Recomandari despre editia engleza a cartii „Train to Trieste” de Domnica Radulescu

„This vivid debut novel
[is] alive with the youthful awareness of the texture of the old world, the
world left behind-in this case, Romania. Mona is just 17 when she falls in love
with her „green-eyed mountain boy,” Mihai. The adult world-Ceausescu’s government,
secret police, parents in political peril-is closing in on them both. But for
one beautiful summer, it’s linden trees and vodka made from fermented plums and
stars and mountains and raspberries. . . . Drink in the gorgeous scenery, the
Carpathians, Bucharest, the dark forests. Suspend all cynicism and believe in
the possibility of this love story.” 

–Susan Salter Reynolds, Los
Angeles Times

 „Like the heroine of her
debut novel, Domnica Radulescu escaped from
Romania in the early 1980s, studied literature at the University of Chicago,
and is a smart, sensitive, passionate, and beautiful woman. Hungry for love and
life, 17-year-old Mona falls deeply in love with Mihai. But living in Communist
Romania, where everyone is suspicious of everyone else, she is unsure of who he
is. . . . Despite her constant fears, she cannot stay out of his bed. But when
her father is directly threatened and her own life is in danger, [Mona] is
encouraged to flee the country. . . . She eventually arrives in Chicago . . . [Years
later,] after her marriage ends and the Ceausescus are murdered in a bloody
revolution, she returns to her homeland to find out who her first and only
love, Mihai, really was. Radulescu?s novel, sprung from an autobiographical
impulse, powerfully combines the intensity of first love, the confusion of
politics, and the melancholy of exile.” 

–Barbara Fisher, Boston
Sunday Globe

„Deeply moving and deeply
felt. . . . An unforgettable story that introduces a new and astonishingly
fresh voice.”

–Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs
of a Geisha 

„A coming of age story, a
struggle for political integrity and female identity, a wonderful love story –
the book engages us on many levels. 

–Bernhard Schlink, author of THE READER
and HOMECOMING 

„I never thought I’d have
cause to refer to life behind the Iron Curtain as „magnificent” or „evocative,” but there’s a first time for everything. Train to Trieste is Domnica Radulescu’s debut, and it’s a sweeping,
gorgeous book about a young woman’s quest for freedom and safety in
Soviet-ruled Romania during the late 1970s. Mona Maria Manoliu is 17, beautiful
and has a boyfriend, Mihai, who adores her. [But] Romania is in the throes of
Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist reign, political dissidents (Mona’s father is
one) are being arrested or killed every day . . . Mona lives in constant fear
that her father’s contraband typewriter will be found in its hiding place in
the oven, or worse, that Mihai himself will be revealed as a member of the
secret police. Eventually, the only thing left to do is escape. Mona – alone,
bereft, terrified and without saying goodbye to Mihai – turns up briefly in
Trieste, moves on to Rome, and finally reaches Chicago, where she begins her
life as a refugee. . . . When a cousin visits from Romania and dredges up
memories of the past, Mona knows she must return to her homeland, to find Mihai
and learn the truth. Every page in this elegant, sophisticated novel drips with
detail, from the bittersweet taste of walnut preserves to the sheen of the
mahogany wardrobe where a young Mona hides, wondering if it will ever be safe
to come out.”

–Tiffany Lee-Youngren,?The
San Diego Union-Tribune

„I was swept away by Domnica Radulescu’s debut novel. It’s at once a
haunting journey to a faraway country, beautiful and terrifying, and an odyssey
straight to the heart of a young girl and the remarkable woman she becomes.
Deeply moving and deeply felt, Train to Trieste is an unforgettable
story that introduces a new and astonishingly fresh voice.”

–Arthur Golden, author of Memoirs
of a Geisha

„A spirited, passionate,
funny look at the world in the time of the new millennium. Domnica Radulescu is a remarkable writer enriching
American letters with her Romanian perspective. We are lucky to call her ours.”

–Sandra Cisneros, author
of The House on Mango Street

„Richly poetic . . . Mona,
an impulsive Bucharest teen, falls in love with Mihai, a boy from the
mountains. He?s just lost his longtime girlfriend to a violent accident, and
Mona?s drawn to the rawness of his grieving. Her youth in Romania is a flurry
of sensual pleasures, despite the fear and want endemic to life under a
Stalinist regime. . . . Though Mona grapples with secret police and with
scarcity, her evocations of the pleasures of youth and love are indomitably
joyous, almost synesthetic in their sensuality. . . . Mona’s story spins out
over years, as she builds an American life that?s forever overshadowed by the
one she left behind. Fittingly, the novel ends in Romania, on her first trip
back. Radulescu beautifully evokes the timelessness of spaces, as Mona?s
middle-aged self attempts to fit into landscapes she moved in as a young woman.
The book’s final pages raise as many questions as they answer, but Radulescu is
happy to leave something to the imagination.”

