Shepherd

Rating:
Summary: Inside the turmoil of revolution
Review: It is 1989 & Aurea Cioban is a student at the University in Bucharest when she meets Maurice Calistrat, a young lieutenant stationed at a nearby military base. Soon a passionate love affair develops.

Love, however, is not blind & a combination of jealousy, fatalism, & ambition begins to take their toll on the young couple's courtship.

SHEPHERD wanders into a world of superstitions & deeply rooted beliefs, steeped in Romania's rich history of mysticism & folklore.

Absorbing & intricate & everso sad.

Rating:
Summary: Inside the turmoil of revolution
Review: It is 1989 & Aurea Cioban is a student at the University in Bucharest when she meets Maurice Calistrat, a young lieutenant stationed at a nearby military base. Soon a passionate love affair develops.

Love, however, is not blind & a combination of jealousy, fatalism, & ambition begins to take their toll on the young couple's courtship.

SHEPHERD wanders into a world of superstitions & deeply rooted beliefs, steeped in Romania's rich history of mysticism & folklore.

Absorbing & intricate & everso sad.

Rating:
Summary: Layers and Layers of Truth
Review: No one can tell the story of revolution, be it political or emotional, like an eyewitness. Mihaela Stoica writes convincingly about the political confusion of living under the communist Ceaucescu regime in Romania, as well as the ensuing turmoil wrought by the 1989 revolt for freedom by many Romanian citizenry. These stories need to be told -- few know the personal stories and the individual legends that survived for over fifty years in this eastern European country. Unfortunately, few novelists have successfully gained the ear of the West. Stoica describes constraints on family relationships; the paranoia and deception of romances and friendships in light of communist tactics; and the maneuverings of political power trips in academia and beyond. A definite read.

Rating:
Summary: A Look at the Other Side of Freedom
Review: The urge for freedom, and the courage to fight for it no matter how overwhelming the odds, is ingrained in every living thing, from the smallest seed reaching for the sun through a crack in the pavement to people suffering under the harsh restrictions of political tyranny.

Freedom attained, however, adds the requirement that it be maintained, and that requires choices. In SHEPHERD, Mihaela Stoica provides an insightful look at just how difficult those choices can be for those unaccustomed to having them.

The book is set in the tumultuous days when Communism was failing throughout eastern Europe and the tyrannical Ceaucescu regime fought mightily to maintain its stranglehold on the people of Romania. It is the story of Aurea Cioban, a young woman who has never known anyting but that tyranny. Aurea's lover, Maurice, is a lieutenant in the Romanian army and, unbeknownst to her, working with the secret police to identify political dissidents. One of those dissidents is her own brother, Alexander.

Ms. Stoica presents her story of love and ambition and betrayal with a keen eye for the personal flaws and virtues that lead people to make their choices. Aurea is a familiar personality. Methodical and pragmatic in her thinking, she opts to focus on the present moment rather than look into a future that, to her, seems too chaotic for comfort. Her narrow view, however, makes her take what is before her at face value, including Maurice. She yearns for yet fears the price of freedom, and clings to the belief that it can be had and held without any drastic sacrifice of emotional comfort.

Those of us accustomed to freedom might find it difficult to understand the effect its sudden arrival can have on those who have never truly experienced it. While SHEPHERD offers no glaringly enlightening insights into the human condition, Ms. Stoica reveals how the suppression of individuality for a lifetime can render even the most intelligent all but helpless to react to a world that changes daily.

The Declaration of Independence called life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness "inalienable rights," and so they should be. But, as Spock advised his rival Stonn in the STAR TREK episode "Amok Time," sometimes having what one desires most is not as pleasurable as wanting it. Mihaela Stoica shows just how true that is, and does it with empathy and clarity of vision using characters who embody all the humanity anyone could desire. She has rendered political headlines into a compelling work of fiction that brings to life the human side of that struggle.