Romania

Set in Romania during Ceausescu's rule. It tells the story of a group of young university graduates coping in an atmosphere of fear and paranoia.

This was hard going. The writing sytle is unusual and you really need to concentrate on every word and it was quite easy to miss something important.

The whole book reads like a dream.

It is a drag to read. There are too many characters to keep track of, too many metaphors and hidden meanings. This is not a very approachable book and not a fun read.

به نحوی فانتزی و با دیدی خاص زندگی چند نفر رو که در رژیم توتالیتر جنگ سرد زندگی میکنند رو تصویر کرده و سرموشت هرکسی رو با توجه به راهی که پیش میگیره نشون میده. سرنوشت و زندگی همه سرد و تاریکه. توصیه نمیکنم که بخونین.

A friend was clearing out some things for charity and this included books - I was having a sift through, keeping some for myself and when she saw me pick up this one, she said something along the lines of "oh, I didn't like that one, it was all post-modern where you don't really know what was going on" but this did the opposite of deterring me!

It would be wrong to say that I enjoyed this book. The subject matter - life under a totalitarian regime is not really enjoyable material. There is death from the start and through to the end. Muller uses repeated symbolic, poetic imagery that is at once powerful and sometimes confusing. For me, it echoed nicely the hidden language that critics of the regime had to use to protect themselves. But also, the metaphors and time shifts also reflect the stressful confused fear of living under such a regime where you never know who to trust and what might happen each day.

This is a truly great book that lingers and one I will certainly come back to again.

Beautifully written with prose that turns poetic.

از متن كتاب:

مرگ ترزا قلبم را جريحه دار كرد. مثل آن بود كه دو سر دارم، كه بهم مى خورند: يكى پُر از سبزه هاى عشق و ديگرى ساقه هاى نفرت. دلم مى خواست سبزه هاى عشق، به بلندى سابق شوند. آن دو، همانند سبزه و ساقه سربريده، قد مى كشيدند و در هم مى تنيدند و يخ زده بر روى پيشانيم مى نشستند. اين همان گياهِ خِنگِ لعنتى من بود.

La vita sotto la dittatura: perdita del sè, abiezione, morte, esilio quando va bene.
La trasformazione di ciascuno, che sia amimo o familiare, in spia, la calunnia e l'oltraggio eletti a sistema.
Il tentativo di essere se stessi nonostante il sistema, le calze di nylon, il trucco e la parrucchiera come unici momenti di umanità.

A group of Romanian students suffer interrogation and abuse at the hands of the government.

Didn't understand a single thing that was going on in the entire book.