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Between Shades of Gray

Ruta Sepetys (Goodreads Author)

4.36 · Rating details · 171,942 ratings · 21,657 reviews

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, ...more

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Hardcover, 344 pages

Published March 22nd 2011 by Philomel Books

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Jul 04, 2011 Maggie Stiefvater rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, recommended

This is not a pretty book.

Even though I found this novel exceptionally well-written, it was not a pleasure to read. It’s about Lithuanians displaced to Siberian work camps during World War II. It was pretty unflinchingly brutal, but here’s why I think you ought to read it:

1. It is a side of World War II that you might not have seen before. I certainly hadn’t heard these stories of displaced Europeans, and I have to say, having been to Lithuania on tour last year, it made so much of what they sai ...more

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Jan 16, 2017 Sasha Alsberg rated it really liked it

Really loved this book and it's story because I personally have never heard about this side of the war before and I'm so grateful I know about it now. ...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Lora rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of novels set during WWII

Shelves: lib-read, favorites, g-ya-hist, want-to-reread, quality-ya-fic

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

As soon as I saw this video, I knew I had to read this novel. Between Shades of Gray isn't the type of book I'd normally read, 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 this talent ...more

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Mar 22, 2019 Barbie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

My thoughts in a nutshell
Between Shades of Gray is a harrowing read. My thoughts will be shorter this time because I couldn't say anything about this horrid occasion. :-(

The story is about…
Skip over this point if you don't like the sneak peek.
A Lithuanian girl Lina and her family will be deported to Siberia. She has to learn to survive in a work camp without food or clean clothes. They have to work in terrible circumstances to avoid starvation. Lina is an artist. She draws everything that she ...more

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Feb 10, 2011 Emily May rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, young-adult, 2011

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. It's tr ...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Maja (The Nocturnal Library) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: amazing-writing, books-that-changed-me, cover-lust, young-adult, reviewed-in-2011, favorites, made-me-cry, historical-fiction, own-a-dtb

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 mother Elena ar 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 mother Elena are charged as criminals and arrested in their home in Lithuania by Soviet officers. Lena’s Papa didn’t return from work the previous day and they don’t even know if he’s alive. The three of them are forced into a train car with forty-six other people, mostly women and children. Among them are Ona and her newborn baby, taken from the hospital just as soon as the umbilical cord was cut, Miss. Grybas, a perfectly harmless spinster teacher, a mean bald man, supposedly a stamp collector, Mrs. Arvydas, wife of a murdered Lithuanian officer, and her 17-year-old son Andrius, who has to pretend to be feeble-minded in order to stay with his mother. Needless to say, they are all treated like cattle.

After spending more than 8 weeks in the train car with only two buckets of water and a bucket of food a day for all of them, they arrive to a beet farm where they’re expected to work all day, most of them digging in frozen ground with hand shovels and bare hands. For months they have nothing but hunger and disease in labor camp, and just when they think things couldn’t possibly get any worse, they get moved to Siberia - supposedly to build a factory, but in reality, they’re just expected to die.

Lena’s story is powerful for many reasons. Of course none of us can stay indifferent to a story about so much suffering and Ruta Sepetys chose a very smart way to tell it. Her writing is very matter of fact, her sentences are short and to the point. She allowed herself very little emotion, thus giving the reader a chance to fill in the gaps. I think it was the only way to tell such a horrendous story without overdoing it.

When I finished this book last night, I was completely grief-stricken. I thought: “What am I supposed to do now? Am I supposed to just stand up and walk around like I didn’t just take a long, hard look at the ugliest side of humanity?” For the first time in my life, I felt that my education has failed me. How is it possible that we just went around all this, barely mentioning it? We dedicated so much time to Hitler and his victims (and we should have), but we’re talking about 20 million people here! 20 million people they just omitted to tell us about. I’m not saying I was completely clueless about it all, far from it, but I was never really confronted with it. And I absolutely needed to be.

I think everyone should read Between Shades of Gray. Saying that it will help you appreciate the little things sounds like a horrible cliché, but it’s also undeniably true. Just get ready to be crushed into pieces by all the atrocities and suffering this relatively short book describes. ...more

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Sep 07, 2015 Angela M rated it it was amazing

I was so taken by the story of Lina and her family and all of the others that came to life here as they were deported from their homes in Lithuania, by Stalin's Russians to a work camp in Siberia. It's a devastatingly sad story of fictional characters but what makes it even more heartbreaking is that this story reflects a true story of a genocide that took the lives of over 20 million people . I am especially saddened by the fact that I knew pretty much nothing about it and I am grateful to the ...more

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Mar 30, 2011 Ari rated it it was amazing

Shelves: emotional, favorites, rereading-material, standalone, movie-to-be, beloved, best-of, top-ten, historical

'Now my heart sank into my stomach where the bile began to chew it.'

