Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray

Ruta Sepetys
Published by Philomel Books 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, World War 2

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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.

POSITIVE THOUGHTS

• I've always been interested in war stories, so this book caught my eye immediately. The Holocaust is something that makes me sick to my stomach, but still I want to know more. This book, however, does not exactly deal with the Nazi's and the Jews (which is what I thought it would be about). This book tells the story of how intellectual people were treated by the Russian communists. And I'll be really honest about this: I didn't know about any of this yet! In school I only learned about the Holocaust, never ever did anyone mention how the Russians deported innocent people to camps in Siberia. I was mind blown. So that's one of the things I loved about this book, it was brand new information! (At least for me).
• I absolutely loved Lina's mother the most of all the characters in this book. She is just such a beautiful woman, on the inside I mean, because no matter what people were doing to her, she remained a good person always. And in the end I believe that's one of the hardest things to do. It's so easy to get angry with people and to become selfish and only care for yourself. But it takes so much strength to be nice to people who are treating you like shit. This woman is a role model, she truly is. 
• The cute little romance between Lina and Andrius was another thing that I really liked. It didn't just happen but it grew slowly and became stronger. Also I love the thought of love being "born" in such horrible conditions.

NEGATIVE THOUGHTS

• So why didn't I rate it 5 stars? I don't know, really. This book was well written, but not amazing. Some of the characters were absolutely stunning, but none of them trule made me feel emotional. I thought about this book for a while after finishing it, but in fact I was only thinking about this new information and not really about the story itself. I guess I'm missing something, thought I don't know what it is exactly. I just feel like there could have ben more. I also wasn't satisfied with the ending. 

Have you read the story of Lina and her family yet?