Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 11, 2012

Lora rated it:

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

As soon as I saw this video, I knew I had to read this novel. Between Shades of Gray is out of my confort zone, but I'm extremely glad that I decided to read it.

Lina is a very strong and courageous character. Despite the situation Lina is placed in at the young age of fifteen, she audaciously chooses to write about the terrible cruelties the Soviets are doing to those around her as well as her family and herself. Lina is an artist, and she uses th More...

22 comments like (45 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2011

Maja rated it:

Exactly a year before, the Soviets have begun moving troops over the borders into the country. Then, in August, Lithuania was officially annexed into the Soviet Union. When I complained at the dinner table, Papa yelled at me and told me to never, ever say anything derogatory about the Soviets. He sent me to my room. I didn’t say anything out loud after that. But I thought about it a lot.

Despite her father’s caution, 15-year-old Lena Vilkas, her 10-year-old brother Jonas and their mothe More...

20 comments like (35 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Cara rated it:

Ruta Sepetys wrote a courageous story that has been overlooked for quite some time. I can only imagine how hard it is to write with such frankness but to convey through the grimness that there is love and hope, no matter how small it is; it's still there.

Lina is our protagonist who lives in Lithuania in the 1940's and one night the NKVD (widely known later as the KGB) bust through her family's home and take her mom, little brother, and herself to an unknown location. Her father has b More...

4 comments like (18 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2011

Janina rated it:

Such a small book with such an astounding story inside.

I can't believe I always used to say that historic fiction is boring – I think I've just read the wrong books. This novel had such a powerful message and together with its rich and vivid characters, it made even the bleakest setting shine. Between Shades of Gray has such a sad and infuriating background – telling the story of a Lithuanian family captured and deported to Siberia by the Soviets in the early 1940s – but its prose a More...

7 comments like (16 people liked it)

Dec 21, 2011

Emily rated it:

Um... so I'm a bit torn on this one but I'm going to rate it 3.5 stars. I think what made it worse was all the bloody hype (like with Matched) that made me think this was going to blow my mind and it kind of just, well, didn't.

It was an interesting history lesson. My knowledge of Soviet activities was previously more political than social and anything I did know of the more personal impact on people's lives was what I'd gained from German museums telling the story of the Berlin wall. More...

0 comments like (13 people liked it)

Sep 07, 2011

Becky rated it:

This is a beautiful, but heartbreaking story of a teenage girl who is dragged from her home in the middle of the night and deported to Siberia.

I read this in one afternoon. It was so well written and compelling that I needed to know what happened. I needed to know whether Lina and her brother and her mother made it through.

I could really identify with the characters in this story. They were all incredibly real and honest, and even when I disliked them, I felt that they More...

2 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2012

Katya rated it:

Also found here: http://theninjareader.tumblr.com/post/15...

It's a truth universally acknowledged that I rate books high if they make me cry. That can indicate a lot of things to a lot of different people, but let me tell you here and now: This is NOT a tear-jerker.

What it is, in fact, is the fictional story of a fifteen year old Lithuanian girl, Lina, whose family is arrested by the NKVD in 1941 and deported to a worker's camp in Siberia. It's a story of survival, and war, a More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2011

Aly (Fantasy4eva) added it

"I look for characters that may not be classically beautiful, but have a beautiful capacity to love." - Ruta Sepetys

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY centres around a story, in which the Baltic countries of: Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania that were wiped of the map. A genocide on such a scale that the people were close to forgotten, nearly. You see, Stalin was sneaky in how he went about things. People were taken without warning. They had no time to tell loved ones where they were bein More...

12 comments like (10 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2011

Crowinator rated it:

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I don’t read a lot of straight-up historical fiction. When I do, it’s often because I have to, and I’m usually surly about it. There are some historical fiction novels that I count among the best books I’ve ever read (Catherine Jinks’ quirky Pagan Chronicles come to mind) but generally, any time I pick up historical fiction, I’m predisposed to go “meh”. I’m harder on the genre in general, and that may partly explain why I can only give this novel 3.5 stars. I More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2011

Stacy rated it:

I just wanted to write a few words on this review now. I will write more later but I have to get some of my feelings out on this book now. This book is amazing. The thing that is most amazing to me is that I have never heard this story. These people were so terrified about what happened to them that to this day they still have a hard time speaking about it. Maybe that is why the story is so unknown to many people. I cried for the Lithuanian people. Not because of what they went though but becau More...