Step on my heart, cut it wide open, rub it with salt and feed it to the sharks.. Or just make me read this book, because this is how it feels like reading this story.

How can I call “wonderful” a book full of so many horrors?
...But I will, because it really is, and what pains me the most is that it's all true, that this is a really tiny part of the darkest piece of our history as human beings.
You thought this was repugnant?! ...more

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Oct 25, 2018 jessica rated it really liked it · review of another edition

ruta sepetys has stated that when survivors are gone, we have the obligation to not let the truth disappear with them. that we need to give them a voice. and i think she does that so perfectly with this novel.

what i really appreciated about this book in particular was the awareness brought to one aspect of WWII that tends to be forgotten. i see countless of stories about the atrocities hitler condoned against the jewish, and i think we all tend to get caught up in that that we forget there was m ...more

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Aug 07, 2014 Hailey (Hailey in Bookland) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, owned

What a powerfully poignant story. Really unexpected and unique, but so so important. Video review to come!

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Sep 17, 2016 Amalia Gkavea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, world-literature

I will not go into the details of the story, nor will I offer my opinion regarding the events described. This is hardly the place for me to do something like that. Instead, I will comment upon how Ruta Sepetys' novel made me feel.

I cannot remember the last time I cried over a novel. It must have been long ago. With Between Shades of Gray, it was hard to restrain myself from the very first chapters. During the last ten chapters, it became unbearable. Without spoiling a single thing, this book is ...more

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Apr 24, 2011 e rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, i-own-it

(Edit, July 9, 2016: I was a pretentious 16-year-old when I wrote this review, lol. I'm 21 now and I'll be going back to edit it periodically.)

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 abo (Edit, July 9, 2016: I was a pretentious 16-year-old when I wrote this review, lol. I'm 21 now and I'll be going back to edit it periodically.)

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 peoples.

This book was certainly a proverbial "eye-opener" for those who were unfamiliar with Lithuanian history. It was an immersive, interesting book with "relatable" (my reasoning behind the quotation marks will be addressed later) characters.

But one qualm I had was the writing style. I am cognizant of the fact that this was Sepetys' debut novel, but the writing style felt almost detached to me. It was an itemization of Lina's torturous experience, as opposed to the immersive, detailed account I surmised a first person perspective would entail. In fact, the writing style did not allow me to get close enough to the characters to truly empathize with what was happening to her and her family. Even in the beginning, before most would assume that dissociation and other psychological trauma would kick in and truly prevent Lina from grasping the severity of her situation or being capable of detailing events, there were no details to attach me to her life. (view spoiler) This narration style made basically every character flat to me, with no substance or meaning to me. The plot was moved forward by dialogue as opposed to narration, which provided no true insight into Lina's deepest emotions, feelings and thoughts. Thus, I felt as if the book would have fared better with a harsh critic such as myself if it were in third person objective. That way, it would have been safe to abstain from revealing Lina's thoughts, as opposed to pretty much avoiding them in favor of utilizing dialogue to encapsulate her feelings.

Additionally, the gratuitous usage of capital letters, multiple exclamation points and italicized text to represent flashbacks was irritating; those are the signs of drafting stages to me. While it is most likely just personal preference, I am very stringent upon the utilization of capital letters. To me, they are used solely when merely italicizing dialogue or a word just isn't enough to express how crucial the idea is. Capitalizing words on basically every page is distracting and, honestly, makes me think of an elementary school child writing a story sans the knowledge of using italics. I know I am being very harsh. Also, the representation of long flashbacks via italics was unnecessary. Sure, for a truncated flashback (view spoiler) this would have been fine, but some of these flashbacks were multiple, consecutive pages. It was an annoyance to the eyes and was useless, as Sepetys could have opted to make those flashbacks into separate chapters, so long as Lina provided insight into their being flashbacks.

My final grievance lies in the ending; it seemed very abrupt. (view spoiler). It was almost as if Sepetys has simply run out of ideas and decided to end it there. However, despite my harsh review, this book was definitely powerful and deeply moving. I did enjoy it, cry over it, and store it on my bookshelf for future rereading, but it did not touch me in the way I initially assumed it would. I would recommend this book to my friends solely because I want them to read an interesting account of the Lithuanian deportations as opposed to the itemized history books I read myself, but that would be the only reason. It is not on a young adult's reading level, despite it being a very adult-themed book; it is much, much simpler. ...more

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May 30, 2016 Jillian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

These writings may shock or horrify you, but that is not my intention. It is my greatest hope that the pages in this jar stir your deepest well of human compassion. I hope they prompt you to do something, to tell someone. Only then can we ensure that this kind of evil is never allowed to repeat itself.

So I read this last night, and I went to work this morning. I was so deeply affected by this story, and my mind kept drifting back to Lina and Jonas and the countless real victims of th ...more

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Oct 26, 2015 Nicole rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: fans of WWII novels

Shelves: historical-fiction, ya

“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.”

4.5 stars

What a touching story! World War II brought misery to the world, it's common knowledge; However, what isn't though is how the life of the residents of the countries on USSR borders transformed. What they suffered, how much pain they went through and everything they had to endure, to survive. Told from the perspective of a young hopeful artist, Between Shades of Gray shows us the strength of the human spirit and the value of holding onto faith, in a well-written novel that captures all the hardships, sorrows, and misfortunes that Lina Arvydas went through.

They have 20 minutes to pack everything and leave. Lina, Jonas, and Elena are being deported from Lithuania to Siberia in 1941 after war declaration. This family is separated from the father yet Elena, Lina's mother, has never shown weakness, she's trying to help her children to get through this hard period. On their journey, they meet new people. They live with them for six weeks on a train and try to support each other later. There she meets Andrius, this young handsome boy. I'm not going tell you where they go or what exactly they went through, I'll let you read it for yourself. However, I'll tell you that they taste misery and heartache even agony. They don't give up and let their fear from the NKVD and the Soviets take over.

“Don't be scared. Don't give them anything Lina, not even your fear.”

I like Lina, most of the time at least. I don't have much to say about her but what I admire the most about her is how she has never even lost hope. She keeps telling herself that she'll see the one she loves one day.

“Sometimes there is such beauty in awkwardness. There's love and emotion trying to express itself, but at the time, it just ends up being awkward.”

I love Audrius. I just wished we could got more of him. It's just a wish because I comprehend the conditions and the circumstances completely. He is very realistic and always helps Lina and her family. We really shouldn't judge people before knowing their situation. And his mother... Poor woman.

“Good men are often more practical than pretty " said Mother. "Andrius just happens to be both.”

Jonas went through a lot for an eleven years old kid. He seems so much older than his age. However I expect that's what happens to people when they sustain a hard life on a very young age.

Finally, regarding Elena she is a strong and a great woman. She is the voice of reason, of hope when everyone else is falling apart. Moreover, she is kind and good even to her enemies. Everybody loves her even the bald man. She always does her best to protect her children. She treats everyone with courtesy and understanding. In other words, she is a true krasivaya.

I should also mention Nickolai. Even in our enemies, we can find some goodness. I like him, he has done his best. I want to know what happens to him. He is different from the others. I just wish that Lina figured it out sooner, but it doesn't matter anyway.

“Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy—love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit.”

Finally, if you are a fan of historical novels especially those about World war II you're going to like this one. ...more

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May 26, 2015 Matthew rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fifty-shades-of-purple-book-club, 2015, library, historical-fiction

Powerful! Tough to read, but an interesting take on a part of history we hear little about.

I have seen lots of reviews where people feel this book ends abruptly (maybe spoiler-ish stuff ahead), but I felt like it was showing that all they needed was someone to show them some compassion before all was lost.

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Feb 08, 2019 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

Thank you Lisa.... and many others on Goodreads.
For some reason because I had read the book “Salt to Sea”, by Ruta Sepetys, years ago - an engrossing WWII about a devastating tragedy - I had a pre-conceived thought that this book was either an extension - or wouldn’t be much different. They have similarities in that they are both suspense survival stories during WWII, which are both written with emotional vigor - but the stories themselves are different.

With only three days left before this bo Thank you Lisa.... and many others on Goodreads.
For some reason because I had read the book “Salt to Sea”, by Ruta Sepetys, years ago - an engrossing WWII about a devastating tragedy - I had a pre-conceived thought that this book was either an extension - or wouldn’t be much different. They have similarities in that they are both suspense survival stories during WWII, which are both written with emotional vigor - but the stories themselves are different.

With only three days left before this book was due back at my library - ( ebook Overdrive)....and thankful to the email-reminder the library sends us - warning we still have time to read the book before they snatch it away - I did just that....read this before the library snatched it away.

The first sentence hooks you in - “THEY TOOK ME IN MY NIGHTGOWN”. It’s a young-adult book which reads fast - yet it’s a tragic journey.

Lena was 15 - her brother 10 at the start of this story. Taken away by the Soviets with her parents - an NKVD officer didn’t hesitate to slam the butt of his rifle into the children’s mother’s body and throw her face into a mirror.
The secret Soviet Police burst into their home at night- they had 30 seconds pack a bag before they were taken. They were tossed on a train like cattle. There was a newborn that had only been alive for minutes and she was already considered a criminal.

It was a full decade before Lina ever saw the reflection of her own face in a mirror.
In 1939, The Soviet union occupied the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Anyone who was considered anti-Soviet, where either murdered, sent to prison, or deported into slavery in Siberia. People from every walks of life were taken.
This is a story about how this family and others escaped to refugee camps. Children grew up in these camps - Lina ( our brave young heroine found ways to channel her fear and grief by expressing herself through art, and music.

The author did thorough research and even though the characters themselves were fictional the history isn’t.
Josef Stalin killed more than twenty million people during the ruling of this horror.

Excellent - heart piercing Young Adult historical fiction! A strong 5 star YA Holocaust novel. Gotta admire authors who write serious historical novels aimed towards our youth. Adults benefit as well. I certainly didn’t hurt me at all to read another story - well written about the Holocaust. It won’t be my last either.

I’ve said many times.... WAR is WAR is WAR...... and sometimes it’s about humanity - hope - the human spirit- and love.

Love played a pivotal role in keeping the survivals alive. ...more

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Nov 09, 2019 Iben Frederiksen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: female-pov, books-i-own-and-have-read, heartbreaker, historical-fiction

“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.”

Frightening, beautiful and haunting are three words that best desribes this book.

Lina, her mother and her younger brother Jonas' lives are abruptly changed forever, when the NKVD, the Soviet law enforcement, enter their home one evening in 1941. Twenty minutes later, they're on a truck with other lithuanian people, about to be deported for being 'anti-soviet criminals'. They are put on a tr ...more

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Jul 07, 2014 emma rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, historical, reviewed, ya, 4-stars, dark

sure whatever i didn't need the remaining scraps of my heart to be operational a n y w a y

this, like the other ruta sepetys book i've read, Salt to the Sea, focuses on an extremely tragic historical event that is semi-forgotten, or at least not discussed often enough. in this case, it's Stalin's mid-twentieth century deportation of millions of people in the Baltic states.

this book is sad, sad, sad, impressive, well-written, and extremely important. and also so sad.

if historical fiction isn't you ...more

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Apr 28, 2018 Maxwell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

This is such a powerful story, and a subject that I knew nothing about. Most people know about the atrocities of Hitler's reign, especially those perpetrated against Jewish people. But in this novel Sepetys examines the lesser known genocide of hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians, and other Baltic peoples, under Stalin during the same time as the Holocaust. It's tragic and horrifying and such an important read. I'll admit that for a book aimed at young adults, Sepetys doesn't pull any punches, ...more

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Mar 27, 2017 Hirdesh rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

“I tried to sketch but couldn’t. When I started to draw, the pencil moved by itself, propelled by something hideous that lived inside of me.”

Oh my goodness ! Perfect Historical fiction book. It's more than my expectations and quite contemplate with "The Thousand splendid suns". Praiseworthy one, Enjoyed every word.
Words and ratings on here couldn't exactly defines this book........
Ruta Sepetys, I Love You ! ! !
What a splendid writing and expressions of Lina, she has made.
Just like she has exper ...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Jamie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, goodreads-firstreads

Well done, Ruta Sepetys! A great book. Heartbreaking, but nicely written.
This book is a novel, but is actually based on history, during WWII. this story is written from the perspective of a teenager named Lina. she and her family are taken from their home in Lithuania by the Soviets. This story tracks the next year plus of all hardships they go through. The labor camps, the illnesses that struck, the deaths of fellow Lithuanians, cruel degrading treatment and more.

Much is known about Hitler's ...more

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Feb 10, 2017 Norma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-reads-of-2017

Hope * Survival * Love * Faith

Well that was another enlightening, emotional, and an absolutely awesome 5* read!

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY by RUTA SEPETYS is a deeply moving, compelling, heart-wrenching, and a powerful read which is beautifully written that captured my heart from the very first chapter. This was definitely another page-turner and extremely hard to put down.

“A tiny sliver of gold appeared between shades of gray on the horizon.”

BETWEEN SHADES OF GRAY is a brilliant title for this n ...more

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Feb 07, 2017 Samantha rated it liked it · review of another edition

I think I may have made a mistake reading this on audio, as I didn't find it as compelling as most. I found the narrators tone very off from themes of the story, which left me separated from it. This largely unknown history was very interesting and tragic, by I didn't feel the close connection to the narrative that many did, due to the version I read it in. ...more

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Feb 09, 2016 Phrynne rated it really liked it

This is an extraordinary book and I am so pleased to have read it. It deals with a subject I knew very little about, it has no introduction and it has the tiniest of conclusions. The bulk of the book is about human endurance in unbearable conditions and it is amazing. Surprisingly, despite the sadness of the topic, there are many uplifting moments and it is very hard to put the book down. I now have to go find out more about this horrific time in our history which I am sure is was what the autho ...more

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Feb 14, 2016 grace rated it it was amazing

Finished this in a couple sittings. What a blow to the heart. So beautiful, devastating, and important.

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Nov 12, 2019 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21th-century, fiction, historical, young-adult, novels, lithuanian-americans

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray is partly based upon the stories Sepetys heard from survivors of the genocide of Baltic people during a visit to her relatives in Lithuania.

Sepetys decided she needed to write a fiction novel rather than a non-fiction volume as a way of making it easier for survivors to talk to her. She interviewed dozens of people during her stay. Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life, until Soviet officers invade her home ...more

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Feb 04, 2017 ``Laurie Henderson rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, ww2, young-adult, russia

If you enjoy historical fiction or young adult books I think you'll be interested in reading this one.
"Between Shades of Gray" brings to light a period of WW2 history that has been overlooked or forgotten; set in the Baltic countries of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

Before the 2nd WW began the Communist dictator Stalin, knew war with the Nazi's was looming and had concerns about the Baltic countries abilities to protect the Russian border from Hitler.
So he invades them and arrests all lawyers, ...more

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Mar 03, 2011 Dem rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, recommended, war, bookclub-reads, re-reads

Wow! what a great read. This is a story very simply told about a Lithuanian Family sent to the Soviet work camps during the time of Stalin and the second world war. The horrors of what this family and so many ordinary families endured during the reign of Stalin is shocking and I am glad to be shocked as I think every reader should read a book like this as it is an education in so many ways.
Although Shades of Gray is about a fictional family the story is the truth of what happened to many innocen ...more

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May 04, 2015 Tabetha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: on-hold-via-overdrive

Rating 4.5 Review:

"'NKVD officers are walking by the train with rifles,' I said. 'There are some men in dark suits looking at the train cars.'
We felt a jolt and the train began to move.
'There's luggage everywhere,' I said. 'And lots of food on the platform.' People groaned. The station looked eerie, desolate, frozen with only remnants of the chaos that had taken place. There were single shoes strewn about, a cane, a woman's purse lying open, and an orphaned teddy bear...'There's a priest. He Rating 4.5 Review:

"'NKVD officers are walking by the train with rifles,' I said. 'There are some men in dark suits looking at the train cars.'
We felt a jolt and the train began to move.
'There's luggage everywhere,' I said. 'And lots of food on the platform.' People groaned. The station looked eerie, desolate, frozen with only remnants of the chaos that had taken place. There were single shoes strewn about, a cane, a woman's purse lying open, and an orphaned teddy bear...'There's a priest. He's praying. A man is holding a large crucifix.'
The priest looked up, flung oil, and made the sign of the cross as our train rolled away.
He was issuing last rites."

