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A review by bethmara
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
5.0
4.5
Set the beginning of World War II, Shades of Gray follows the story of Lina, a girl caught by the Soviet invasion of Lithuania. Her family is broken apart and she's forced to live in unfathomable circumstances in the Arctic tundra farming root vegetables with her mother and brother and attempting to survive brutal conditions and heartless guards.
The is told with great empathy for her mother, who is broken at the loss of her husband trying to raise her children in starvation and hopelessness.
Lena manages to find decency in camaraderie within the internment farm while her mother and other families continue to diminish mentally and physically.
Small kindnesses become life-saving interventions and, through the eyes of Lina, there's little malice or despair, just efforts to make sense of incomprehensible circumstances.
While it sounds like a dreary Anne Frank inspired novel, there are good things that happen and the ending is by no means a foregone conclusion.
Overall, a gripping read with entirely sympathetic characters you cheer for and (occasionally) mourn.
The book includes a post script detailing Soviet internment camps in the Arctic Circle.
Set the beginning of World War II, Shades of Gray follows the story of Lina, a girl caught by the Soviet invasion of Lithuania. Her family is broken apart and she's forced to live in unfathomable circumstances in the Arctic tundra farming root vegetables with her mother and brother and attempting to survive brutal conditions and heartless guards.
The is told with great empathy for her mother, who is broken at the loss of her husband trying to raise her children in starvation and hopelessness.
Lena manages to find decency in camaraderie within the internment farm while her mother and other families continue to diminish mentally and physically.
Small kindnesses become life-saving interventions and, through the eyes of Lina, there's little malice or despair, just efforts to make sense of incomprehensible circumstances.
While it sounds like a dreary Anne Frank inspired novel, there are good things that happen and the ending is by no means a foregone conclusion.
Overall, a gripping read with entirely sympathetic characters you cheer for and (occasionally) mourn.
The book includes a post script detailing Soviet internment camps in the Arctic Circle.