i must betray you

 

Bibliography

Sepetys, R. (2022). I must betray you. Philomel Books.

ISBN: 978-1984836038

Plot Summary

Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe in the year of 1989. Cristian Florescu is a seventeen-year-old Romanian who dreams of becoming a writer. The dictator, Nicolas Ceausescu bound all of Romania with rules, starvation, and force. Cristian is blackmailed by the police to become an informer. He gives himself the courage to look at solutions to his circumstances. He can betray everyone and everything he loves or use this position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe. Cristian will risk everything to show the world the truth of what is happening in his country. He will join the revolution to fight for change, but with all choices, there will be costs.

Critical Analysis

Trust no one.

Tell no one

Spies are everywhere.

I must betray you by Ruth Sepetys is a historical fiction novel that will have you question all the characters' behaviors and motives. Readers step into a world where trust is a weapon, truth is forbidden, and betrayal becomes a means of survival. 

It is set during the final months of the communist regime of Ceaușescu. We can see daily life through the eyes of a seventeen-year-old Cristian. Each of these characters plays an important role that Cristian mentions several times in the story. Their behaviors represent the different ways people respond to fear. We saw submission from his mother, defiance from his grandfather, hope for the future from his sister, and quiet from his father. These friends bring in their own symbolism. Luca brings innocence and loyalty, and Liliana brings integrity. 

The whole theme of the story is betrayal, but it is more than just between friends and family. There are also societal and systemic betrayals. The government betrays its people by controlling the truth. The people betray one another out of fear and survival. Cristian befriends an American boy, and this is where he sees the truth in what his Buno is trying to tell him. He starts to see that the world does not know what is happening. The world was being censored with what they knew about Romania. Cristian decides to write his story, the truth, uncensored, as his act of rebellion against the oppression. 

This ‌plays into Sepetys’s writing style. There were short chapters, which I felt increased the unease and made the reader feel the short amount of time that decisions had to be made. The journal entries showed the struggle and repression of expressing themselves. 

This story leaves you seeing that the ‌struggle for truth and justice is no easy task. The ending is bittersweet, and you can feel the slow growth Cristian is making and how he is trying to keep that freedom of truth to continue in the next generation of students. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to learn a little about history that is rarely talked or taught about.  

Review Excerpts

As educational as it is thrilling...[T]he power of I Must Betray You [is] it doesn’t just describe the destabilizing effects of being spied on; it will make you experience them too.” –New York Times Book Review

★ "Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Compulsively readable and brilliant." –Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Sepetys once again masterfully portrays a dark, forgotten corner of history." –Booklist, starred review

Awards and Recognitions

• Carnegie Medal Winner – Readers’ Choice

• Josette Frank Award for Fiction

• Joan F. Kaywell Books Save Lives Award

• YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults

• The Children’s Book Council Teacher Favorites Selection

• Junior Library Guild Gold Selection

• ALSC Notable Children’s Book

• CCBC Choices Selection

• Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year

• School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

• Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year

• NPR Best Books of the Year

• Kirkus Best Books of the Year

• Boston Globe Best Books of the Year

• Irish Times Best Books of the Year

• Amazon Best Books of the Year

• New York Public Library Best Books of the Year

• Goodreads Choice Award Finalist

• Cybils Award for Young Adult Fiction Finalist

State Awards & Honors:

• Alabama – Yellowhammer Young Adult Book Award Finalist

• Alaska – Pacific Northwest Library Young Reader’s Choice Award Finalist

• Arizona – Grand Canyon Reader Award Finalist

• Arkansas – Teen Book Award Finalist

• California – California Young Reader Medal Winner

• Colorado – Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award Finalist

• Connecticut – Nutmeg Book Award Finalist

• Delaware – Delaware Diamonds Award Finalist

• District of Columbia – Capitol Choices Book List

• Florida – Florida Teens Read Finalist

• Georgia – Georgia Peach Book Award Winner

• Idaho – Young Reader’s Choice Award Finalist

• Illinois – Abraham Lincoln High School Award Finalist, Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Finalist

• Indiana – Eliot Rosewater High School Book Award

• Indiana – Young Hoosier Book Award Finalist

• Iowa – Iowa Teen Book Award Finalst

• Kentucky – Kentucky Blue Grass Book Award Winner

• Louisiana – Louisiana Teen Readers’ Choice Award Finalist

• Maine – Northstar Young Adult Book Award Winner

• Maryland – Black Eyed Susan Book Award Winner

• Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award Finalist

• Michigan – Green Lakes Book Award Finalist

• Mississippi – Magnolia Award Finalist

• Missouri – Gateway Readers Award Honor

• New Hampshire – Flume Teen Reader’s Choice Book Award Winner

• New Mexico – Land of Enchantment Black Bear Book Award Winner

• North Carolina – NCSLMA Middle School Award Finalist

• Oklahoma – Seqouya Book Award Finalist

• Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award Winner

• Rhode Island – Rhode Island Teen Book Award Finalist

• South Carolina – SCASL Young Adult Book Award Winner

• South Dakota – Teen Choice Award Finalist

• Tennessee – Volunteer State Book Award Finalist

• Texas – Tayshas State List & Lone Star State List

• Utah – Beehive Book Award Finalist

• Washington – Evergreen Teen Book Award Finalist

• Wisconsin – Battle of the Books List Selection

• Wyoming – Soaring Eage Book Award Winner

• International Awards

• Japan – Sakura Medal Winner

• Japan – IBBY Translation Honor

Connections

My main focus would be to have students research other countries that struggled with the freedom of truth. I would want to see how they would tie it in. Would they pick the civil rights movement or the Red Scare? Some many things could be tied into what could be the freedom of truth. Leaving it open-ended makes students think and research, which would be great to work with the librarian for this activity.