From the Bookshelf of 2025 Reading Challenge…

Between Shades of Gray

Ruta Sepetys

Start date: December 1, 2014

Finish date: December 31, 2014

Discussion leader: Londa

Why we're reading this: December Group Read
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What Members Thought

Dec 02, 2014 Kara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, book-club, nook, young-adult

Between Shades of Gray is the story of Lina, a fifteen year old suddenly ripped from her life in Lithuania, the only life she's ever known, and taken on a terrifying journey to a work camp with her mother and brother. She doesn't know why they're being taken or where her father is.

The story here is amazing and one that needs to be told. I know embarrassingly little about the penal labor camps in Siberia operated by imperial Russia. I don't remember learning about them at ALL in school, but hist ...more

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May 23, 2013 Emily rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult-lit, historical-fiction, read-in-2013

I definitely enjoyed this read, if "enjoyed" is a word you can use about a gut-wrenching book depicting the atrocities carried out against Lithuanians in World War II. I read it quickly, despite there being more than a few times I had to put the book down to collect myself after some particularly gut-wrenching para. That said, I just couldn't connect with many of the characters. The book's beginning and ending seemed abrupt and clunky. I thought we would care more if we could see these character ...more

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Apr 04, 2019 Angela Jones rated it liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I was going to give the book 4 stars, because I found the story very intriguing. It is amazing that so little is known about Lithuania and what happened to its people during Stalin's reign of terror and I think she does a wonderful job of bringing that to life in the novel. The author creates a very vivid picture of life during the forced slavery of thousands of Baltic citizens and the book is a very emotional account of these struggles. I think the author makes it very easy to sympathize with L I was going to give the book 4 stars, because I found the story very intriguing. It is amazing that so little is known about Lithuania and what happened to its people during Stalin's reign of terror and I think she does a wonderful job of bringing that to life in the novel. The author creates a very vivid picture of life during the forced slavery of thousands of Baltic citizens and the book is a very emotional account of these struggles. I think the author makes it very easy to sympathize with Lina, and root for her throughout her captivity. But it is not without flaws.

First, I think one of the strongest parts of the novel is the burgeoning love story between Lina and Andrius and I wish she had brought that full circle during the novel and not just alluded to it in the epilogue from fifty years in the future.

Second, the ending feels so abrupt. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I need another 100 pages of the torture and suffering of Lina and the others, but it didn't feel like the natural ending to the story. We know that they were in Siberia for over a decade, but were they sent somewhere else? Did Kretsky get punished for helping them? What happened when they were released? How did they return to their homes? How did Andrius finally reunite with Lina? These were just some of the questions I wish were answered in the novel. We get a short glimpse of the possible outcomes of some things but only cryptically and in the epilogue. I just wish it was explored a little more completely.

Third, we never find out what really happened with Lina's father. I was waiting to hear one way or the other if he survived his imprisonment or not, and she never alludes to it again after the Doctor tells her the news of his death may not be entirely accurate.

Overall, a great book. Very well researched and a wonderful group of characters that get thrust together in the worst of times and are able to work together, support each other and ultimately survive in the harshest of circumstances. ...more

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