4.5 stars!

This is my second book by Dan Lungu and I already know I'll probably buy and read everything he writes...>..>
I love the way in which he gives voice to his characters..from Ms. Milica, to Mitu, Hleanda, Mr. Relu Covalciuc and, finally, Mr. Costel Spataru....these people...I've met them on the street! in my neighbourhood! 0_0...this is sooo surreal!

Going back to the beginning: we have here a series of stories set in this neighbourhood, on street Salcamilor. We follow both present and past experiences of a selected number of families, all connecting to their vision about the comunist regime in Romania, and more specifically, it's downfall with Ceausescu's death.

As the back description says, we are witnesses to ex-"labour people" in this ghetto from an un-mentioned town, as they now form the "balast" of the new order - the un-employed and those already in retirement...the unwanted.

I don't think I can give you any more details without spoiling these beautifully written stories, but you'll find here humor and sadness, maybe mixed in and impossible to separate if you're like me, a Romanian; you'll find the typical crazy way in which neighbours cannot keep their noses out of your business and try to make them their own :)))); some instances in which everyone agrees that those times were though and not really as worth the pain and suffering as they usually want you to believe...after all, yes, people managed to get by..but at what cost?..; you'll get stereotypes that unfortunately still exist and I'm afraid they'll never go away(looking at you Mr. Costel..>..>); a coffee-bar named "Tractorul Sifonat" :))) and it's clients and owner; and life lessons no-one is too old or too educated to ignore...these stories were bittersweet on so many levels....and, finally, proof of people's pain and hardships during the regime.

This was a spectacular read; Hleanda's words in the night as she searches for food in the middle of the winter through debris; Costel's inner monolog about the lack of understanding in his wife's mind for him, even though he literary doesn't say what's wrong..and how that devolves so quickly...not to mention how familiar that is...; the desire for gossip and excitement; fantasies based on desperation and lack of any means(the mentioning of financial schemes were heartbreaking); ...I cannot believe I actually laughed at this.... 

I highly recommend this! It's a life lesson more than anything..don't judge the simple person next to you...you don't know what he endured, how he was raised and why he got that way with age...

Enjoy