Between Shades of Gray in Around the World in 80 Books

Mar 26, 2019 Astrid Lim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tragedy, young-adult, historical-fiction, world-war, europe, tearjerker, holocaust

Oh no... this reminds me of The Book Thief and as heartbreaking as that book. I can feel the cold, chilling wind, hunger and desperation... Ruta Sepetys is a master of storytelling. I have read her other book but I think Between Shades of Gray (her debut) is in another level.

It's rare to read books about Lithuania and Baltic countries, especially during the WW II. I have watched a short documentary about the independence movement of Baltic countries, but it was lack of humane context, while Sepe ...more

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Nov 16, 2011 mstan rated it liked it

Shelves: for-young-adults-or-children, historical-fiction, displacement, src-winter-2011-12

This YA historical fiction novel reminded me somewhat unpleasantly of Milkweed at first centering as it does around a precocious female protagonist (a talented artist) who is thrown into a shockingly cruel environment. Many of the horrible practices of the Soviet soldiers here are no different from those of the Nazi soldiers in Milkweed - and I guess that's the point, isn't it? To show that, as is often reiterated in this book, that Nazism and Communism were both roads that led to hell during WW This YA historical fiction novel reminded me somewhat unpleasantly of Milkweed at first centering as it does around a precocious female protagonist (a talented artist) who is thrown into a shockingly cruel environment. Many of the horrible practices of the Soviet soldiers here are no different from those of the Nazi soldiers in Milkweed - and I guess that's the point, isn't it? To show that, as is often reiterated in this book, that Nazism and Communism were both roads that led to hell during WWII, and especially so for the forgotten Baltic states Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

I have already discussed some of my issues with historical fiction in my review of Milkweed, but would like to add another concern I have to that list - the tendency to infodump, to convey the facts of the situation above all else. It's really difficult to balance that with the need to create characters the reader would actually care about (rather than just be curious about), and the need to maintain a pace that is still engaging even if the 'ending' of the story has already been revealed through history.

Sepetys does manage to introduce sincere touches of humanity to the story, with the sympathetic Soviet military officers and curmudgeonly Lithuanian men and women she portrays. Also, I did end up liking how Lina thought in terms of art. However, I didn't quite like the flashbacks she had (scenes of plenty juxtaposed against the current struggles with starvation, for instance), which I thought was a pretty worn-out technique. And I don't know if it's sloppy editing, but some sentences were just oddly constructed, e.g. (not direct quotes) 'we weren't expected to endure at all' and 'were the Americans going to turn the other cheek?' (in the context of the Americans delivering supplies to the Soviet soldiers, not knowing that there were hundreds of dead and dying Lithuanian prisoners hidden away at the camp - did the editor/author mean 'turn a blind eye'?).

I think the 10-14 age group would like this book and learn a lot from it; it's to me an example of YA writing that's more targeted towards the YA group really, than meant for adults. (Or am I just destined to never like YA historical fiction? Another example is The Book Thief, which I was lukewarm about.) ...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Katie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: female-author, young-adult

This young adult novel tells the story of a teenage girl and her family who are taken from their home in Lithuania by the Soviets during World War II. They are then deported to forced labor camps in Siberia. I don’t want to sound cold-hearted, but I never felt much compassion for the characters, despite the horrible conditions in which they were suffering. I just couldn't connect with the narrator. Maybe it is just because I will forever compare all World War II young adult books to The Book Thi ...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Kristen Iworsky rated it it was amazing

I could not put down this book. It was simple to read, yet quite powerful. It tells the story of a Lithuanian girl who is taken by the Soviets to work in a labor camp during WWII. This book made me feel ignorant as I really did not know much about the Soviets taking over Baltic states.

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Feb 24, 2011 Erin (NY) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, ya, historical-fiction, read-in-2015

I absolutely loved this book. It is a story of Lithuanian people that were sent to Siberia by Stalin. I loved reading this story about a part of history that is not well known.

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