Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys: Book Review

 

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.

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Publisher: Philomel | Published: March 22, 2011

Hardbound | 344 pages | ISBN: 978-0399254123

Genre: Young Adult

Before reading Between Shades of Gray, I didn’t know much about Stalin. I knew that he was a dictator, an awful one, and I heard that he was even worse than Hitler. I know at some point I must have been taught about what Stalin actually did, that  which was so horrible, but to my dismay I can’t remember ever being told. After reading this gripping story I am compelled to do my own research on the horrors of life under Stalin’s reign.

The book tells the story of fifteen-year old Lina Vilkas and her family. The Vilkas’ are Lithuanians, living in a Lithuania that is gradually shrinking due to Stalin’s reign. One night they are forced out of their homes by the NKVD (an organization that will one day become the KGB). Lina, her brother Jonas, and her Mother are forced to ride through the cold winter night in a packed truck full of other Lithuanian’s, none who are sure of why they are being arrested. Lina’s father is nowhere to be found and the family worries about his whereabouts. The trucks eventually reach a train station where the groups are separated into women and men and boarded onto cramped trains. The trains travel through the countryside piling more and more people into the boxcars. They are eventually dropped at a work camp and forced to do hard labor with little food. It is soon discovered that Stalin is the one to blame. He has arrested all “intelligent-thinking” people of Lithuania and the surrounding countries (teachers, professors, even librarians) and forced them into silence in work camps.

The story goes on to tell the harrowing tale of these thousands of innocent people who were forced to work under horrible conditions because Stalin was afraid of an uprising. Lina and her family are transferred to a Siberian work camp and forced to build their houses out of nothing but mud and scrap boards to survive the winter. While Lina tries to find out the location of her father, and why exactly they are there, she comes across answers that may not be to her liking. And knowing too much can get you killed in a place like this. She writes to her father using coded drawings, hoping for a reply.

Between Shades of Gray is an excellent story, telling of the horrors Lithuanians faced under Stalin’s rule. Many even wished for Hitler to invade, because he was the lesser of two evils. Even after these people were released from the work camps they came back to the NKVD living in their homes, with their names. They were treated as criminals and told to keep silent or they would meet their deaths. While this story may be short in length, it will have a huge impact in the long-run.

note from Stacy ~ Kathy from BermudaOnion recently reviewed Between Shades of Gray.  She also did a wonderful interview with author, Ruta Sepetys if you'd like to read the interview visit here; for the review visit here.  Kathy included an interview with the author and some Lithuanian survivors that touched me deeply - please, I strongly encourage you to take a moment to view this - you will not be left the same.

It is with many thanks I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

Happy Reading!