Reviews with content warning for Chronic illness - Turiu tave išduoti

Felt real and touching. Kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next. Truly a YA book because it centers on a High Schooler...part of me wishes that there was more insight into the college age people of the era, but I guess I will have to read another book for that.

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silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Paradise: If communism is Paradise, why do we need barriers, walls, and laws to keep people from escaping?

Like any of Ruta Sepetys' books, I Must Betray You is a masterpiece of historical fiction and should serve as a reminder to other historical fiction authors of the responsibility they have to accurately and honestly portray the experiences of people who have lived through the true historical events. This specific story was very close to my heart as one side of my family is Romanian and had to live through the oppressive communist regime that suffocated many different nations and communities.

How could we expect others to feel our pain or hear our cries for help when all we could do was whisper?

I was a little disappointed when at the start of this book as the dry writing style and the slow, uneventful nature of the book grated on me. It did not quite feel like the previous books I have read from this author, but I do think this served a purpose. It put me in the mind of Cristian, our protagonist, and the muted, grey atmosphere he was constantly living in. The beginning feels cold, dull and suffocating because that is very much what life under Ceausescu was like.

Good luck comes at a price. Bad luck is free.

The more I read, the more I fell in love with these characters, who felt real and - more notably - absolutely terrified. The nagging sensation that you were being spied on, monitored and manipulated was a constant and Sepetys captured it so well. The entire scope of the story is not visible to the reader - not even having reached the end of the book - and that is so representative of the lack of clarity and closure that many Romanians had to deal with following Romania's fight for independence.

An old woman is fast asleep when she hears a knock at the door.
Who is it? she whispers, terrified.
It is death, the voice answers.
Oh, good. I thought it might be the Securitate.

The interactions in this book were so human, which was what really stood out for me. People were not fighting or dreaming of a better life, they were simply doing the best that they could to survive. It is important to note that this novel is intended for a younger audience than myself, so certain parts of the book did feel a little bit simplified or sugar-coated to allow for these readers to digest the information. I would love to have seen a more in-depth exploration of this period in time, but - for what Sepetys intended - I think this book was successful.

As the saying goes, better to die standing than live kneeling.

I do not think that this book is perfect. I think there are some issues with the characterisation of certain characters, its pacing and how easily certain issues are brushed over. However, I do think that it is very important. The longer I sit with this book, the more I feel that it has had a profound impact on me -- I feel like I am living in 1989 Romania and I can feel the fear and paranoia that many of my family members experienced. I am incredibly grateful to Ruta Sepetys for creating this work of art; it is a time period and a people that do not get as much consideration and attention as they deserve.

You’re wrong. They steal our power by making us believe we don’t have any. They’re controlling us through our own fear.

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shesreadthat's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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jessgreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Title: I Must Betray You

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Genre: Historical Fiction

Setting: Bucharest, Romania

Month Read: February 2022

Book Type: Hardcover

Publication: 2022

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 336

TRIGGER WARNING-

Murder / Illness / Genocide / Hunger / Abuse (there are more, but these are the bigger ones)

"WILL YOU REMEMBER ME? A boy with wings of hope.

Strapped to his back.

That never had a chance to open, denied Forever knowing,

What he could have become. What we all could have become."

No Spoiler Summary:

I Must Betray You is a historical fiction book about the Romanian Revolution in 1989. You follow Cristian, a 17 year old who is blackmailed into helping the Government against his will, and he decides that the only way in which he can survive this morally corrupt act is to burn it to the ground from the inside.

Review:

I'm blown away by how good every book Ruta Sepetys writes is. Every time I pick one up, I think that this can't be as good as the last novel, and every time I am speechless once I have finished because she has done it again.

I went into this book barely knowing where Romania is, never mind having any slice of historical knowledge about the country. I think it is absolutely wild that school in the United States barely touches on the Iron Curtain, and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe in the late 1900s. How several countries were filled with dying, starving, walled off communities similar to what I assume we're being told is happening in North Korea nowadays.

This book is dark, but the moments of hope are such bright spots, and I think the love story subplot was absolutely necessary to keep you from being so incredibly sad the entire book. I think Cristian is SUCH a great character, and an amazing narrator for this novel, in particular, and I was also THRILLED to see Nick Van Dorn (a character in her previous novel, Fountains of Silence.)

If you love, or even like, historical fiction- this is for you. If you want to know about a history you've likely never heard of, this is a great book to learn from. It's technically billed as YA, but her books can 100% be read by adults. This book is fantastic. I'd also listen to her on the podcast: The Book Review by the New York Times. It was a great 20m or so of listening to her talk about this book, and also touch upon some of her others.

See more reviews at: https://jessgreads.wixsite.com

"Sorrow. Anger. An expanse of emptiness that takes form as a separate entity living inside of you. It digs, takes root, and dwells there. And somehow, you know that even if it worms its way out, there will be no relief. If it leaves, there will be nothing left but charred remains, like the inside of a house torched by fire."

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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foreverinastory's review against another edition

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emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Thank you to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Damn Sepetys did it again. Her writing and books are phenomenal.

I Must Betray You takes us to post WWII Romania where Ceaușescu's reign is still going strong. But the people are overworked, being starved and harassed by Ceaușescu's secret police agents. The country is governed by isolation and fear. When Cristian Florescu is blackmailed to become an informant, he feels even more lost. His choices seem impossible, but when the opportunity to expose what is happening in Romania to the world, he jumps into the revolution.

All of Sepetys's books have taught me something. I love that most of her books have focused on Eastern Europe because US public schools hardly talk about these subjects. Even though I took AP European history in high school, I knew nothing about this. This book takes place in 1989 and focuses on the Romanian revolution of December 1989.

Cristian was an easy character to empathize with. We see the horrible things happening in Romania through his eyes and with his sense of compassion. He is such a cinnamon roll. I loved how much he loved his family, especially his Bunu (grandfather). Their relationship was one of my favorite things in this book. Among all the fear and paranoia, these two were bright stars. The love they had for each other was always palpable.

This is a heavy book, but wow I sped through it. Sepetys is a masterful writer, never shying away from the hard truths, but also doing so in such a way that the characters' humanity is always preserved. My heart hurts so much for 1989 Romania and the people who went through these real life events. Sepetys also weaves in reports throughout Cristian's narrative. So not only do we get his POV, but we see how the Securitate see him. And wow, it was menacing. The environment created in this was so tense and fearful.

There's not a ton of action in the beginning of this. Don't get me wrong, things happen and we get to know all the characters. But the first half of the story really sets in tension and depicting just how awful conditions were for the average Romanian citizen. The juxtaposition is made clear whenever Cristian interacts with Dan Van Dorn, the son of the American embassy delegate. The way the Van Dorns are treated and the access they have compared to Cristian is wild. It really slams home the point of how privileged the American delegates are treated.

I highly recommend reading the historical and author note at the end, it is amazing to see a glimpse of the research process and the real people whose lives have been touched.

Rep: All Romanian cast, male side character who loses an arm, chronically ill elderly male side character, Roma male side character.

CWs: Blood, confinement, death, death of parent, emotional and physical abuse (government to its people), genocide, grief, injury/injury detail, murder, police brutality, stalking, violence. Moderate: torture, gun violence, chronic illness, war. Minor: cancer.

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