#i must betray you ruta sepetys

[gabbagabbadoo]

Books Read in 2022

I set a goal at the beginning of the year to read more books this year than I did last year.... which was 9 (lol) so, here they are:

(I also read more books cover to cover in a day or 2 than I ever have, and that is marked by *)

All My Rage, Sabaa Tahir ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Wave: A Memoir of Life After the Tsunami, Sonali Deraniyagala ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

What's Mine and Yours, Naima Coster ⭐️/5

They Went Left, Monica Hesse ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

Firekeeper's Daughter, Angeline Boulley ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

Along for the Ride, Sarah Dessen ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Midnight Library, Matt Haig ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

Panic, Lauren Oliver ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

More Happy Than Not, Adam Silvera ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Orphan Collector, Ellen Marie Wiseman ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Heart Bones, Colleen Hoover ⭐️⭐️/5

House Rules, Jodi Picoult ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The First to Die at the End, Adam Silvera ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

I Must Betray You, Ruta Sepetys ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

Four Souls, Louise Erdrich ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

The Other Black Girl, Zakiya Dalila Harris ⭐️⭐️/5

Four Three Two One, Courtney Stevens ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5*

We Are Lost and Found, Helene Dunbar ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

#books of 2022 #gabbentary #idek what to tag this as so buckle up #all my rage sabaa tahir #clap when you land elizabeth acevedo #wave sonali deraniyagala #where the crawdads sing delia owens #whats mine and yours naima coster #they went left monica hesse #firekeepers daughter angeline boulley #along for the ride sarah dessen #the midnight library matt haig #panic lauren oliver #more happy than not adam silvera #the marrow thieves cherie dimaline #the orphan collector ellen marie wiseman #heart bones colleen hoover #house rules jodi picoult #the first to die at the end adam silvera #i must betray you ruta sepetys #four souls louise erdrich #the other black girl zakiya dalila harris #four three two one courtney stevens #we are lost and found helene dunbar

[learnelle]

So… I'm halfway through my first book in Lithuanian ekkkk!! After 21 years of speaking Lithuanian I’m finally challenging myself to start reading in this beautiful language too! (I'm reading I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys.)

#ruta sepetys #I must betray you #studyblr #studyspo #light academia #cottagecore #Lithuania #langblr #bookblr #books #bibliophile #dark academia #romantic academia #booksbooksbooks

[books-and-cookies]

It's still surreal to me that an author like Ruta Sepetys wrote a book set during the end of the communist regime in Romania. It feels like we're not forgotten.

#books #booklr #book community #romania #ruta sepetys #i must betray you #book photo #ale mele #mine

[gatheryepens]

soup & sepetys <3

#tw: food #bookblr #booklr #bookish #books books books #foodblr #foodlr #gatherreads #gatherbeingbookish #ruta sepetys #i must betray you #historical fiction

[horsesarecreatures]

Book review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

This book is grim, but I’m glad I read it. It is a very eye-opening look into Romania under the rule of it’s communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. The main character is a 17 year old boy named Cristian Florescu, who lives with his parents, sister, and grandfather in a one bedroom apartment in Bucharest. One day while he is at school, he is pulled aside by a Securitate agent. The agent somehow knows that he accepted American stamps from the son of his mother’s employer, an American diplomat, which is illegal. The agent blackmails him into becoming an informer on the diplomat family, first by threatening to arrest him, then by threatening to arrest his whole family, and finally by promising him medicine for his grandfather with “leukemia” (is is later discovered that the grandfather was actually poisoned with radiation by the government). Cristian has to decide whether he will fully comply, partially comply, or try to sabotage his missions. 

................................................................................................................................

I knew from watching travel shows like Globe Trekker that things were pretty bad in Romania during that time, but the things I read in this book still shocked me. Ceausescu in some senses put Stalin to shame, and the fact that he was critical of other communist leaders made the West turn a blind eye to the atrocities that were happening under his rule.  Before Romania became the last country in the soviet bloc to have it’s revolution, some things that became normalized in there included:

- Extreme food restrictions that were more severe than the rations during World War II. People had to stand in lines for hours in the cold after their 12 hour work shifts just to get something like a small piece of bread, or cooking oil. If a person over purchased food, they could be imprisoned for 6 months to 5 years.

