I Tried

Book excerpt: The time is 1972 to 1990. The place is communist Romania, one of the satellite states of the almighty-albeit slowly decaying-Soviet Union. I Tried is a collection of stories that reflect the author's life from the tender age of ten through age 28. The 36 tales of street-soccer, beekeeping, abuse, brutality, chases, forced labor, love, secret police informants and revolution present a quilt-like collage of the life in communist Romania, a country ruled by Nicolae Ceausescu, one of the worst dictators of the 20th century. These intimate stories-in turn thrilling, funny, and sad-of everyday life under a communist regime offer the reader a glimpse of an almost unimaginable period of recent history. I Tried will take you on an emotional roller coaster and leave you filled with wonder and disbelief that such events could occur in our modern world.