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A review by streetwrites
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
5.0
I knew from friend recommendations and the blurbs on the cover that this one wasn't going to be cushy and pleasant. This novel is written with such a brutal honesty, and yet manages to round out my 2016 reading year as the most beautiful prose I've read in a very long time. The characters, the places, and the horror of a shadow war that was really happening right under everyone's noses are brought vividly to life in these pages.
Sepetys manages to give us a poignant story, told from the perspective of a 15 year-old girl who is ripped away from her existence in Lithuania when the Soviet Union (an ally of the US at the time) decides to occupy the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. What ensues is the harrowing tale of deportation, excruciating travel arrangements, hard labor, harsh winters, death and despair. Our main character, Lina, endures all of these awful things alongside a group of characters we come to know and love (mostly...some of them are quite ornery and difficult to like, but in a good way as far as the storytelling is concerned).
It didn't take me long to understand how the title is derived from the story. We learn that the world, especially the one Lina lives in, is rarely dictated by black and white decisions and sentiments. It's difficult to place labels of "good" and "evil" on certain individuals in this novel and the fact that all of the characters and situations are based on real-life accounts the author uncovered in her research makes the metaphor of it all even more meaningful.
This story will stay with me for a very long time. I cried actual real tears, and the prose reached deep into my emotions. It made me consider—truly consider—how I myself would react to these horrors, and to the loss experienced by Lina in the story. I don't know that I would possess even a fraction of the strength required to survive such an experience.
I often rail on Americans who express sentiments of blind nationalism and patriotic pride (when it's misplaced, I should say; not always, but often). The people of Lithuania and the Baltics have every right to their patriotism. Reading this novel and being forced to do some of my own research on Stalin's secret genocide have made me fully appreciate the resilience of a people who went through literal hell for decades. This book will stay with me for a very long time. Maybe forever. It's definitely one I'll read again someday.
Sepetys manages to give us a poignant story, told from the perspective of a 15 year-old girl who is ripped away from her existence in Lithuania when the Soviet Union (an ally of the US at the time) decides to occupy the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia. What ensues is the harrowing tale of deportation, excruciating travel arrangements, hard labor, harsh winters, death and despair. Our main character, Lina, endures all of these awful things alongside a group of characters we come to know and love (mostly...some of them are quite ornery and difficult to like, but in a good way as far as the storytelling is concerned).
It didn't take me long to understand how the title is derived from the story. We learn that the world, especially the one Lina lives in, is rarely dictated by black and white decisions and sentiments. It's difficult to place labels of "good" and "evil" on certain individuals in this novel and the fact that all of the characters and situations are based on real-life accounts the author uncovered in her research makes the metaphor of it all even more meaningful.
This story will stay with me for a very long time. I cried actual real tears, and the prose reached deep into my emotions. It made me consider—truly consider—how I myself would react to these horrors, and to the loss experienced by Lina in the story. I don't know that I would possess even a fraction of the strength required to survive such an experience.
I often rail on Americans who express sentiments of blind nationalism and patriotic pride (when it's misplaced, I should say; not always, but often). The people of Lithuania and the Baltics have every right to their patriotism. Reading this novel and being forced to do some of my own research on Stalin's secret genocide have made me fully appreciate the resilience of a people who went through literal hell for decades. This book will stay with me for a very long time. Maybe forever. It's definitely one I'll read again someday.