A view

This is the most beautiful view in Cluj-Napoca.

Anyway, for me it is the most beautiful. It was only after a while that I found out that it was no coincidence to hear the Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 while I was walking in the city centre. When the clock in The City Hall's Tower strikes on the minute, every hour, the first tunes of the rhapsody are heard. It's absolutely wonderful!

Adelin Petrișor – The Country With Only One Fat Man

I was only 6 years old in 1989, when the Communist regime fell. I was too young to have had a rightful opinion. I only have dim memories about bottles of milk and high metallic pallets they transported the bottles with. And something else. It had a certain significance, giving the fact that I was a child. Chocolate was a rare gem, and so I remember the craving; also, the first banana I have ever eaten was unripe (even though my parents left some onto the closet to ripe). Maybe this is an explanation to the fact that even today I tend to eat bananas while they are still green, finding them to be more tasteful than the ripe ones.

Back then, I had no idea about the word Communism. It was void of meaning. But I do remember the day the Ceausescu couple fled in a helicopter. My mom asked me to come home, fearing the terrorists. Another void word. I could not grasp what could have happened that was so serious or who were those terrorists, when I was busy playing hide-and-seek with my neighbors. 

Still, the will to clarify all that came back to me over the years. It’s hard to understand something you have never lived. But there are ways. One can watch documentaries, read books. And all of this for no one else but yourself, if you do want to understand things. 

The book RequiemFor Fools And Beasts of the great writer Augustin Buzura helped me to better understand a time I have not lived. Just like the documentary regarding the children of the decree of 1966 did.

Adelin Petrișor’s book helped me understand other aspects of the Romanian Communism, even though the book is about the Communism in North Korea. Moreover, the book raises a signal. And it has two directions. What could have happened if the revolution of 1989 had not occurred. And what could happen if we, as a people, should give once more the power to a person craving for dictatorship.

Adelin Petrișor’s narrative style is simple. He says what he means by using straightforward words, being focused on only sending his clear message out there. This is what I always liked about Mr. Petrișor’s documentaries. 

I warmly recommend reading this book. Not for the sake of the past, nor for the sake of the present; but for a future we picture to be anything but grey. 

Emmanuel Carrère – The Adversary

Our innate need to understand, to find explanations for certain deeds of our peers cannot be denied. Murder?! Well, we are fascinated by detective stories, bizarre cases, crime motives, the psychology of the murderer and many more regarding the darkest side of our spirit. We want to understand. We are certain that any puzzle may be solved. ‘The Adversary’ is based on a real case, and the writer masterly describes testimonies, proofs, details from the trial and his own questions regarding the case.

Contrary to other similar novels from the genre, we know from the very start the murderer’s identity. The crime is briefly described at the beginning of the book, we are then led to the past, and gradually we are brought closer and closer to the crime, to the trial, to the court’s decision, and the tranquility after it. I must admit that I looked for any crumbs of humanity related to the murderer in any of the parts mentioned above. It was impossible for me not to hope until the very last page for an explanation that could make sense, that could put an end to the rising fear and reassure me that such cases are accidents or events that could be prevented, in a way or another.

I was deeply touched by the last sentences, the writer’s reflections. There is an adversary in any common thing around us, as there is an adversary within any of us. Is it being led by us or is just fooling us by making us believe we control it?!