath.

To be fair, it is a horrid page in Romanian history. When I see the footage and pictures of those fatal days it’s hard for me to hold back tears. Many who were there refuse to talk about what happened to this day, the memory being still too fresh, the wounds still unhealed. It has only been 33 years.

This book isn’t about the bitter end of decades of tyranny and oppression. Its goal is to show everyday life from the viewpoint of a highschool student who is blackmailed by the Securitate to become an informer and who manages to send a notebook filled with truthful information about life in Romania, poetry and personal thoughts to the “outside”. He manages to save a piece of himself by doing this, by reiterating his loyalty to truth, beauty and intellectual honesty.

Is historical fiction the death of truth?

In spite of the numerous interviews with people who have lived those times (or maybe because of the amount of stories that went into building them), Ruta’s characters don’t know how to stay on the page without being awkward, like a bunch of artless actors lumbering on stage.
 
Cristian embodies the trope of the hero protagonist who overcomes all odds and foils the system, where all others have failed. It is a way to shed light into the darkness and allow Cristian not to hate himself for the rest of his life. A way to justify his betrayal, in a way, and have a good deed wash the evil.
 
Sadly, for most who were in his position there was no redemption, there was no grand, heroic act to cling on to protect their sense of self and self worth. After the regime fell and the informant network collapsed, they simply kept the secret and went on with their lives. Informers were seen as worse than traitors, so it was best to just shut up about it and hope the truth would never be uncovered.

Frankensteining a life experience

Not all that glitters is gold, a wise man once said. Cutting and gluing together accounts from different sources has had the unintended consequence of an uneven focus in the story. Some parts are poignant and vividly painted, while others are extremely clumsy.
 
It doesn’t help that the whole book is written in a tone that can only be defined as condescending, from the very first page. Yes, it is historical fiction, yes, it is YA, but did it have to have such an important page of our history drenched in American sauce? A perspective that can only be distorted by the lens of American understanding, values and experience. What I also found flabbergasting was the amount of extremely positive reviews this book has on GoodReads. On closer inspection, however, you will see that the highest ratings come from non-Romanians, while the lowest ones come from… you guessed it, Romanians complaining mostly about the book sounding ridiculous and “fake”. 
 
It was a disappointing read for me because I see it as a missed opportunity to showcase the incredible resilience of the Romanian people along with their dark humor, quick wit and sharp tongues. During the “Golden Era”, the Securitate (secret police) kept archives of the jokes against the regime, the coping mechanism that allowed to take jabs at the establishment while helping maintain the people’s sanity. Some of these are available to read today and give a glimpse into the psyche of the oppressed, here are a couple of examples:

"A guy goes every morning in front of the Central Committee and shouts: "We have no bread, no heat, no electricity!". After a few days, the Securitate officers arrest him and decide to scare him a little. They lock him in a room and shoot him with blank bullets, then let him go. The next day, our man is once again in front of the Central Committee shouting: "We don't have bullets either!"."

Source: Adevarul.ro
Or this one:

"While queuing for bread, one man started shouting all sorts of things: there is no food, the home is freezing, Ceauşescu is crazy, and so on. Another man followed suit, saying that in the West there is freedom and it would be better to escape from the country. After things got heated up, the first guy pulled out his Securitate ID card and shoved it under the other guy's nose, saying: "I am a Securitate lieutenant, so you're coming with me!". The other replied: "Mister, I am a Securitate captain, so YOU are coming with me." While the two were arguing about whose rank was higher and who was more provocative, another man from the queue got closer and told them: "Well done, boys! I am a Securitate colonel. My advice: spread out, boys, spread out..."

Source: Radu Chirita
It is worth mentioning that such jokes, told or even laughed at in the wrong company, could mean imprisonment or death. And the wrong company could be anyone: a spouse, a family member, a dear friend. No private space was safe for free speech.

Beyond the end of whispers

No amount of research or collection of stories can make you write with the true flavor of Romanian prose, both sharp and beautiful, a rose with all its thorns. Even the title “I must betray you” was adapted into the much more evocative “Sfarsitul soaptelor”, “The end of whispers” for the Romanian version. One question haunts me: was it really necessary for an American writer to write our history? Is this the best we can do? Is there no Romanian author who wrote about those times? Something that might ring truer to our ears and feed the soul. Even Sepetys admits that she hopes this book will encourage further reading and research into the matter, and who I am to refuse such an invitation?

Here are the resources I have gathered for you, the avid reader who wants to learn more:

Recorder has published phenomenal documentaries, investigations, podcasts, reports, news and information about the country’s leaders. They have also done extensive research regarding the Revolution, the Securitate, their archives, the aftermath, all culminating in “30 years of democracy”, which I think is an absolute masterpiece of journalism.

They do investigative journalism, in depth analyses, articles and much, much more. I cannot recommend them enough if you want to understand Romania’s past and present history. For someone like me, who lives abroad and hasn’t had much experience of the Romanian political and socio-economical scene, it is a vital source of vetted and trustworthy information.

In the end, I appreciate the enormous effort Ruta Sepetys has put into this book and the fact that thousands of people now have a better understanding of events that are fairly obscure to a “western” audience. The book’s enormous success is most likely due to Sepetys being the author, and not somebody else. Maybe what I see as a flaw other see as a feature. 
 
I just can’t shake the feeling that we could have done so much better, and perhaps selfishly (or patriotically!) resent the fact that it wasn’t done by a Romanian.
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Maria Petrescu

Digital Strategy & Brand Architecture Expert, specializing in ethical growth, solution architecture, and audience psychology. I love to challenge manipulative marketing tactics and build trust-based, scalable business models. Outside of digital strategy, I'm passionate about opera, literature, and deep-dive analyses.

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