Review: Between Shades of Gray

by Ruta Sepetys
publisher: Philomel
date published: March 22, 2011
format: hardcover
pages: 344
source: library
Amazon / Goodreads / B&N

From Goodreads:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously - and at great risk - documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

What I Thought

Between Shades of Gray is a beautifully written account of a point in European history that doesn't seem to be discussed enough. I know that I had never heard about the atrocities that the Lithuanian people had been subjected to during WWII at the hands of the Soviets, not in my history classes nor in the history books I've read. Lina is a veritable guide into the past as her journey from Lithuania to the Arctic is detailed and her experience in the Gulag labor camps of Siberia (which models that of those who truly lived it) is painful, harrowing, and poignant all at the same time.

The characters featured with Between Shades of Gray are, as a set, wholly believable and make up a vast array of personalities. From the horribly abrasive "Bald Man" to the wonderfully strong and optimistic Elena (Lina's mother), this book provides a glimpse at the various ways in which a human being can react to tragedy and strife. Lina herself, while succumbing to her more negative emotions from time to time, maintains a steadfast determination to survive that is truly admirable. That she still experiences fear, anger, and defiance serves to emphasize just how strong she really is. This, as well as other character traits, make for an engrossing read that will draw you into the world as this strong group of people experience it.

Lina's art is another aspect of the book that I find to be really appealing. The descriptions Ruta Sepetys uses in depicting Lina's way of viewing the world and the way her art flows from her imagination are almost poetic in their constructs. That Lina uses her gift as a way of communicating with her father is all the more compelling and truly enhances the overall message of the story. Lina pours her heart into her creations. That she uses them as a means of communicating and remembering make for an even more haunting and intriguing narration.
Between Shades of Gray is another historical YA novel that I will be most happy to add to my shelves. The way that the characters engage my attention and the poignancy that the story as a whole is made up of combine to create a truly memorable book that will stay with me for years to come. I give Between Shades of Gray 5 hoots.