Review: Slice of life behind the Iron Curtain
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 7, 2010
Having read Gabriela Popa's "When the Moon Had Feet," I knew the author could write vividly of life in Romania under communist rule during the Cold War era. In "Kafka's House," Ms. Popa presents a fascinating slice of life of ten-year-old Silvia Marcu's growing-up years in the Romanian village of Bacau in the 1960s.Silvia and her younger sister Mirela have the usual children's adventures and misadventures, and even though they live in an Eastern Bloc country dominated by the Soviet Union, their lives are not so very different from those of children in many other countries. Silvia has her friends from school, her family visits relatives in the country, and she has to deal with the neighborhood bully.The relative peace and calm are shattered, however, in the late 1960s, when the Soviet Union clamped down on individual rights. Romania, which had been one of the least repressive of the Iron Curtain countries, became a virtual police state after the Czechoslovakian uprising in 1968. Silvia's hopes for a pleasant summer camp on the Black Sea are shattered, and her family prepares for the worst as war looms on the horizon."Kafka's House" is a charming look at life in Romania during the Cold War era. Ms. Popa sprinkles traditional Romanian folk tales throughout the book, mostly told by Ana, one of the elderly Lecca sisters who live in Silvia's village.Although the characters in "Kafka's House" are fictional, the novel is at least partly autobiographical, based on the author's own experiences in Romania as a child. I looked up the town of Bacau, and it's a real place.Five stars and highly recommended reading for just about anyone.