•×0- ᴇɴᴛʜʀᴀʟʟɪɴɢ & ᴅᴇᴠᴀꜱᴛᴀᴛɪɴɢ - ᴀ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴍᴀꜱꜱ-ᴍᴀɴɪᴘᴜʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ & ɪɴᴅᴏᴄᴛʀɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ꜰᴇᴀʀ -0ו
This is a YA Historical set in 1989 Romania. We follow Christian, our seventeen year-old protaganist as he discoverers what real family means & how to trust anyone in the time of total deception. On the spot, I could easily relate to Christian as he goes through school acting like; nothings wrong, nothing is being threatened against him, nothing was psychological, mentally, emotionally, financially, culturally, physically, spiritually, abusive, manipulative, gaslighted, in any-way-shape-or-form, and that he was in no way-shape-or-form, that he was being challenged mentally combined with a multiple other things, to the point of almost falling over to the complete brink of utter dispair & insanity, from the cruelties that he had to undergo and live with.
The style of writing was quick paced, descriptive, and kept my attention throughout the whole book. I'm sort of surprised with how relatable the book was to my childhood, even though I grew up in America. My heart empathized & raced along with Christians as he fought to keep himself sane. That's what kept me going. How relatable it was scary almost. Honest fact: I picked up the book as soon as I woke up and finishished it in seven hours! It was that good. Give it a go if you liked my review.
⚠️🙅♀️⚠️🙅♀️⚠️(Spoiler Alerts Ahead: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED)⚠️🙅♀️⚠️🙅♀️⚠️
Here are some of my favorite parts/paragraphs/quotes, from the book, that made me shed a few tears, left my heart broken and aching.
Page 76: (paragraph 3) The Romanians were living in a hell. That was thier reality.
Page 146: Christian talking about Nadia really made sense. The Olympic Gymist escaped for a better life. What did that say for the commeners of Romania? (SPEAKS VOLUMES)
Page 147: It's so sad how the paradise definition is, to this day, still applicable to so many things & situations.
Page 148: This quote struck within me: "Better to die standing than live kneeling."
Page 150: "Had the world forgotten us?" This sentence alone, made me shed a few tears because of how I used to think when I was going through hardships in my life.
Page 162: "The regime is sick, not you, okay? Don't ever forget that." That quote right there healed some sort of truama in me becuase I've never felt so heard and validated.
Page 165: "We are punished for our sanity." I felt so heard from that sentence alone. The validation, I felt, was reasuring.
Page 195: (Line 13) Line 13 made me tear up and be happy for Christian and Luka becuase thier strength was returning back to them. Thier hope gave them strength, that alone made me so happy.
Over all thoughts. It was very gripping trying to find out who planted the dollar in Christians stamp journal. I was devastated when I read about what happened to Bunu. His courage and strength was inspiring, though so saddening. From the beginning, I was suspicious of Christians mother, sister and best friend. When I found out the actual stories for each of thier actions, I was rightly sad, and mad they all had to go through so much. And his poor sister Cici, the darling girl deserved better. They all did. Scary how so much in the book is history and some countries still go through it. They all deserve so much better.
The style of writing was quick paced, descriptive, and kept my attention throughout the whole book. I'm sort of surprised with how relatable the book was to my childhood, even though I grew up in America. My heart empathized & raced along with Christians as he fought to keep himself sane. That's what kept me going. How relatable it was scary almost. Honest fact: I picked up the book as soon as I woke up and finishished it in seven hours! It was that good. Give it a go if you liked my review.
⚠️🙅♀️⚠️🙅♀️⚠️(Spoiler Alerts Ahead: DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED)⚠️🙅♀️⚠️🙅♀️⚠️
Here are some of my favorite parts/paragraphs/quotes, from the book, that made me shed a few tears, left my heart broken and aching.
Page 76: (paragraph 3) The Romanians were living in a hell. That was thier reality.
Page 146: Christian talking about Nadia really made sense. The Olympic Gymist escaped for a better life. What did that say for the commeners of Romania? (SPEAKS VOLUMES)
Page 147: It's so sad how the paradise definition is, to this day, still applicable to so many things & situations.
Page 148: This quote struck within me: "Better to die standing than live kneeling."
Page 150: "Had the world forgotten us?" This sentence alone, made me shed a few tears because of how I used to think when I was going through hardships in my life.
Page 162: "The regime is sick, not you, okay? Don't ever forget that." That quote right there healed some sort of truama in me becuase I've never felt so heard and validated.
Page 165: "We are punished for our sanity." I felt so heard from that sentence alone. The validation, I felt, was reasuring.
Page 195: (Line 13) Line 13 made me tear up and be happy for Christian and Luka becuase thier strength was returning back to them. Thier hope gave them strength, that alone made me so happy.
Over all thoughts. It was very gripping trying to find out who planted the dollar in Christians stamp journal. I was devastated when I read about what happened to Bunu. His courage and strength was inspiring, though so saddening. From the beginning, I was suspicious of Christians mother, sister and best friend. When I found out the actual stories for each of thier actions, I was rightly sad, and mad they all had to go through so much. And his poor sister Cici, the darling girl deserved better. They all did. Scary how so much in the book is history and some countries still go through it. They all deserve so much better.