Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Although this book had overtones of many other books of this time period, I still felt it a compelling story.  It is the story of Lina, a fifteen-year-old girl, living a full and normal life in Lithuania 1941.  One night the Soviet Secret Police break into her home.  Her father has already been taken, and now she, her mother and her brother are being deported.  They have just a few minutes to gather some belongings. Then they are brought to a train and crammed into a boxcar bound for Siberia. The train is crowded and miserable, but that is just the beginning of their troubles.  After traveling for a long time in deplorable conditions, they finally arrive at a work camp in Siberia.  In these trying circumstances, Sepetys portrays the many facets of human nature. Lina's mother tries to see the best in others as well as their situation, but the bald man refuses to see good in anything. Sepetys, however, is able to round out the characters so they become more than stereotypes. As the years pass, they face even more dire circumstances and struggle with starvation,scurvy, typhus, and lice.  Lina is able to record the events with her drawings, which she passes along, hoping they will be sent to her father.  I truly was drawn into this story, which captures an often forgotten chapter of history. 



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