Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Ashes in the Snow by Ruta Sepetys

10 reviews

scholastic_squid's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Soviets are f*cked up. I am glad I bought a historical non-fiction about all this part of history as I will continue my journey of learning about Russian and Ukraine. 
The story told here is fictional however many of the experiences that occurred throughout were from actual events that happened to those imprisoned by Stalin. Lina was deported from Lithuania to Russia up into the Arctic Circle along with her mother and younger brother. Lina turned 16 before heading to the AC, while her brother was still around 12. If the imprisoned didn’t die from malnutrition, they were shot by the NKVD (later known as the KGB). Stalin was arguably worse than Hitler and would have done far more damage if left to his own devices. He killed 20 million ppl around the same time that Hitler killed approximately the same amount. That’s 40 million people gone within an approx 10 year timeframe. That would be the entire state of California….

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Religious bigotry, Grief, Terminal illness, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Deportation, Torture, Suicide attempt, Genocide, Slavery, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Death, and Chronic illness

chelle22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Deportation, Murder, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Blood, Violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Rape, Slavery, War, Sexual violence, Torture, Cannibalism, Confinement, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Dysphoria, Genocide, Deadnaming, Death of parent, and Excrement

katrinaburch's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

What a book... I was a little worried because, while well written, I wasn't a huge fan of Between the Salt and the Sea. This book is much better and excellent. While not quite my favorite (That would be The Fountains of Silence), this was so good. My only issue is that

I wish we could have known if Lena's father survived. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Torture, Violence, Genocide, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Bullying, Deportation, and Rape

princessdana36's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I don’t know if I was in the right headspace for this book. It was so well written and meaningful to the author. It was dark and dismal and I don’t know if there was a payoff in the end, but I think that if you need a break from Holocaust lit this is a good substitute. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Antisemitism, Bullying, Genocide, Torture, and War

jojo50's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Bullying, Confinement, Hate crime, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, and Genocide

Moderate: Xenophobia, Torture, Violence, and War

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Wow, what an incredibly powerful and important book! I am so grateful Ruta wrote this, it is so important we do not forget what happened to these amazing people. 

The book begins immediately with Lina and her brother and her mother getting taken to start working in a camp. 

The story is told rather methodically, “I said this, she did this, this happened then that happened” which I did not think I would like. However, I enjoyed the simplicity and that there weren’t a lot of purple prose or anything, nothing to distract you from the direct words you were reading. 

This is Ruta’s first published book and it definitley sounds/reads different than her others that I’ve read. But I still enjoyed it, as much as one can enjoy such a heart breaking book. 

I am not a crier but I did cry at the end, it moved and touched me so very deeply. 

As Ruta is Lithuanian, this felt like an homage to those who endured in silence for so long. I’m so glad light is being shed on the truth of what so many that suffered in silence went through for so many years... 

Quotes: 
“Have you ever wondered how much a person’s life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch.” 

“We’d been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean. I realized that if we boosted one another, maybe we’d get a little closer.” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Police brutality, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, and Violence

sofmar917's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Amazing book and incredibly sad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Vomit, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Physical abuse, Murder, Medical content, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Antisemitism, and Ableism

solaris_zip's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The first book I have ever read from Sepetys was “salt to the sea” and I immediately fall in love with the writing style, the character, the flow of the words. Today I had the pleasure of finishing “between shades of grey “ and it did not disappoint. From the writing, to the character development Sepetys always knows what she is doing. The story is heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time, you can feel Lina’s emotions on your own skin. The desire of freedom, that little spark of hope that never fully dies in her. The book shows, in a way or another, just a small portion of what 1000, it not more, people had to go through during WW2. And how those events scarred them and the generations to come. The book itself brings awareness to something that should be spoken more about, not just the moral of the book per se, but also about the tragic situation that those people where put in. What they went trough, what they had to see, what they had to leave behind and what they have lost in between. Rita Sepetys never fails to amaze me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Death of parent, and Sexism

Minor: Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Gaslighting, and Slavery

mimela78's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

WWII historical fiction seems to be everywhere right now. Even if you feel like you read them all you need to read this story. While most focus on Germany or Japan this is a look at the Soviet treatment of the Baltic states during this timeframe. The book opens with Lila, a 15 year old, and her family being arrested by the NKVD, precusor to the KGB, because her father was a professor at the university. As the story progresses we follow Lila, Jonas, her younger brother, and her Mom from their home in Lithuania to exile in Siberia. Along the journey you meet other people from her same village and the community they form to survive the brutality of the climate and the NKVD.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

brookey8888's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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


This book broke my heart. This is a very important book to me though because I am Lithuanian and my great grandmother was born there. I learned a lot. Like I didn’t even know this happened and it disgusts me. Like how did the world come to that? Everyone should read this!! I’m going to be shoving this down everyone’s throat telling them to read it.

Reread
I honestly enjoyed this more the second time. I think it’s because of the state of the world. I just love all the characters and how strong they are. I just can’t believe this even happened. I loved how these people found happiness or hope in little things to keep going. It’s very inspirational. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Death of parent, Excrement, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Confinement, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and War