Between Shades of Gray

Okay, so I know that I haven't posted in a while. In fact, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to post regularly, but I guess that's not happening. Oops! Anyway, on my last post, I promised a detailed explanation of Between Shades of Gray, so that is what I'm going to do. This is a really good book, but it's been a while since I've read it, so forgive me if I don't do it justice. I'll try though!

Between Shades of Gray, by Ruta Sepetys is about a 15 year old girl named Lina who is on the path to fulfilling her biggest dream: being a world renowned artist. Sadly, Lina, her brother Jonas, and their mother are being deported to Siberia by the Soviet Secret Police. Lina's father has been separated from them, and they have no idea where he is. Set during Stalin's reign, Lina uses her art skills to pass along messages, hoping they will reach her father. Along their journey, Lina does everything she can to keep her loved ones safe, all the while documenting everything that happens in her art. She hopes that once the war is over, she can show people the horrors they faced in the labor/concentration camps and one day return to Lithuania. 

I have very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, Ruta Sepetys does an amazing job at portraying the hardships that people deported from their home countries had to go through. Most books set during this time period are focused on Jews in concentration camps and Hitler. You don't find many where the greatest enemy is Stalin and the Soviets, at least in my experience. Lina and her family aren't Jews. In fact they celebrate Christmas, but they still had to leave their home. On the other hand, this book is absolutely, 100% heartbreaking (at least for me). It is sooo sad! Now, I am the kind of person, who watches movies and reads books that are only a tad bit sad and, finds them upsetting. Holocaust movies, books, event the general topic I find especially upsetting. The problem is, so many of these books are very good so I read them anyway. A good example of this is The Book Thief. I had tears cascading down m face like a waterfall (okay this is a major exaggeration, but I still cried) while I was reading the book. The same thing happened with the book The Boy on the Wooden Box (which is an autobiography by the way), except I had to refrain from crying because I was in a public setting. Both of these books are absolutely amazing by the way and I strongly recommend them. Anyway, I kinda started rambling. Where was I? Oh, yeah, the book is heartbreaking.

Things that are sad about it:

-People dying

-The conditions

-The topic

Basically, as if the subject isn't sad enough, the way Ruta Sepetys conveys what is happening in her writing is even more sad. However, don't let this discourage you. You are probably better with sad things than I am so you will have no problem reading this incredible book.

One thing that I really liked about this book is that throughout it, Lina has these flashback memory type things. I really enjoyed these because as we see Lina growing and maturing, we get to see the events that helped make her who she is. In addition, this book has huge character development. Not only with Lina, but also with Jonas and side characters like the bald man and the girl with the doll. At the beginning of the book, Lina is young and ambitious and thinks that she will get to go home in no time. By the end, she is doing everything she can to protect those she cares about. Jonas and the girl with the doll are forced to grow up in a matter of weeks. They have their entire childhoods taken away from them. 

However, despite all the hardships that Lina, her family, and her new friends go through, they stay light-hearted because they know that is the only chance they have at survival. They celebrate Christmas and look after each other. There is even some romance (but not a lot). 

This book is a real eye-opener in my opinion. As I said before, there really aren't that many books about what STALIN did. They are mostly centered around Hitler. Also, Ruta Sepetys created Lina's story after much research and hearing people's first hand accounts about their experience in labor and concentration camps. 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It's the untold story of what thousands of people went through under Stalin's reign. It really shows the horrors that that they faced during this time and it is incredibly written. I strongly encourage you to read this book and honestly if I could, I might force you to. Like add it to the school curriculum or something. It could be the book that we have to read in language arts every year. So read this book and I sincerely hope that you like it as much as I do. 

If you have already read Between Shades of Gray or you are currently reading it and want more like it, Ruta Sepetys recently came out with a book titled salt to the sea. I have not yet read this book, but I really want to. It is about, well, I've gone on long enough. Those of you who are curious can search it up. If you really want to know, tell me in the comments. Sorry this post has become longer than planned. Hope it wasn't too boring. Check out my poll and bye for now!

 PS. So, I just looked at the Goodreads review for this book, and they do a much better job of explaining it than I do, so here it is:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

(Pictures Courtesy of Goodreads)