A reminder that every liar has a secret to be spilled. And trust issues that remain permanent.
Song Vibe Check
"Swan Song" (acoustic version) By: Dua Lipa
"What could have been" By: Sting & Ray Chen (emphasis on the Ray Chen violin solo!)
"Alev Alev" By: Derya Yildirim
Historical fiction always tends to slap readers in the face with a story full of facts that blends with fiction. While many stories in this genre tend to focus on World War I and II and some other conflicts that are well-known, we don't always get to hear the lesser known conflicts that are just as important.
And that's what I love about Ruta Sepetys and her work. Since Between Shades of Gray, I have read nearly all her other novels (currently missing fountains of silence) but none has been as great as Between Shades of Gray which makes me cry even as I re-read it each time. Now, when I read the summary of this book when we were in the thick of the pandemic, my first instinct was to get the book and read it. And time passed and I forgot about it until I crossed paths with it at my local library. Now, as I finished reading, I get to process and rant briefly about it here.
The short summary? 17 year old Cristian who has girl problems and has a silent rebellious streak and a flair with words ends up getting forced to work as an informant, breeding a culture of TRUST NO ONE. And I mean it literally.
Like, almost every chracter in this book was an informant, it no longer became surprising or shocking to hear, it was almost like everyone had signed up to spy on each other.
The longer summary: Trust No one. Spies Are everywhere. This is the motto of the people of Romania in 1989, ruled by a communist dictator that rations food and captures anyone who may be considered a dissident to the Communist Party of Romania. For Cristian Florescu, a 17 year old student who gets recruited by the Securitate to become an informer, he has only two choices:
Betray those he loves to get medicine for his beloved grandfather, Bunu.
Defy them and get arrested for harboring a US dollar.
In able to complete his task, he must infiltrate the house of the US ambassador and gather what the US thinks of Romania, but as the rumors of liberty in the horizon and a possibility that the people may fight back to regain their liberty, Cristian has to decide whether his talent as a writer can save the people of Romania-- or doom his entire family with the words he writes in a journal that may change the entire course of Romanian history.
Thoughts:
I rated it 4/5 on goodreads (me being generous, but at most it's actually 3/5)
I thought Cristian had more chemistry with his best friend Luca rather than the actual love interest Liliana Pavel (who sounded shy and boring as hell, just saying.)
Literally almost every character in the book was an informer and that's HILARIOUS but no longer surprising as the author thought it would be. When we find out the "secret" informer, it was not even a surprise
Agent paddle hands can respectfully go burn in hell. I hated him and I hate that the book ended with Cristian 20 years later to confront him LIKE GIVE ME THE ANGSTY CONVERSATION FULL OF PAIN THAT IS SIGNATURE OF HER STYLE NOT A WHOLE "He's opening the door."
Between Shades of Gray is still the best book she's ever written.
I still think that despite its shortcomings, it would still be a great book to teach because it is super emotional and poignant and you learn so much about communism in Romania which is NEVER seen or mentioned in history classes. Also because if I were a history teacher, I'd love to spite the curriculum and education system and teach something that we don't hear about usually.
I still learned something new.
I will still read her other book Fountains of Silence which I have not read yet.
She is still a great author nonetheless, but this book won't ever top the success and perfection that Between Shades of Gray was for me.
And that is all.
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