Bottled Goods

May 15, 2020
A young married couple struggles to survive Ceaușescu's Romania. Alina and Liviu's marriage has begun to disintegrate. It's the 1970s, and they live in a small Romanian town; Ceaușescu rules the country, which is gripped by suspicion and fear. When Liviu's brother defects to the West, the couple falls under increasing scrutiny, and Alina finds herself forced to entertain a Secret Services agent every Tuesday afternoon. This short debut novel, by a Romanian writer who lives in Germany, is narrated in even shorter chapters that skip around in time and point of view. The chapters are as brief and intense as flashes of lightning in a storm. So is van Llewyn's prose. "I can see no point in sharing a bed with Liviu," she writes, from Alina's perspective, "if all I do is turn my back to him, wincing at his smell of alcohol." Some chapters take the form of lists, like an early one strikingly titled "How To Attract (Unwanted) Attention From the Communist Authorities." For the most part, van Llewyn's experiments with the novel's form work well. The only moments where she falters are when she dips toward a magical realism that winds up feeling, because it occurs so scarcely, like an afterthought, and not an entirely necessary one. Read as a whole, though, the novel is a strikingly original work. Taut, searing, and sharp, van Llewyn's novel is a lyrical jewel.

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June 1, 2020
In 1970, Alina and her husband, Liviu, live Romania under the regime of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. As a newlywed, Alina, a teacher, struggles to find balance between what's expected of her as a wife and her desires and ambitions. Her situation is further strained by a complicated relationship with her overbearing, unyielding mother, and she often turns to her Aunt Theresa, long estranged from her mother, for guidance. Alina and Liviu's lives are irrevocably changed after Liviu's brother defects to France, which places the couple under growing, suspicious surveillance by the government and those around them. This scrutiny intensifies after Alina turns a blind eye to one of her young student's transgressions, triggering increasingly harrowing one-on-one visits from a secret services agent. When Alina and Liviu begin to make plans to flee, Alina's mother threatens to destroy their very livelihood, inducing Alina to resort to Aunt Theresa's otherworldly rituals. Van Llweyn's dynamic narrative shifts in perspectives and tone, blending the mystical and the intense reality of Alina's struggles.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

July 24, 2020

DEBUT During Ceausescu's regime in Romania, young Alina dares to dream. She wants a happy life with her husband, Liviu, and hopes to publish a math exercise book she has written while teaching eight-year-olds. All of her dreams are thwarted after her brother-in-law Mihai defects to the West. Liviu is forced to leave his chosen career as a history teacher and now works at a demeaning job far from home. His treatment of Alina is altered by his work and heavy drinking on the train commute home every evening. Soon Alina starts rethinking her life, but when her contentious mother discovers Alina's wish to flee Romania she reports her to the Secret Service. Now Alina has a tough decision to make, and she takes care of her situation in an inventive way. One can easily imagine the ruthlessness of Communist-era reality as Alina's aspirations change. VERDICT Drawing on Romanian folklore and a few touches of magic realism, this novella-in-flash-fiction by the Romanian-born van Llewyn is a wonder. Long-listed for the Women's Prize for Fiction.--Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH

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