Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray

by Ruta Sepetys

Published by Philomel Books: March 22nd 2011

Paperback: 344 pages

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Star Rating: 3/5 

Synopsis:

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, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruellest of conditions. 

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously -- and at great risk -- documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

My Review:

This was my first Ruta Sepetys novel and I am fairly certain it won't be my last! 

This story is about a huge tragedy in history that I am ashamed to say I knew nothing about before I read this book. If nothing else, this book is a fantastic educational tool, but it is so much more. Not knowing the particulars of this story originally made it even more heartbreaking. Around the time of World War 2, 1941 to be precise, Baltic people were deported to Siberia and made to work/live in horrendous conditions. Some of them died, some killed themselves but this story is about the strength and love between them all in the fight to survive.

Lina, as a character, was brilliantly depicted and I felt everything she did and said throughout. I loved her relationships with the people around her and her despair and love for her absent father was a beautiful storyline. Lina's father was arrested and taken to a prison away from the rest of the family and so in a bid to connect with him, Lina draws everything she sees or encounters. She hopes that her father will find the drawings but she is also terrified that they will be found by the Soviet officers. It's a difficult line to walk and ultimately, she has to deal with the consequences.

This book is definitely much more character-centred than plot- based and it's very different to any other World War 2 book I have ever read. There wasn't a huge plot but it left space in the book to explore the relationships and the feelings surrounding what was happening. I wanted to reach inside the book and help them all out and it was an incredibly humbling experience reading about such tragedy.

The only reason I gave this book 3 stars rather than any higher was because it was told from Lina's perspective. While this was emotional and harrowing reading from such a young perspective about such adult things, it was also crippling in terms of relating to the book. I found I was on the outside of the story because it was such a young narration style. I almost wish this book had been told from multiple perspectives so that some of it was from Lina but maybe her mother or father had narrative as well, to make it more rounded and also a more 'enjoyable' read.

Overall, three stars is a decent rating and I did very much enjoy this book. I would recommend to anyone who has an interest in learning about a part of history they may not have previous knowledge of. 

Until next time, happy reading!