Between Shades of Gray in Crazy Challenge Connection

Feb 26, 2016 Book Concierge rated it liked it

Shelves: concierge, world-war-ii, strong-women, library, audio, young-adult, russia

Book on CD read by Emily Klein
2.5 **

In 1941 Stalin’s Soviet Army invaded Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; those countries ceased to exist, being absorbed into the Soviet Union. The residents of those nations were “deported” to Siberia, accused of crimes against the Union. Men, women and children were held in camps with little or no food, clothing or shelter from the harsh conditions. Millions died. Some survived and eventually their story became known.

Sepetys based this novel on the story of her Book on CD read by Emily Klein
2.5 **

In 1941 Stalin’s Soviet Army invaded Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; those countries ceased to exist, being absorbed into the Soviet Union. The residents of those nations were “deported” to Siberia, accused of crimes against the Union. Men, women and children were held in camps with little or no food, clothing or shelter from the harsh conditions. Millions died. Some survived and eventually their story became known.

Sepetys based this novel on the story of her own grandparents. Fifteen-year-old Lina is the narrator, a budding artist and daughter of a university professor. She records her experiences in a journal and in drawings depicting the people, conditions and events they endured.

There is an important historical story here, but Sepetys’s writing left me cold. Lina was in many ways a typical self-absorbed teenager, mooning over the cute boy, demanding to know “why,” complaining about how unfair it was, acting without thinking. But her circumstances were far from typical, and her rash behavior could easily have gotten her (and her family) killed – more than once. Her constant referral to other characters as “the grouchy woman” or “the bald man” without giving them names also irritated me. These should have been human beings rather than stereotypes.

Emily Klein didn’t help with her narration on the audio book. I found her performance overly dramatic to the point that I wanted to “boo” her. I rarely round-up with I give a half-star rating, but in this case I will, because I feel that the audio performance affected my rating more than the writing.

The audio version does include a final segment / interview with the author, where she explains the family history that brought these events to her consciousness and how she researched the book. That was a heartfelt and emotional tale, and I’m very glad I kept listening to hear the author talk about this very personal journey. The text version does include some of this information in an Author’s Note, but it is written as more historical information and lacks the emotional impact of hearing the author’s story in her own words.
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Jan 23, 2012 Sue rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, wwii, library, natalie-bk-club, audio-books

2018: After re-reading "Salt to the Sea" for a book club recently, I decided to re-read this one via audio as it is a related novel with some common characters. I loved it again just as much as the first time.

2012: Moving story of the horrors endured by a Lithuanian family forcibly relocated to Siberia by Soviets during WWII. It's based on true stories from survivors of the forced labor camps and contains some truly horrific moments. It's definitely an older YA novel as it could be disturbing to ...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Chris rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, historical-fiction, youth, fiction, europe, war, middle-grades

We have become used to dystopian novels in which young people are forced to fight to the death or they rise up against a totalitarian state. They make good reading, and then when you close the book, it's over. It's a story. Between Shades of Gray may be fiction, but it portrays real history. During Josef Stalin's rule millions of people were dragged from their homes, loaded on to box cars, and shipped to labor camps in Siberia where if illness didn't kill them, starvation would. Lina, her brothe ...more

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