I read this book for free via Goodreads. I was interested in the subject matter as I am a missionary working with street children. The book definitely needs properly editing before any more people make comments about this in their reviews!

I was actually shocked by some of the content and find it difficult to believe that these are the authors actual experiences. It reads more like a book of fiction with many killings that seem to pass unnoticed. I accept that these things might happen when attention is diverted elsewhere during a revolution but the author almost justifies the cold blooded murder by friends of his from the street world.

I couldn't bring myself to read more than about two thirds of the book as I just found it too depressing, too violent, containing too much bad language and with a lack of hope. Maybe this came further on in the book but I couldn't bear to finish it.

I rarely make such negative comments on here but I hope to save someone else's mind from this material. If the experiences are genuine, I really hope the author has now found peace and can move on from his terrible childhood. ( )

"Tell the world my story! ...Tell them about our museum of broken children", July 26, 2015

This review is from: God's Buried Children (Kindle Edition)
This is a horrifying story, telling the story of Bucharest's homeless street children. The author, himself one of them, describes the brutality of the orphanage, with its sadistic staff.
Later the little group find themselves living beneath the streets of Bucharest in "a quagmire that people call 'The city of the living dead' made out of intricate subway tunnels...where homeless children...sleep among steaming wet pipes that shields them from the cold outside."
Despised and ignored by the population, living by their wits in a city of violent militia, we see the effects of their experiences, notably the craving for revenge by some:
"Make no mistake! We are at war! They are out to kill us with their indifference towards us! They're killing children..."
And they certainly do, with only a few of the original crowd making it through
But also the basic desire for the things ordinary kids have: when they manage to acquire their files, one of them exclaims "Birthdays! We have birthdays! All of us, not just the rich kids!"

The very subject matter made this quite a compulsive read, although sometimes the constant violence makes one lose track of who's doing what (and query whether it happened QUITE like that.) The author's English isn't the best although I didn't find it really spoilt the story. A very intense read: possibly the fairly large cast of characters means that - apart from Daniel and Vlad - we don't really get to know the others and consequently while we empathise with them they remain largely strangers.
An important story that needs telling. ( )

Daniel Farcas’ father was a chauffeur for the American Embassy during the Communist reign before 1989. His mother was Romanian. His father left Romania before he was born, leaving his mother to raise him alone. When she died, no one wanted him, so he was sent to an orphanage in Bucharest.

God’s Buried Children is Daniel’s journal account of life in the orphanage and of life on the streets, living in the sewers of Bucharest as a homeless teenager. The descriptions of the daily happenings in the orphanage were so brutal it is unimaginable to think that the orphanage caregivers were put in place to care for the well-being of children. We are told of the basement punishment where if you fell asleep in the dark, you ran the risk of the rats eating your fingers and toes. Daily rapings were not uncommon. It was safer to run away and live on the street than stay in the orphanage.

Life in the sewer was not easy either. Daniel lived together with several friends from the orphanage. They banded together as family, helping one another out as best they could.

In 1989 the revolution against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceauscu arose and placed the country in upheaval. We learn of some of the stories of what happened to some of his friends and discover where Daniel ended up after the Anticommunist Revolution.

This novel was written in English which is Daniel’s second language. As such, the grammar and spelling reflect this, making the book somewhat difficult to read at times, though the ideas do come across. In some ways it increases the authenticity of the book because it adds to the voice of the speaker who is from a different land and shows that he speaks with an accent, rather than speaking with perfect English.

The brutal conditions in which Daniel lived are hard to read about but the book is inspirational in that he escaped from those horrible conditions and is using the funds from the sales of his book and his time to help families from other countries make their way to the US through http://www.MyAmericanKids.com.

God’s Buried Children is a testament to the courage and strength that those children had in order to survive through the years in the orphanage and during life in the sewers. I gave this book 4 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the author for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

To see my complete review, visit Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/07/book-review-gods-buried-chi... ( )

This book has potential but the flow of the narrative feels interrupted at times with awkward diction. For example, in the first chapter the word "entrail" is used instead of "entail." These discrepancies occur throughout and break the flow of the narrative, which in turn imperils the telling of a potentially incredible autobiography. ( )

Just finished this book in one reading and I still can not believe it is a true story. The pain the torture and the trials these chidlren lilved through. I always knew it was harsh in war torn countruies but to treat the children as if they are salvage or junk is unreal. The ending is not onloy heart wrenching but the entire story will hold you until the end, making you want to be angry,sad and even cry. This story is about children during the communist era that tore their country their lives and everything apart. A must read. there are a lot of mistypes or typos but i believe it because you are supposed to read it as if hearing from the childs mouth. ( )