#README - I MUST BETRAY YOU
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.
Is historical fiction the death of truth?
Frankensteining a life experience
Or this one:
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:
- On Wikipedia you can find a long list of books about the Romanian Revolution
- 1cartepesaptamana offers a curated list of books about communism and its end
- Politicalaminut.ro is a Romanian website that focuses on explaining historical facts in a clear and easy to understand fashion: it is worth reading their entire series of essays about Romania’s constitutions, with a focus on part III regarding the establishment of the communist regime
- GoodReads’ assorted list on Nicolae Ceausescu
- Many other resources that are just a Google search away