Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

20 reviews

arthomas's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Torture, Chronic illness, Excrement, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Panic attacks/disorders, and War

dale_in_va's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Felt real and touching.  Kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next.  Truly a YA book because it centers on a High Schooler...part of me wishes that there was more insight into the college age people of the era, but I guess I will have to read another book for that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Violence and Gun violence

Minor: Gun violence, Death, Torture, War, and Violence

mformato's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An exciting and fast paced story. I had no predictions for anything because it was full of twists and turns. I enjoyed being able to see inside of history, Sepetys really cares about accuracy in her literature. To know that the living conditions of this story were real is heartbreaking. I also like how the story wraps around if you go back to the prologue after reading the end.

Not a full five stars because of personal reasons. I felt like there was a lot of telling rather than showing in the beginning. Also Cristian felt a little too American for the story. Plot points happened a bit too much out of convenience.

But overall I enjoyed the story and would recommend the book to someone who enjoys reading about revolutions, noir, and an undying spirit of hope in a hopeless land.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Stalking, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Blood, Child abuse, Classism, Death, War, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Murder, Terminal illness, Violence, Gaslighting, and Grief

silver_lining_in_a_book's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 

Paradise: If communism is Paradise, why do we need barriers, walls, and laws to keep people from escaping?

Like any of Ruta Sepetys' books, I Must Betray You is a masterpiece of historical fiction and should serve as a reminder to other historical fiction authors of the responsibility they have to accurately and honestly portray the experiences of people who have lived through the true historical events. This specific story was very close to my heart as one side of my family is Romanian and had to live through the oppressive communist regime that suffocated many different nations and communities.

How could we expect others to feel our pain or hear our cries for help when all we could do was whisper?

I was a little disappointed when at the start of this book as the dry writing style and the slow, uneventful nature of the book grated on me. It did not quite feel like the previous books I have read from this author, but I do think this served a purpose. It put me in the mind of Cristian, our protagonist, and the muted, grey atmosphere he was constantly living in. The beginning feels cold, dull and suffocating because that is very much what life under Ceausescu was like.

Good luck comes at a price. Bad luck is free.

The more I read, the more I fell in love with these characters, who felt real and - more notably - absolutely terrified. The nagging sensation that you were being spied on, monitored and manipulated was a constant and Sepetys captured it so well. The entire scope of the story is not visible to the reader - not even having reached the end of the book - and that is so representative of the lack of clarity and closure that many Romanians had to deal with following Romania's fight for independence.

An old woman is fast asleep when she hears a knock at the door.
Who is it? she whispers, terrified.
It is death, the voice answers.
Oh, good. I thought it might be the Securitate.

The interactions in this book were so human, which was what really stood out for me. People were not fighting or dreaming of a better life, they were simply doing the best that they could to survive. It is important to note that this novel is intended for a younger audience than myself, so certain parts of the book did feel a little bit simplified or sugar-coated to allow for these readers to digest the information. I would love to have seen a more in-depth exploration of this period in time, but - for what Sepetys intended - I think this book was successful.

As the saying goes, better to die standing than live kneeling.

I do not think that this book is perfect. I think there are some issues with the characterisation of certain characters, its pacing and how easily certain issues are brushed over. However, I do think that it is very important. The longer I sit with this book, the more I feel that it has had a profound impact on me -- I feel like I am living in 1989 Romania and I can feel the fear and paranoia that many of my family members experienced. I am incredibly grateful to Ruta Sepetys for creating this work of art; it is a time period and a people that do not get as much consideration and attention as they deserve.

You’re wrong. They steal our power by making us believe we don’t have any. They’re controlling us through our own fear.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Confinement, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Kidnapping, and War

Moderate: Sexism, Addiction, Grief, Alcohol, and Police brutality

Minor: Vomit, Animal cruelty, and Xenophobia

aphrochilds's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, and Emotional abuse

heidifuglevand's review

emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Blood, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Vomit, War, Death, and Stalking

theliteraryagenda's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Violence

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Grief, Gun violence, Death, and Emotional abuse

Most of the gore and violence content comes in the last half of the book, once the revolution begins. It is easy to skim over if necessary.

nairam1173's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A masterful book. This is what historical fiction should be: a door to the unseen and forgotten, and a reminder of how human they were, and how human we are.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Excrement, War, and Grief

kimveach's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a fascinating story of Romania in the late 1980s under the dictatorship of Ceausescu.  Under Ceausescu's system, many people became informers.  It was a country where no one could be trusted, including your friends and family.  We've heard about the orphanages, but this young adult story tells more about what happened to the rest of the people living there.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Torture, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Genocide, War, Cancer, Child abuse, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Terminal illness, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

mattythebookworm22's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship