Between Shades of Grey

Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some stories deserve to be told more than others. This is one of those stories. The Lithuanian experiences of World War II and beyond are not as well known as those from western Europe. Stalin's grip on eastern Europe and Russian was crushing - more than 20 million of his own people were killed during his reign. 20 million - we can't even conceive of numbers like that. Coupled with the Hitler's devastation, it's hard to believe that people were able to go on after their collective experiences.

"Between Shades of Grey" follows fifteen-year-old Lina and her family through their nightmare - being torn from their home, from each other, and from their dreams to ultimately ending up in Siberian prison camps. The subtle details that Sepetys layers into her story are beautiful. I only wish that the shades of grey (definitely not the same as James' 50 shades) that Sepetys crafted into Lina's art were visually rendered as part of the story. It would bring the story to life just the same way that the deftly included artwork did in "The Book Thief" or "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". Either way - this is a great book worthy of your time. It's truly a 4.5 star, but I can't help but round up for such an important story.

Happy reading--