- Due to Ceausescu wanting to increase the worker population, he encouraged women to have 10 children. They had to undergo forced, unsanitary monthly gynecological exams at work. If they were pregnant, the state tracked their pregnancy. Birth control and abortions became banned.

- The majority of orphans in the state weren't parentless; they just had parents that couldn't afford them. Most orphans were indoctrinated by the state to become Securitate agents. Others were deemed "deficient” and kept in concentration camp-like conditions. 

- It is estimated that about 1 in every 10 people in Romania was an informer at the time. Everyone informed on everyone, and people’s homes were bugged and had hidden cameras in them. It wasn't enough for Ceausescu to isolate the country from the rest of the world; he also had to isolate citizens from each other by creating an atmosphere is mistrust. 

- Children of political dissenters were also at risk of being sent to prisons were they were tortured along with adults. 

- Citizens went years without ever eating fruit. All of Romania’s “good” agricultural products were exported to pay off the debt Ceausescu plunged the country into with his failed oil investments.

- People never knew when they were going to have electricity. This wasn't just due to energy shortages; it was a strategy of the regime to keep citizens powerless through the unpredictability of their lives. Babies in incubators died at hospitals all the time when the power went out without warning. It was also illegal for temperatures to be heated above 16 degrees in the winter.

- Citizens had to report all contact they had with foreigners. It was illegal to own many items, from foreign currency to sofas to unregistered typewriters. 

- Romanians could not leave the country or apply for passports without the risk of being arrested. They also could not choose their own homes, or freely change jobs.

- When Bucharest’s historic buildings were raised and replaced with cement apartment buildings, the dogs that previously lived in the destroyed homes were forced to the streets. As they were starving, they often brutally attacked and killed citizens in packs. 

#i must betray you #ruta sepetys #non-fiction #historical fiction #novel #bookblr #book review

[razreads]

Sometimes in outwitting others, we accidentally outwit ourselves.

Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You

#razreads #book quote #ruta sepetys #i must betray you #deception #playing pretend #lies #queue have a good day now

[imn0t-1n-dept]

Holy crap I just finished reading "I Must Betray You" by Ruta Sepetys..... AND OH MY GOSH I'M CRYING- IT'S SUCH A GOOD BOOK, THE ENDING, ITS JUST BEAUTIFUL I CAN'T EXPLAIN IT-

#one of the best books I've ever read #books #book #i must betray you #ruta sepetys #i cant stop thinking about it wow just wow

[bshocommons]

In a country with no freedom of speech, each joke felt like a tiny revolution.

Ruta Sepetys, I Must Betray You

#commonplace book #ruta sepetys #i must betray you #freedom of speech #revolution #jokes

[stefito0o]

"History is the gateway to our collective story and the story of humanity. Historical fiction allows us to explore underrepresented stories and illuminate countries on the map."

Ruta Sepetys

#my photos #history #historical fiction #ruta sepetys #i must betray you #books #reading #open books #booklr

[caribeandthebooks]

Caribe's Read Around The World TBR - Part 1

Books set in European countries

#read around the world #read around the world challenge #books set in europe #i must betray you #ruta sepetys #small things like these #claire keegan #cloud cuckoo land #anthony doerr #the sworn virgin #kristopher dukes #the high mountains of portugal #yann martel #daughter of smoke and bone #liani taylor #book tumblr #booklr #bookblr #books #reading #tbr jar #tbr list

[wideeyedreader]

Recently Read: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

3.75 stars!

