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clarereadstheworld's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.5
Have you ever read a book which left you shocked to your core?
It is hard to know how to start writing a review of a book as harrowing as this one. The ghost of Dalia Grinkevičiutė will definitely stay with me for a long time, and the current war only makes this read more chilling.
In 1941, at the age of 14, Dalia and her family were deported by the Soviets to forced labour camps in Siberia. What followed were long challenging years of hard work, minimal rations, polar winters, death and disease. Amazingly, Dalia finally managed to escape, and while in hiding back in Lithuania she wrote the story of her years in the Siberian Labour camps. Fearing the KBG, she buried her papers in her garden. Many years later, in 1991 the story was found by chance, and published.
Although she was not writing while she was in Siberia, but several years later, Dalia writes in the present. The reader has the feeling that although she may be writing from a place of relative security, her experiences of the long, harsh polar winter have never left Dalia. It's a grueling read, the details of the conditions in the labour camp and graphic, and it's heartbreaking to be reminded what humans do to other humans.
This is definitely not an enjoyable read, it's tough and upsetting, but I think it's also an important read. We can not pick and choose which pieces of history we want to remember, and we mustn't shy away from the ugly parts of the past.
It is hard to know how to start writing a review of a book as harrowing as this one. The ghost of Dalia Grinkevičiutė will definitely stay with me for a long time, and the current war only makes this read more chilling.
In 1941, at the age of 14, Dalia and her family were deported by the Soviets to forced labour camps in Siberia. What followed were long challenging years of hard work, minimal rations, polar winters, death and disease. Amazingly, Dalia finally managed to escape, and while in hiding back in Lithuania she wrote the story of her years in the Siberian Labour camps. Fearing the KBG, she buried her papers in her garden. Many years later, in 1991 the story was found by chance, and published.
Although she was not writing while she was in Siberia, but several years later, Dalia writes in the present. The reader has the feeling that although she may be writing from a place of relative security, her experiences of the long, harsh polar winter have never left Dalia. It's a grueling read, the details of the conditions in the labour camp and graphic, and it's heartbreaking to be reminded what humans do to other humans.
This is definitely not an enjoyable read, it's tough and upsetting, but I think it's also an important read. We can not pick and choose which pieces of history we want to remember, and we mustn't shy away from the ugly parts of the past.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement, Death, and Forced institutionalization
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