Review: Out of the Box
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 15, 2014
Gabriela Popa's writing is refreshingly beautiful, achingly universal, and somewhat spiritual. Popa writes this story from 10-year-old Sylvia Marcu's perspective about childhood in communist Romania in the 60s on the eve of change. Popa's personal experience informs this fictionalized historical novel.Through the eyes of a child, we see what the child deems as important--what the freedoms and limitations of daily life are. In no way does the author draw sympathy from the reader, forcing us to see how communism may have robbed the children of their childhood. Instead, what Popa allows us to do through Sylvia is see the kindness, compassion, confusion, exploration, dreams and choices we have outside the box."Outside the box" describes Kafka's house. Franz Kafka is a real person, a German-language fiction author fro the late 1800s, early 1900s. When Sylvia visits this writer's abode, she realizes that the fantastical stories that Kafka wrote transcended his tiny home. In that way, she relates to him. That gem of wisdom is what I took from this book: We are only limited by our boxes--the ones we carry around in our heads. As authors, no one can unpack this box but us. We are responsible for delivering our work.Gabriela Popa delivered. Needless to say, I highly recommend this work.No, I won't say more or else I would spoil it for you.