I never wanted this book to end, and it is such a quick read because it is completely riveting from start to finish. Although it is a Young Adult book, it does not sugar coat the horrors experienced by 15 year old Lina and her family, persecuted as political prisoners when the Soviet occupied and annexed Lithuania (1940-1941). In fact, there are several shocking, completely heartbreaking, scenes. Lina has dreams of becoming an artist, but soon after she is recognized as the artist she could become, her entire life, and that of her family, changes in an instant. Her father is taken and imprisoned, while Lina, her mother and brother are taken forcibly and placed on trains, unsuitable even for animals, then taken to work camps, ending their journey in the most remote part of Siberia, camps that came to be called "death camps". This story has hopeful and beautiful moments, including those times when fellow prisoners in the camp show compassion and help others during outbreaks of severe sickness, and when those same prisoners demonstrate super human strength, even as their bodies are beginning to decline. Throughout the story, Lina's growth during the stages of her imprisonment is truly inspiring; she enters as a girl but is forced to grow up quickly during this period of extreme imprisonment.

I read the history of the actual events while reading this book, and there are countless victims from the mass deportations ordered by Stalin. There are also incredible survivor stories, of those who survived the time when the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were threatened by a dictator who carried out mass deportations, and, in effect, genocide, of "the enemies of the people". ...more

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Jan 06, 2017 Margitte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: family-sagas, american-author, reviewed, sowiet-russia, historical-fiction, russia, 2017-read, drama, young-adult

I have been reading books about the Siberian experience through many years, written by either survivors or observers. Each time I am confronted with the absolute horror of the people's destinies, I want to lash out and scream until someone would listen and make amends. Scream! Scream! Scream! And then break down and cry my heart out.

AUTHOR’S NOTE
"It is estimated that Josef Stalin killed more than twenty million people during his reign of terror. The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estoni

AUTHOR’S NOTE
"It is estimated that Josef Stalin killed more than twenty million people during his reign of terror. The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia lost more than a third of their population during the Soviet genocide. The deportations reached as far as Finland. To this day, many Russians deny they ever deported a single person. But most Baltic people harbor no grudge, resentment, or ill will. They are grateful to the Soviets who showed compassion. Their freedom is precious, and they are learning to live within it. For some, the liberties we have as American citizens came at the expense of people who lie in unmarked graves in Siberia. Like Joana for Lina, our freedom cost them theirs."

This book is so wonderfully written, emotionally laden, mentally almost unbearable. I recently finished reading Secondhand Time: the last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich, Bela Shayevich (Translator). This is a non-fiction book, written by a Russian journalist about the very same memories of the older Russian generations who were there, in Siberia, and recollected the horrors, which confirm the experiences of Lina, her mother Elena, her younger brother, Jonas and their father, Kostas Vilkas. Lina is fifteen years old when they are abducted from their home and send to the Arctic Circle in Siberia.

This is Lina's story. A young girl on the brink of life, being sent to a living death for twelve years. Her drawings and letters to her father kept her going. Her compassion and believe in the tiny sliver of gold which appeared between the shades of grey on the horizon at sunrise, pulled her through to share her story.

The author used different records and interviews, from different survivors or their descendants to form the characters in this fictional tale. What distinguishes this book from Secondhand Time is that the journalistic element is absent, and the departure point is a fictional young girl telling her own story, based on true events. There's feeling in the book. And good people who lost their freedom and lives for other to live. There's a moral to be uphold, and a different kind of reader to reach.

Secondhand Time was mentally and emotionally so disturbing that I could hardly read all the horrors the people had to endure. It was the same with Between Shades of Grey even though a different tone was applied to the narrative.

An estimated 60 million people died during WWII. Yet, the lesson have not been learned. We just repeat the horrors over and over again, and 'little voices' of protest are ignored. Finishing this book, my heart was shattered.

As a novel this book is brilliant. All the elements of a good story are present. A multitude of well-developed characters, a riveting story line, and a suspenseful plot. In my mind's eye I will forever see the hand of young Lina Vilkas waving in the millions of hands below, begging to be heard. We absolutely have to stop and listen. We have to honor their memory by reading their stories.

YA. Yes, but compelling reading for adults as well.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. ...more

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About Ruta Sepetys

Ruta Sepetys

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#1 New York Times Bestselling Author and Winner of the Carnegie Medal.
Ruta Sepetys was born and raised in Michigan in a family of artists, readers, and music lovers. The daughter of a refugee, Ruta is drawn to underrepresented stories of strength through struggle and hopes to give voice to those who weren't able to tell their story. Her award-winning historical novels are published in over fifty c ...more