6 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 24, 2011

Donna rated it:

My husband found this book and I just needed to read it. It doesn't come out until March of this year (2011). The cover is beautiful as well as the story. The video on her website is a great piece of the story and is amazing of how Ruta incorporated real stories into her own. I knew a lot of Stalin's rule and I too believed he was just as bad as the rest of them, if not worse. Didn't he shoot his own wife?

Anyway, the story is heartbreaking from beginning to end. I loved the epi More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2011

Donna rated it:

"I wrote the book but, really, history wrote the story" -Ruta Sepetys

Wow...this is a difficult review to write because this was such an incredible, emotionally powerful story, I’m having a hard time finding the right words. I do want to say that Emily Klein did an OUTSTANDING job narrating this audio. I’m so glad that I chose to download the audio from Audible. Emily Klein’s narration was such that it immediately pulled me into the story and I felt like I was listening to L More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2012

Elana rated it:

Let me justify my seemingly harsh rating. First things first, let me provide you with some (probably not necessitated) background into my interest in this book: I am an avid studier of Lithuanian history. I have rigorously researched this time period prior to this book's creation, thus I was absolutely overjoyed when I got wind of its publishing. It's about time that a "young adult" book chronicled the heinous acts of human evil that the Soviet Union committed against the Baltic people More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

prettybooks rated it:

Between Shades of Gray, although a fictional story, is based on first-hand family accounts and memories of survivors. It accounts Stalin’s genocide during WW2 and manages to tell history in an exquisite and informative way. I know I’m not the only one who did not know what the Lithuanians (as well as others from the Baltic) went through but it is still shocking to me. How could something as huge as this (it impacted millions of people) go unnoticed and unreported? It is even more harrowing to th More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2011

K. rated it:

What else is there to say but echo the sentiment everyone else is expressing for Between Shades of Gray? If you've been listening in on all the hype that surrounded this book prior to release, you'd know it focuses on the plight of innocent Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians affected by the Stalin regime during World War II. And if you had been just as denied any knowledge of their struggles, you would have thought, huh?

I think it's a shame that not a sliver of their past is studied More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2011

Emily rated it:

Ruta Sepetys has written a powerful novel, full of stunning prose and amazing characters.

The disturbing and horrific events in the novel can be hard to read at times. But I believe we need to read books like this, we need to listen to these stories and somehow use them to make sense of our world, because it doesn't make much sense in the news reports. "50 people killed in a suicide bomb attack." What does that even mean? Who were these people?

That's what I learnt f More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 29, 2011

Kristi (The Story Siren) added it

I'll admit it. I was sort of afraid to read this book. Well.... not really afraid, but just watching the video about the book had me bawling, and I was afraid to be in that set of mind again. I don't know about you, but books can tend to evoke strong emotions with me that will last for days... weeks, months even.

I wish I hadn't waited for so long. Unfortunately I don't think my review will do this novel justice.

I don't want to say that this book wasn't heartbreaking or that w More...

13 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2011

Nicola rated it:

I really loved this book. I can't really find the words to sum it up but it was definitely very powerful. It grabbed me from the very first page and I found it almost impossible to put down. The story itself is really grim and harrowing but told in a beautiful manner. There is so much emotion packed into this novel- each feeling and image was as strong as the next. It was really easy to feel for and relate to Lina, she was incredibly likable and told her story well. I also liked that I picked up More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2012

Tiffany rated it:

It is 1941. Lina is a well-to-do Lithuanian girl. One night, the NKVD (later known as the KGB) storm into Lina's home. Lina, her mother, and her eleven-year-old brother are then stripped of their dignity, piled into a filthy train car, and then deported north - to Siberia. She is starved, she is ridiculed, and she is treated as a criminal. She's only fifteen. Between Shades of Gray is a poignant novel of the hidden voices of the Baltic States during Stalin's regime. But more importantly, it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 28, 2011

Lawral rated it:

Clearly, this book is not a pick-me-up, but the spirit of endurance that Lina, her family, and her friends exhibit is inspiring. Between Shades of Gray tracks the slow progress of Lina, her brother Jonas, and their mother Elena from their home in Lithuania to a work camp in Trofimovsk in the Arctic Circle. They suffer many indignities (to put it mildly) at the hands of their Soviet captors (so many and so much that I stopped marking them in my copy). The beginning of the book, especially, is ver More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 14, 2011

