English language
Published Aug. 31, 2022 by Hachette Children's Group.
This book went down like ice cold water on a sweltering summer day. The book was incredibly engaging with a setting that I knew nothing about. I felt as if I was alongside Cristi as he fought against the oppression of communism. What a fantastic read.
I don't think the faux memoir style really worked, because the narrative often seemed that of a naive teen but then dropped in bits of info that seemed too knowledgeable but would make sense if he was writing as an adult looking back. But it felt a bit info-dumpy rather than a natural flow of thought.
Is a decent overview of what life was like in Romania under Ceaușescu and she obviously did a lot of research.
Nothing wrong with this book, it was okay and I am glad that there is fiction about this important historical event available. It seemed like the story of Romania in 1989 was too big to fit the characters and so they seem pallid compared to the plot. Perhaps that is because it was written for preteens and teens and the obvious intention was to tell the story of Romania in 1989- One annoying part of the book I found was the characters ogling coke and twinkies while lauding America this and America that and boo communism. I do not know what a Romanian teenager would have thought at the time, but something seemed clumsy to me, like it was written by a westerner trying to write about life under the iron curtain without really digging into any complexities. I found myself rolling my eyes a bit. Of course as I …
Nothing wrong with this book, it was okay and I am glad that there is fiction about this important historical event available. It seemed like the story of Romania in 1989 was too big to fit the characters and so they seem pallid compared to the plot. Perhaps that is because it was written for preteens and teens and the obvious intention was to tell the story of Romania in 1989- One annoying part of the book I found was the characters ogling coke and twinkies while lauding America this and America that and boo communism. I do not know what a Romanian teenager would have thought at the time, but something seemed clumsy to me, like it was written by a westerner trying to write about life under the iron curtain without really digging into any complexities. I found myself rolling my eyes a bit. Of course as I said, it was written for young teens and one does not forget that while reading it, so I cannot say that the book did not serve its purpose, only that it too obviously served said purpose.
