[Books] The Story That Cannot Be Told

[yuuago]

The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer. Finished this one this evening.

It's set in Romania during the dictatorship, shortly before the revolution. The protagonist is Iliana, a girl who loves stories. But she discovers that stories can also be dangerous. After one of her relatives is taken away for writing something criticizing the dictatorship, Iliana is sent to live with her grandparents in the countryside, under the assumption that it might be safer for her there. This assumption is not entirely correct.

This is a book for kids - the intended audience is 8-12 or so. I don't read a lot of kidlit, but I do enjoy it when it's good, and I think this one was pretty good. It handles the mature subject in a way that's sensitive and careful but doesn't talk down to its audience or over-explain things. And the story itself was very enjoyable; Iliana's story alternates with interludes of "her own" stories that she "wrote", folklore-inspired stuff with an action-adventure twist and (of course) herself as the heroine. The characters were pretty great, too, and I really liked Iliana's developing friendships with the people she meets in her grandparents' village.

It's also fanciful - this is not a book that is 100% realism, and a lot of things in it are far-fetched, especially toward the end. But the direction the story takes is roughly what I would expect of kidlit with a young hero, so there is that.

This is the second book I've read for young audiences set in Romania before/during the revolution; the other was I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys, which I also enjoyed quite a bit. But that one is much more grounded in reality, and it's also meant for older audiences - teenagers, I guess you could say it's YA - while The Story That Cannot Be Told is very solidly kidlit.

Anyway, I'm glad I got around to this one. I've been slowly trying to work my way through every work that the library has about/set in Romania, but I wasn't sure how this one would be, since it's slightly outside my usual fare.

Comments

[artificialsatellite]

That sounds super interesting! I read so much historical fiction as a kid and I think that has a lot to do with my eventual interest in studying real history. How many Romania-related books does your library have?

[yuuago]

Ditto - not so much studying history per se, but it contributed to a continued interest in the subject, at least.

The library has roughly 20 books (fiction & non) plus 9 films set in RO. That's much more than I expected, considering where I live.
There's also a handful of vampire romances where the Romania ~Transylvania~ connection appears to be just tacky set-dressing - I guess I'll read those eventually, but probably last, lol.

[hokuton_punch]

Oh, that sounds really interesting! I wonder if I can find a copy to try sometime.

[yuuago]

<3 Hopefully you can track it down, it's pretty good!

[(Anonymous)]

Haha I still find it a bit unreal to hear about foreign writers setting their stories in Romania (as opposed to vampire!Transylvania, that one's old and I got to get used to it). Growing up, nobody foreign seemed to know or care much about the country. I'm kinda curious what they make of it but I have such a huge to-read list already, and many of the things on it are books I'm trying to declutter. Glad you enjoyed these though!

Speaking of - if you're ever interested in a book that I might have easier access to, let me know and I'll try to yeet it your way.
-Scout

[yuuago]

Haaa, not gonna lie occasionally when I'm reading stuff like this, I'm all "I wonder what Scout would think of this one".

The few times I've read things set in places I've lived, the effect has been kind of uncanny valley even when the story was good.

:P

[(Anonymous)]

I bet it would be fun to read a book like this along with you :D I'd probably judge them, not harshly but with enthusiasm :D I haven't been able to experience that uncanny valley effect because most of the things I've read about Romania by foreign authors have been by authors who obviously never set foot here or done proper research (usually much older books) and that brings a different weird feeling. A bit like feeling erased/slightly less real as a person because your experience is replaced by something unrecognizable under the label that was meant to refer to you xD

-Scout