Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

from goodreads

3.5 stars

I just finished reading this book for one of my book clubs. This is a captivating book about the deportation and forced labour of Lithuanians in 1941 by the Soviet regime.

The Synopsis

This story follows a young woman named Lina. She is the daughter of a university professor. Her father was already taken from them. Lina, her mother and younger brother were taken from their homes and put into cattle cars and sent to labour camps in Siberia.

While in the camps Lina uses her incredible artistic talent to draw what she sees happening around them. She also creates secret messages, which she passes along to others, in the hopes that they will reach her father so, he can find out where they are and let him know they are still alive.

Lina discovers her will to live no matter the circumstances. She learns the power of love and kindness even amongst, hardship, abuse and despair. She learns that things are not always black and white but life often is amongst differing shades of gray.

My Thoughts

Even though  my degree is in history and I took a lot of courses about this time period, I really didn't know much about this event in history. I knew that Stalin had slave labour camps in Siberia and I knew that the conditions in those camps were harsh, but I didn't realize how harsh. I also didn't know the extent of the expulsion that occurred in the baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, also to a degree Finland. Over 1/3 of the population in these countries, were gone. It is definitely a part of history that I want to learn more about.

The author does a good job to help us know the harshness of Lina's new reality. Yet, she does it in such a way that is not so graphic that it is horribly disturbing. I want to know what happens, I want to know the extent of suffering, yet I don't need a blow by blow, and an in depth description of how skeletal they are, or the way their dead bodies crumpled when they fell. Some things my imagination can picture quite well. So, the author did a good job of letting us know enough and then letting our imagination fill in the rest. She did not hide the horrors, she just didn't beat us over the head with it.

I also like how she showed the relationship between the different characters. It was through these relationships that we see the gray areas of life. Her mother and one of the soviet guards, Lina and another Lithuanian youth, the grumpy old man and everyone else. It is through these gray areas we see where love and kindness can flourish in difficult circumstances.

I recommend this book. Though it is a teen fiction book, teens and adults alike would like to read this. This would be a great book to read as a family or in a classroom to get a good discussion going on difficulties in life. How we can face things in a negative way or a positive way and the difference our attitude can make.

Welcome

Have you ever read a book that you need to tell everyone about. You want the whole universe to know how awesome that book was. Or you want them to know to avoid it like the plague. Well this is what this blog is for me. It gives me the chance to let people know about the books I've just read, what it's about and what I think about it.

I will have a new post every Thursday (to start off with). I will rate it (see tab for rating system) and give a bit of a synopsis. Since I am open to reading anything, the books will be anything from children's books to adult's, non-fiction to the greatest fantasy.

I love the library! I love that I can read as many books as I want and it doesn't cost me a thing, well, as long as I get them back in time. So the books I will be reviewing will have come from the library or at least can be found at one (some may be from my personal collection). I will try my hardest to make sure that the books are accessible to everyone. Some of the Canadian books I review (because I am from Canada) may not in the library of other countries. So sorry about that in advance, but they may be worthwhile trying to find.

All the books I post about will have been the books I have just finished reading. I have a few books in my personal archive, so I during busy times I can write about them.

I am not getting paid by anyone to do this. I just like sharing a good story. All the books are just what I feel like reading, or they were on my book club list (which the members make themselves). If ever my readership is such that I get approached by a publishing company or author I will let you know where I got the book, but the rating and comments about it will still be my own.

So hopefully this blog will help inspire your next read and will help broaden your reading scope. Happy reading!