For a Romanian that was just 7 at the time of this action, this story reads incredibly true, and delivers hell in a world where hell was almost everywhere to be found.
Reading would deliver you into "Classified Books", Listening to radio would end up on "Radio Free Europe", TV watching would get you on some "video cassette", meeting friends would drop "jokes about the system, the party or Ceausescu", or even worse, "complotting to overthrow the system", travelling or just going about (only in Romania was available) would deliver you into "meeting with dangerous elements", so why wonder that even writing to Santa (already replaced by Mos Gerila - Santa Blizzard) could give a family serious time in jail, no economic opportunities for the rest of their lives and maybe even a "disappearance".
It may be harder for the new generation to taste it, but for me it delivered a punch the nose.
