Michael Dickson is a former newspaper editor in US, God bless him, he likes my style.
The Pigs' Slaughter is an autobiography that covers those fast days around Christmas of that year. Florin Grancea was 14 years old, and he was a very sharp boy. And he's now a very sharp man, and a very good writer, especially when you consider that English is not his native tongue. He is self-taught, and he's a great teacher. He learned well and he has a wonderfully personal English style.
This book is short (150 pages) and moves quickly. The technique is fascinating. The story jumps between two events, first one, then the other, rapidly with hardly a break. The first is that his family was going through the traditional preparations for a Romanian Christmas. And while doing this, they were watching the revolution on their ancient television. One moment we're awaiting the Christmas carolers, and watching the food preparations which included the slaughter and butchering of a pig.
Then people are being shot on live TV amid rampant confusion, and Grancea is providing historical background from the future, specifically from Japan where he now lives with his family. It's all threaded together in a fascinating and imaginative way. Of special interest is how the dictator and his wife were finally shot to death, more pigs slaughtered.
Excellent book, also available on Kindle.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, March 7, 2011
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Michael Dickson "To improve is to change. To ... (Patzcuaro, Michoacan, Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Pigs' Slaughter (Paperback)
During the tumultuous times in the late 1980s when the Soviet Empire was coming unglued and the Berlin Wall was falling, revolution also came to the Communist country of Romania, which had been ruled since 1965 by Nicolae Ceausescu and his nasty wife Elena, especially Elena. The Pigs' Slaughter is an autobiography that covers those fast days around Christmas of that year. Florin Grancea was 14 years old, and he was a very sharp boy. And he's now a very sharp man, and a very good writer, especially when you consider that English is not his native tongue. He is self-taught, and he's a great teacher. He learned well and he has a wonderfully personal English style.
This book is short (150 pages) and moves quickly. The technique is fascinating. The story jumps between two events, first one, then the other, rapidly with hardly a break. The first is that his family was going through the traditional preparations for a Romanian Christmas. And while doing this, they were watching the revolution on their ancient television. One moment we're awaiting the Christmas carolers, and watching the food preparations which included the slaughter and butchering of a pig.
Then people are being shot on live TV amid rampant confusion, and Grancea is providing historical background from the future, specifically from Japan where he now lives with his family. It's all threaded together in a fascinating and imaginative way. Of special interest is how the dictator and his wife were finally shot to death, more pigs slaughtered.
Excellent book, also available on Kindle.
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