From the Bookshelf of Lietuva / Lithuania…

Tarp pilkų debesų

Ruta Sepetys,

Lina Būgienė (Translator)

Discussion: Lietuvių literatūra

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What Members Thought

Jul 09, 2017 Gailė Ne rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: did-not-finish

Abandoned.

I was very interested to read the book about Lithuania/Lithuanians that is so liked worldwide(ly). I mean, we'll have the movie with English speaking actors. How cool is that?

Of course, I did not know this book is for teenagers. I understood it halfway. And thought: I didn't know teenagers are this dumb. Yes, Twilight and all the overly dramatic stories about dying kids in love. Whatever. These books are not intended to be serious. But "Between Shades Of Grey" was written seriously.

And Abandoned.

I was very interested to read the book about Lithuania/Lithuanians that is so liked worldwide(ly). I mean, we'll have the movie with English speaking actors. How cool is that?

Of course, I did not know this book is for teenagers. I understood it halfway. And thought: I didn't know teenagers are this dumb. Yes, Twilight and all the overly dramatic stories about dying kids in love. Whatever. These books are not intended to be serious. But "Between Shades Of Grey" was written seriously.

And it is so bad. Maybe, I thought, translation is bad. I read it in Lithuanian. Modern English pop literature likes short and simple sentences. If translated poorly it looks like it was written by a retard. But guess who also liked short sentences? This Nobel guy that no one has heard of - Hemingway, or something (/sarcasm). Yeah... It's not the translation.

Everything is bad in this book. So. Much. Drama. Everything constructed mechanically and methodically by an unskillful craftsman. Craftswoman? Her story is not convincing. It is a lie. 13 year old Anne did it better. Even if her diary wasn't real, it would convince me.

It looks like for the majority of people overly obvious DRAMA is the only way to speak about the horror. I don't think so. That's why I hate movies like "The Pianist" and all. You want The Horror? Watch "Apocalypse Now". You want good literature about The Horror? Go read "Catch-22". You want a good Lithuanian book about The Horror? "Forest Of The Gods" is probably the best example. DRAMA is not the way to speak about The Horror.

I heard Ruta's editors did a lot of slaying. They cut out a lot of the more disturbingY scenes. So probably the dead people being thrown away besides the train is the most disturbing thing ever. Are you fucking serious? Bad editors, bad! Now go and sit in the corner.

"Between Shades Of Grey" is in a list of recommended literature for 7-8th graders. How can this book be together with "To Kill A Mocking Bird" or "Promise Of Dawn"? Ugh.

The only thing I liked was in the beginning - where grown ups talked about Stalin and Hitler. The writer did it quite well - she did not succumb to the Western opinion that Hitler was the greatest evil of them all. The scene was really realistic - a lot of people in Lithuania at the time thought that Hitler could save them from Stalin, therefore, he must be good. The writer let readers to dangle a bit on this thought and then gave way for the Jewish guy in the company to say his word. Then the grown ups agreed on the two devils neither of which is any better than the other.

I'm really disappointed that this book represents the Lithuanian Horror.

via GIPHY

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7 likes · Like · see review

Dec 02, 2018 Živilė rated it it was amazing

Iš daugelio žmonių girdėjau, kad šita knyga gera. Prieš pradedant skaityt galvojau kad jinai bus gera. Bet nežinojau, kad jinai bus tokia gera. Iš ties privertė apie daug ką susimąstyti, ypač apie praeitį. Niekada per daug negalvojau kaip iš ties buvo ten Sibire. Puiki knyga, privertusi nubraukti ašarą.

2 likes · Like · see review