Andrea rated it:

Between Shades of Gray is haunting tale of a Lithuanian family in the midst of Stalins reign over eastern Europe and Russia. The novel spans through the beginning of world war II and ending years later. Lina is strong willed 15 year old. She loves her family, her country and art. Her world is turned up side down when her, her mother and her 10 year old brother Jonas are taken one night without her beloved Papa. Thrown onto a train like animals, they ride with dozens of other Lithuanians to an u More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Mimi rated it:

5 stars

I don't know how to describe this book. It's everything. It's sad and hopeful and hopeless and every other thing you can think of. It's a book that gets you to think and feel things you never had before.

It's strange how time dilutes things. Even though I theoretically know all the horrors that went on during the WWII, I couldn't begin to guess what these people felt.

The story begins with Lina and her family at home. That same night they are taken and tr More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 25, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

I swallowed down this heartbreaking account of a Lithuanian family deported to Siberia during WWII in two days, the simple, harsh prose making it a quick read but never an easy one. An excellent work to use in the classroom to introduce students to a rarely documented aspect of European history, and a perfect companion piece to Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

Also at Reading Rants: http://bit.ly/elNTL5 More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2011

Jenny rated it:

This is one of those books that everyone should read. I am so, so glad that I picked this up and read it. And once I started it, I couldn't put it down.

Lina is a great character. All of them are great characters. Lina's mother is the thread that holds them all together. She is intelligent, compassionate, strong, and fearless. I love seeing characters like her in stories. Lina and her companions do what they can to remain strong, to seek out small hopes where they can get them, and to More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2012

BookChic rated it:

In the summary, the journey is described as harrowing and it's not lying. This book will make you think, will make you read about things so horrible you can't believe people actually suffered like this. But ultimately, it will make you proud to know the truth of what happened and you can alert others to this book and its powerful story and message. I don't know Sepetys but I'm extremely proud of her for writing a book like this about a story that really needed to be told and I'm glad it's being More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2011

Shannon rated it:

Between Shades of Gray is a completely unforgettable novel, that had me glued to its pages right from the start and left me an emotional mess at the end. Though its incredibly hard to read at times and features many gut-wrenching scenes, from the train ride-to the horrors in the work camp, the novel is unwavering in its honesty of the perils war. However, through these horrific events I found myself, much like the characters, still holding onto hope, something that continuously drives them to be More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Sab H. rated it:

This was devastating. I was literally tense throughout the whole book. It's hard to explain how frightened and engaged one can get when reading a powerful book. Specially if it happens to be historical. My heart broke... I spilled every tear I had. How could this have happened? I don't mean that in a rhetorical way, I mean, how the hell could something so unimaginably cruel and utterly inhumane be allowed and supported by so many? Here I thought Hitler was the ultimate devil. Not anymore, I don' More...

7 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2011

elissa rated it:

Looks like this is pretty much universally liked by all of the people I know who've rated it. I'm not so blown away, and this probably won't still be one of my favorite books of the year by the time the year is over. The writing is definitely good, and it's a subject that we don't hear that much about (other people who suffered during WWII besides Jews and others who were persecuted by the Nazis), but it I didn't love it as a survival story. It was very intense and difficult for me to read. More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 06, 2011

Debra rated it:

This book didn't just make me tear up, it made me sob. SOB!

Beautifully written, compelling from page one. Both heartbreaking and hopeful, a tale of how even in the worst of times, human decency can still prevail.

One tiny thing--the last one fourth right up to a few pages before the end was just gut-wrenching, and the optimist in me wanted a bigger payoff for all that sadness. Still a phenomenal book though.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 12, 2012

Heather rated it:

Lina is only fifteen when the NKVD take her away from her Lithuanian home, along with her younger brother and her mother. Lina's father is no where to be seen as the family arrives at the train station. They are herded onto a cattle car headed for an unknown destination cramped full of other deportees and the situation continues to get bleaker. As the miles pass Lina is not only separated from her home but also from her dreams. She is forced into hours upon hours of hard labor day after day whic More...

0 comments like

reviews