Bloggers love a controversy, right? So here’s a storm in a teacup for you.
A Romanian orphan (yes, one of those) escapes from horrific abuse at the hands of ‘Mama’ and her cohorts, spends his childhood in the sewers under Bucharest, and is finally rescued by a visiting American aid worker. Safe in the US, he writes an autobiographical novel based on his experiences – the violent deaths of most of his friends at the hands of brutal police, persecution under Ceaucescu’s regime and the supposedly democratic one which replaced it, and revenge murders of family (not his) and the infamous orphanage staff.
The novel is called God’s Buried Children, and it’s on sale on Amazon. Therein the controversy. If you look on Amazon, you’ll see that lots of reviewers have got very hot under the collar because a) they’ve been asked to give the book five stars without being sent a review copy b) they’ve been contacted by email, I guess off Goodreads, and c) the book is poorly written.
One of the reviews is mine. My review says that I like the book a lot – sure, it’s not perfectly written but the writer IS a Romanian with no formal education whatsoever – and I think the cause (proceeds donated to immigrant kids) is worthwhile. It did occur to me when I was reading the book that maybe it’s some kind of con – but the little details you wouldn’t know unless you were there convinced me. The writing could do with editing – but there’s something poetic about it. It isn’t written in the understated Western tradition, but with an eastern European emotionality that I recognise from my Polish and Croatian friends. The author did email me asking for a review, but he didn’t ask for five stars and he did send me a free copy (I bought the book anyway).
So, well, read the book and see what you think. It’s only $3.99 (a small price to pay to be satisfyingly outraged or deeply moved, whichever it is). And by the way, Bucharest’s sewers are still full of third generation descendants of those original orphans – apparently the government’s only response so far is to block the entrances.
butimbeautiful 
Sounds fascinating. Thanks for the review. I’ll need to add to my tumbling list of TBR books. It does sound it will be illuminating. ❤
It is illuminating. I’ve been to Eastern Europe (as far as Budapest) and can well believe government is not very sympathetic even nowadays to the plight of the homeless. I often wondered what became of those orphans…anyway, if you get round to reading it, see what you think.
Eastern european emotionality sounds right. Though a polish girl I know linked some trad music her dad played and it was kind of silly or zany. But anyway will give the book a look sounds unusual at least.
Yeah, they tend to go overboard on the big passions – total opposite to Aussies, who underplay everything. But that doesn’t mean it’s trite.
Too bad the book got so caught up in a marketing battle. Those one-star reviews are pretty harsh. But then again, so is living under the sewers of Bucharest. How very sad.
I think that the author didn’t have a good understanding of the norms of seeking reviews, and got trounced because of that. An alternative view is that he did and was just trying to play on people’s sympathies – but I’d go with the view that he and his wife Mariana are just understandably a little naive (and as a naive bumbler myself I have a lot of sympathy with that). I get tired of people getting indignant about things that (to me) really don’t matter in the scheme of things.
Seemingly, all to often we expect everything to be “polished” rather than seeing through to the story…
Yeah, absolutely, and you do have to make allowances for a man who has grown up in the sewers of Romania, in terms of English language expression. Maybe he doesn’t know anybody with the skills or willingness to edit his story – but in any case, it’s a powerful and tragic story and I feel people should see through to that. I actually do think it’s quite well written in its own way.
“a small price to pay to be satisfyingly outraged or deeply moved, whichever it is,” speaks truth. We can all decide and go from there. Thanks for sharing this.
thanks Renee!
You highlight one of the dilemmas of the internet. How do you verify stuff? Gut instincts.
You can’t really, but I always go by the ‘what’s lost, what’s gained’ principle, ie if it’s a con you’ve lost $3, if it’s not you’ve gained a powerful insight into a different life plus helped some immigrant kids.
This book sounds fascinating, and I feel like the “poorly written” aspect of it causes it to be an even more genuine experience for the reader.
It is fascinating, and I do think it’s well written in its way (otherwise I wouldn’t have said so in the review). I think the author has talent but just faces that difficulty of translating his thoughts into a foreign language, which he would have learned as an adult.