#i must betray you #ruta sepetys #books #just finished #bookblr #booklr #book blog #book photography #bookblogger

[goldencherriess]

Did I just meet my favourite author?? Yeah, I did!! Let me scream about it really quick-

#Ruta Sepetys is really the best #we chatted for a bit nad took a photo together #she signed my book too #such a bliss 🤧 #brb fangirling right now #ruta sepetys #i must betray you #laura talks

[semper-legens]

53. I Must Betray You, by Ruta Sepetys

Owned: No, library Page count: 287 My summary: Don’t talk. They’re listening to you. Don’t act. They’re watching you. Don’t think. They can read your mind. In Communist Romania, silence is key. But Cristian doesn’t want to stay silent any more. He wants the world to know what is happening in his home, to his people. But risks invite harsh consequences, and soon Cristian finds himself tangled in a web he cannot escape... My rating: 4/5 My commentary:

Here's something I'm not sure I would have picked up had it not been recommended to me by a co-worker. This is one teenager's story of life in Communist Romania towards the end of the 1980s - how bad the conditions were, brainwashing and propaganda from the government, how everyone was incentivised to spy on each other for some minimal profit, that sort of thing. While I ultimately enjoyed the book, I have to say that I thought its morality to not be as complex as I would have liked, and its messaging was particularly unsubtle in a number of ways.

Our protagonist is Cristian, a seventeen year old with big ambitions. He wants to become a writer, but in his home country that kind of thinking is outlawed. People are given their jobs by the state, not encouraged to think or dream or imagine - and naturally, Cristian chafes against that. But when he's blackmailed into becoming an informer for the government, he finds himself between a rock and a hard place; spy and get medicine for his dying grandfather, or refuse and probably be killed. He's a credible protagonist, angry at his place in the world and terrified of the consequences should he fail at anything he is trying to do.

My problem with this book was that it was just too bleak. There were rarely any moments of light to contrast the darkness; alright, that was kind of the point, but it didn't make for the most exciting of reading. The morality, too, was a bit too black and white for me. It seems that every page Cristian is saying something like 'but that's what it's like under Communism, everything is terrible' and yes, I get it, this particular regime in Romania was horrific for so many reasons, but I didn't need that spelled out as obviously as it was. It was almost like Sepetys wasn't sure her reader would be intelligent enough to realise that murder is bad and making people spy on their families is also bad. It also bears saying that Sepetys is not herself Romanian - she's Lithuanian by descent and American by birth. I'm not Romanian either, so I can't exactly fact-check her on this, but in general I'm loathe to take for granted the word of a woman with no connection to the country on their history.

Next up, Tom Hawkins is once again in trouble.

#I Must Betray You #Ruta Sepetys #bookblr #book blog #book blogger #4

[books-and-cookies]

5 SECOND REVIEW

* okay i cried

* i was only one year old when the 1989 revolution occured, but i've heard about it my entire life, through stories from people who were there, my parents and my sister, or in school and college, especially

* i feel incredibly grateful to Ruta for choosing to tell this story of bravery and freedom from a regime so oppressive and tyrannical, that its tendrils still stretch out more than 30 years later

* it's a window into the past of a country that not many people know or care about, and seeing it represented and having part of its story told means incredibly much

* while i'm not a fan of Ruta's writing style, with it's choppy sentences, her heart and compassion seeps through and makes it all worthwhile

* and the fact that 30+ years later, i'm here and i'm able to read this story without fear is a testament to the resilience of the Romanian people

* 5/5⭐️

#booklr #bookblr #book review #book community #i must betray you #ruta sepetys #mary says stuff about

[gatheryepens]

Crying at the end of I must betray you…

#people will ultimately do anything for the people they love #even if it means betraying them #i must betray you #ruta sepetys #gatherreads #gatherbeingbookish

[mkecountyteenbookaward]

This book takes place in 1989 where 17 year old Cristian struggles to be a regular teen in communist Romania. While this book is historical fiction, Cristian feels like a very relatable teen character. I was moved by his struggle to balance family life, friends, and a crush with the responsibilities of being an informer forced on him by a communist government. I Must Betray You is beautifully written and incredibly moving. It is the perfect balance of action packed, suspenseful, and touching. A must read!

#i must betray you #Ruta Sepetys #ya lit #teen read #MCTba #milwaukee county teen book award #historical fiction #suspense