Customer Reviews

The Return

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I would like to thank Petru Popescu for writing this book and for so openly sharing his experiences of, and feelings about, life in Romania. Having several Romanian friends and acquaintances, Popescu's book filled in a lot of blanks for me, and answered questions that have sometimes proven much too painful for my friends to answer. I have researched Romania's communist and recent history fairly extensively in the course of my work, and have not come across anything that has been as informative on a personal level as The Return. Other reviewers here have noted that Popescu comes across as a bit full of himself. I agree. On page 220 he notes that his wife, whom he obviously loves very much, has been "imprinted by motherhood, but (is) still thin." (If my husband paid me a compliment like that, I would throw all of his clothes out on the lawn. Who "imprinted" her, exactly? ) He also informs the reader that he is talented, published, filmed, televised, well-known, flies first class, owns a Mercedes, resides in the 90210 zip code, and has enjoyed many a sexual escapade to boot. While Popescu may lack modesty and his womanizing may strike some readers as a bit disturbing, this book is worth reading. Popescu has spared nothing in displaying the details of his humanity both within and apart from communism. It is a story that should be heard.

The images are vivid and many lives are captured in Popescu's book. We find in his 'return' the return we must all make.

Petru Popescu was apparently viewed as a writer in Romania much as Jackie Susann, whom he dismisses as "trash," is viewed in the US. Romanians who lived through the Ceaucescu and Iliescu years will not be taken in by Mr. Popescu's posturing, self-aggrandizement, and embellishments. The writing style is stilted and harsh, reflecting the author's former career as a tool for a corrupt and out-of-control government. The text contains many language and spelling errors that should have been corrected by an editor. This book was a very difficult read. Its value is in some of the descriptions of day to day life in Communist Romania, which most people cannot imagine. A far superior book -- both in style and accuracy -- is "The Hole in the Flag" by Andrei Codrescu, another Romanian ex-patriate who presents a compelling history and memoir without the personal puffery.

There were two components of this book that decreased its emotional impact and its potential i.e. : (1) its easy going American Apple Pie style and (2) the time spent on wallpapering personal insecurity with self accomplishment. Here is a man who is trying to put his Self together after living through the mental aberrations as well as the physical and spiritual confinement of Communism. Moreover, first he has inherited, into his very 'genetic' makeup, the ghost of Romania past ( its senseless barbarism, its deviant Fascism, its glorious struggle, its bickering and Balkan feuding, its honor and genteel socialization) transferred through stories from his relatives & their personal family history, second he has had to attain his manhood in a dysfunctional family and third, after defection to & wanderings in the garden of the American dream, he marries the post war daughter of Shoah survivors. All these elements are set with a backdrop of Romanians who, as a people/culture, cannot look truths in the eye and seek redemption. A setting for a tale of character development and self discovery par excellence! So much for potential! If one mentally subtracts the 'style' and the 'wallpaper' impediments out of this book then one is left with a picture of Romania the country/the people, the day to day impact of Communism, the scary banality of tyranny & evil and the subsequent process of deifying the tyrant. Food for thought! Food for thought! I only wish I could also have had the tale of personal redemption too!