–Melissa Albert, Time
Out Chicago

„A must-read thriller.
Radulescu writes with intensity and urgency and pulls readers along with her
first-person account of escape, survival and love. . . . Mona Manoliu is a
student and blossoming beauty of 17 when she meets Mihai while vacationing in
the beautiful foothills of the Carpathians. Radulescu’s descriptions of this
region speak volumes about her intimate knowledge of her home country. Innocent
love risks discovery back home in Bucharest as Mona?s father pursues hidden
agendas, and even best friends are suspected enemies. Savagery and starvation
prevail as Ceausescu and cohorts bleed the country of food and money. Mona?s family
urges her to flee . . . [After living in America for years,] Mona makes the
return to her homeland and her first love. What she finds is a revelation that
is both unsettling and satisfying. Mona Manoliu lives her life in rapid,
staccato bursts of action and emotion. Readers will page through her adventures
with precisely the same feelings.”

–Barbara Dickinson, The
Roanoke Times (October 12, 2008)

„Unique . . . Like an oven
on fire, with a typewriter and love letters, Train to Trieste bursts
forward with a novel definition of woman, family, and instantaneous decision.
Mona Maria Manoliu is a protagonist who captivates through sheer boldness and
endless adventure. [She is also] a feisty woman who is in love during dangerous
political divisions. . . . Daring with words, Radulescu narrates the political
tensions that Ceausescu throws upon Bucharest and Romania. . . . The power of
now, the necessity of the present, and a woman’s decisive intuition explode
from every page.”

?Kimberly Gilmour, Seven
Times (September 10, 2008)

„It’s a long way from
Romania to Lexington [Virginia], but Domnica
Radulescu has made the transition with grace. . . . Train to Trieste
tells the story of Mona Manoliu, who’s 17 when the story begins in the late
1970s. A relationship with a young man she comes to believe is a member of
Romania’s secret police makes her flee to America via Italy. Years later, she
returns to Romania and discovers the truth. More than a coming-of-age story,
the novel is an exploration of a brutal regime and the new life Mona finds in
the United States. Radulescu is a Virginia author with a fresh perspective who
gives voice to both her native and adoptive lands.”

–Jay Strafford, Richmond
Times-Dispatch (August 31, 2008)

„True love is hard to
find, but it?s priceless?a lesson it takes feisty and vivacious Mona Manoliu
decades to learn. A 17-year-old student in late 1970s Romania, Mona has fallen
hard for the charismatic Mihai, whom she meets when summering with her family
in the foothills of the Carpathians. Back home in Bucharest, her father pursues
clandestine activities, and the family barely eats, but Mona is starry-eyed
about Mihai?until she sees him in a black leather jacket, the favored outfit of
the secret police, and encounters a crazed woman who asks her whether she
really knows who he is. Then her family persuades her to flee to the West, and
she?s off to America via Italy via Bucharest. Years later, Mona returns to
Romania and discovers the truth about Mihai?a revelation that, against all
expectations, is both startling and satisfying. . . . Engaging, evocative,
intensely sensual, and sharply perceptive, conveying both the horrors of the
Ceausescu regime and the ironies of Mona?s experiences in America. A strong
first novel.”

–Barbara Hoffert, Library
Journal

„A page turner: I read Train
to Trieste with multitudinous gasps of delight, breathlessly and quickly.”

–Andrei Codrescu, author
of The Blood Countess and commentator, „All Things Considered”

„Startling . . . a
passionate narrative, intertwining political and love intrigues in the most
thrilling ways. Train to Trieste is seductive and suspenseful,
shimmering with linguistic brilliance and marvelous images.  Lovers seem
to be spies, and informants fall in love, in this story full of intelligence
and beauty.”

–Josip Novakovich, author
of April Fool’s Day

„Magnificent . . .
Dominica Radulescu writes the incredible journey of seventeen-year-old Mona
Manoliu and her struggles with the basic need for a woman?love?in a time of
hunger, fear, and death. . . . The resolution [of Mona’s story], although
shocking and riveting, brings a satisfaction and happiness; the true mark of a
great writer. This was perhaps one of the most touching stories that I
have ever read. The sensuous language and the artistry, in which the words are
woven to tell the tale of Mona, connected me greatly with the character. I felt
her love, passion, and anguish throughout the story. . . . I felt a great
connection to [Radulescu], as if she were speaking to me, almost in a luring way.
Enchanting and beautiful, at the same time chaotic and strong, Mona was a girl
that I could envision and almost touch as if she were real. Train to Trieste
[is] fantastic in every way, I just simply loved it.”

–Beatriz C., Bookdivas.com (October 2008) 

A conversation with Domnica Radulescu on the site of the Centre for Romanian Studies led by Constantin Roman can be read at:

http://www.romanianstudies.org/content/2011/05/conversation-with-domnica-radulescu-romanian-american-academic-and-novelist/