Cristian attempted to explain how he came into possession of the American one dollar note but his story was ignored. At school, he was called into the director’s office and a Securitate agent informed him that he was being apprehended for committing a crime against the state, exchanging foreign currency. At the outset of the novel, the narrator was living in a one bedroom apartment with his parents, sister, and grandfather. Ruta Sepetys’s first person narrative, I Must Betray You, follows the life of Cristian Florescu as he comes of age in communist controlled Romania. This tense, riveting thriller captures life in Bucharest in the weeks leading up to the 1989 uprising that ousted Ceaușescu from office, illuminating the physical and psychological cruelty of his oppressive regime and the courage of citizens demanding freedom.The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Sepetys, Ruta. Interspersed with the staccato-paced, first-person, present-tense narrative are top secret State Security reports, giving readers insight into the danger Cristian is in. But Cristian, who writes his thoughts and dreams in a secret journal he hides in the closet where he sleeps, thinks he can outwit the Securitate, even as he begins to wonder if there are greater threats than he realized right within his home. Having grown up under the brutal Ceauşescu regime, Cristian knows there are spies and informers everywhere now he is one of them. Wise, funny Bunu is the most important person in Cristian’s life: He shares his opinions about the government even though the family knows their cramped apartment in Bucharest is bugged, like those of all their neighbors. Cristian hates himself for agreeing to spy on the 17-year-old son of the American diplomat his mother works for, but the Securitate officer has promised much-needed medicine for Bunu, Cristian’s beloved grandfather, who has leukemia.
When 17-year-old Cristian Florescu is called to his school office and confronted by a member of the Romanian secret police, the Securitate officer tells Cristian that he and his family won’t be punished for the illegal American dollar Cristian possesses if he’s willing to become an informer.
0 kommentar(er)
