Sepetys, Ruta. Between Shades of Gray. New York: Philomel Books, 2011. ISBN: 0399254129
Summary: Between Shades of Gray takes you along on a journey of survival full of people holding on to their lives by remembering their past, grasping on to what is still good, hoping to one day return to their homes and their loved ones. These unfortunate folks were dealt a horrible hand by Josef Stalin during early 1940s, enduring hardships no human being should be subject to.
Analysis: This is a painful read at every turn of the page, but that being said, it is true to the time, place, and situation. The characters you meet along the way are everyday people. Ones you would meet in your everyday life. Some you hate, others you love. Sepetys does a fantastic job bringing the reader into the lives of the Lithuanian people during the 1940s and their tragic encounter with Stalin's reign. You fight along side them, wanting them to survive this horrid time. You find yourself hating the Soviet soldiers, aching for the main character, Lina, her family, and all the others that surround them to persevere.
The story opens up in the summer of 1941, with a lovely family going about their daily routines when suddenly there is banging on the door. From that moment forward Sepetys take you on the long miserable trek for over 440 days from Lithuania through the prison labor camps of Russia to Siberia. At the front of the book is a map depicting "The Journey" and another one that shows the "Timeline" for each new stop along the way. Septeys did her research thoroughly basing much of what was written on survivors accounts. It is brutal as she does not gloss over anything. You will cringe, feel disgusted, appalled. You will hope and you will cry for you know millions of people endured this hardship, this inhuman act. You feel it build inside Lina... "I hated them, the NKVD and the Soviets. I planted a seed of hatred in my heart. I swore it would grow to be a massive tree whose roots would strangle them all."
Sepetys story is told from fifteen year old Lina's perspective. You see everything through her eyes and you visualize it all vividly with the imagery provided for each new encounter at every setting along their treacherous travels. "We made our way through the crowd, like a small boat cutting through a storm, unsure if we'd be sucked in or stay afloat." The use of figurative language by way of similes and metaphors paint the picture in the mind of the reader. The font change from normal to italics throughout the novel clue the reader into Lina's memories of her family that help us get to know the people they once were while also giving insight of how things led up to where they are now in the story. You "see" Lina making connections along the way with conversations she overheard in the past to the nightmare she is currently living.
Through Lina's voice and her drawings the reader is drawn into her world and what they endure. You feel the thread of hope that all the characters have. You wonder how they held onto it with all that they went through. "Mother quickly wiped off the slime, as if it didn't bother her at all. It bothered me. I wanted to roll the hate up into my mouth and spit it back in his face." Between all the shades of gray that consumes them they always could find something to hold on to, something dear to their hearts that kept them going through each horrific day. "They didn't ask for anything. They were happy to help someone, to succeed at something, even if they weren't to benefit. 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." I, personally, never knew about this time in Russian history. I have been educated quite a bit about Hitler during this same time, but not a lot about the Baltic states and the transition of power to communist Soviet Union. Found in the "Author's Note" located in the back Sepetys explains her journey and research for this book leaving us with... "They chose hope over hate and showed the world that even through the darkest night, there is light. Please research it. Tell someone. These three tiny nations have taught us that love is the most powerful army. Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy - love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit."
While there are not many happy times in this novel, you truly come away learning a great deal. Those happy times are too few and far between, but those are the times that keep the victims of this horrific time fighting to live another day, fighting to get back to their home and the people they once were. This book will spark emotions in you that you haven't felt while reading in a long time.
The story opens up in the summer of 1941, with a lovely family going about their daily routines when suddenly there is banging on the door. From that moment forward Sepetys take you on the long miserable trek for over 440 days from Lithuania through the prison labor camps of Russia to Siberia. At the front of the book is a map depicting "The Journey" and another one that shows the "Timeline" for each new stop along the way. Septeys did her research thoroughly basing much of what was written on survivors accounts. It is brutal as she does not gloss over anything. You will cringe, feel disgusted, appalled. You will hope and you will cry for you know millions of people endured this hardship, this inhuman act. You feel it build inside Lina... "I hated them, the NKVD and the Soviets. I planted a seed of hatred in my heart. I swore it would grow to be a massive tree whose roots would strangle them all."
Sepetys story is told from fifteen year old Lina's perspective. You see everything through her eyes and you visualize it all vividly with the imagery provided for each new encounter at every setting along their treacherous travels. "We made our way through the crowd, like a small boat cutting through a storm, unsure if we'd be sucked in or stay afloat." The use of figurative language by way of similes and metaphors paint the picture in the mind of the reader. The font change from normal to italics throughout the novel clue the reader into Lina's memories of her family that help us get to know the people they once were while also giving insight of how things led up to where they are now in the story. You "see" Lina making connections along the way with conversations she overheard in the past to the nightmare she is currently living.
Through Lina's voice and her drawings the reader is drawn into her world and what they endure. You feel the thread of hope that all the characters have. You wonder how they held onto it with all that they went through. "Mother quickly wiped off the slime, as if it didn't bother her at all. It bothered me. I wanted to roll the hate up into my mouth and spit it back in his face." Between all the shades of gray that consumes them they always could find something to hold on to, something dear to their hearts that kept them going through each horrific day. "They didn't ask for anything. They were happy to help someone, to succeed at something, even if they weren't to benefit. 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." I, personally, never knew about this time in Russian history. I have been educated quite a bit about Hitler during this same time, but not a lot about the Baltic states and the transition of power to communist Soviet Union. Found in the "Author's Note" located in the back Sepetys explains her journey and research for this book leaving us with... "They chose hope over hate and showed the world that even through the darkest night, there is light. Please research it. Tell someone. These three tiny nations have taught us that love is the most powerful army. Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy - love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit."
While there are not many happy times in this novel, you truly come away learning a great deal. Those happy times are too few and far between, but those are the times that keep the victims of this horrific time fighting to live another day, fighting to get back to their home and the people they once were. This book will spark emotions in you that you haven't felt while reading in a long time.
Accolades/Scholarly Reviews: Georgia Peach Book Award Nominee for Honor book; Golden Kite Award for Fiction; William C. Morris Debut Award Nominee; Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee; Indies Choice Award Nominee; Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Nominee; Cybils Award Nominee for Young Adult Fiction; Carnegie Medal Nominee; Missouri Gateway Readers Award Nominee and many more.
From Publisher's Weekly 01/03/2011: Through the pained yet resilient narration of 15-year-old Lina, a gifted artist, this taut first novel tells the story of Lithuanians deported and sent to Siberian work camps by Stalin during WWII.
From School Library Journal 03/01/2011: "This novel is based on extensive research and inspired by the author's family background. Told by 15-year-old Lina, a Lithuanian teen with penetrating insight and vast artistic ability, it is a gruesome tale of the deportation of Lithuanians to Siberia starting in 1939. Unrelenting sadness permeates this novel, but there are uplifting moments when the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for compassion take over. This is a gripping story that gives young people a window into a shameful, but likely unfamiliar history."
Connections: After reading or even before, the students could research the artist Edvard Munch and his works, seeing as they were very dear to Lina. The students could research and read the synopsis of the books that Lina would read and cherish, such as Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens. Compare stories with Eli Wiesel's memoir Night, a memoir based on a personal experience of survival in Nazi Germany where one "never forgets man's capacity for inhumanity to man" or read a companion historical-fiction novel Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin.
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