Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray
Ruta Sepetys
Series: None
Released: March 22, 2011
Publisher: Philomel Books
Rating: 4.5 stars
Word Rating: What do I do with my life now?
Reviewed by: Mel

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.

"We'd been trying to touch the sky from the bottom of the ocean."

I feel like I've been stripped from all the humanity I'd ever had (If I had any). I feel like ripping my hair out, I feel like screaming into my pillow. I feel unsettled. I feel naked. That's how raw this novel was. So raw it made me feel stinging clean to the bone in nakedness. And, if it were my choice, I'd do this all over again because Between Shades of Gray was so, so worth it.

It's the year 1941 during World War II when Lena's family is torn apart. Separated from her father; Lena, her mother and ten-year-old brother are labelled as criminals by the soviet officers as they are thrown into a dishevelled train car. This is where they begin a journey that never seems to end. The conditions are dire, working under severe weathers become Lena's daily routine. Food and water are expectedly scarce. And Lena has no idea if her father is still alive; however her passion for art seems to help her along the way. In numerous aspects, Between Shades of Gray is a powerful novel that people across all ages should read.

There are many themes Ruta Sepetys addresses that make this novel utterly whole. Death, sacrifice, but more importantly, hope. This unwavering, strong element practically jumped out of the pages. Hope and trust definitely became something awfully valued during the war, and Ruta certainly flourished and expanded on it to something so outstanding, and so impacting. Hope for survival, life, family. It's a never ending, never dying element. It's always there, yet it depends on whether you acknowledge it or not. Whether you'll cherish it, or ignore it and be faithless. And in Between Shades of Gray, we get to see different people dealing with hope on varying degrees.

What hit it home for Ruta Sepetys’ debut was her characters that she built. These characters seemed to actually come off the ongoing themes that appeared throughout the novel. Lina's narrative point was touching, the way she spoke and told her story made her seem wise, yet still young and strong with faith. I fell in love with Lina after only a few pages in, her selflessness and heart kept me enthralled. However Lina could be bitter, nonetheless it was at understandable times, it was over dramatic-ised as such. Her words are concise and blunt, they aren't necessarily sugar-coated when Lina speaks, for she speaks of what she sees.

Another favourite of mine was the relationships, some strengthen, others weaken and there are the few that begin. It's truly amazing how fast relationships grow during harsh times. Lina, her mother and brother's relationship was evidently the firmest. The three of them were welcoming and sweet, all caring and gosh, I must say, one of my favourite families of all time. However there's also a romance, it wasn't a focal point yet it was bittersweet and truthful. There isn't irrelevant drama, it's authentic to the time period.

My only issue with this book was the slight slow pace in the first half of the novel, other than that Between Shades of Gray was phenomenal. Something everyone needs to try.