“𝓗𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓪 𝓱𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷 𝓵𝓲𝓯𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓱? 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓶𝔂 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻'𝓼 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓱 𝓪 𝓹𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓽𝓬𝓱.”˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ 4.5 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ℝ𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 𝕌𝕡! ˗ˏˋ★‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹Wow! Omg. What a beautiful and heartbreaking story! I can't believe I haven't read anything from Ruta Sepetys until now. We follow our FMC, 15 year-old Lina Vilkas, her mother, and her younger brother are arrested by Soviet police on June 14, 1941, in Kauna...

My thoughts in a nutshell Between Shades of Gray is a harrowing read. My thoughts will be shorter this time because I couldn't say anything about this horrid occasion. :-(The story is about…Skip over this point if you don't like the sneak peek. A Lithuanian girl Lina and her family will be deported to Siberia. She has to learn to survive in a work camp without food or clean clothes. They have to work in terrible circumstances to avoid starvation. Lina is an artist. She draws everything that she...

ruta sepetys has stated that when survivors are gone, we have the obligation to not let the truth disappear with them. that we need to give them a voice. and i think she does that so perfectly with this novel.what i really appreciated about this book in particular was the awareness brought to one aspect of WWII that tends to be forgotten. i see countless of stories about the atrocities hitler enacted against the jewish people, and i think we all tend to get caught up in that that we forget there...

Really loved this book and it's story because I personally have never heard about this side of the war before and I'm so grateful I know about it now.

“Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.” 4.5 stars What a touching story! World War II brought misery to the world, it's common knowledge; However, what isn't though is how the life of the residents of the countries on USSR borders transformed. What they suffered, how much pain they went through and everything they had to endure, to survive. Told from the perspective of a young hopeful artist, Between Shades of Gray shows us t...

I was so taken by the story of Lina and her family and all of the others that came to life here as they were deported from their homes in Lithuania, by Stalin's Russians to a work camp in Siberia. It's a devastatingly sad story of fictional characters but what makes it even more heartbreaking is that this story reflects a true story of a genocide that took the lives of over 20 million people . I am especially saddened by the fact that I knew pretty much nothing about it and I am grateful to the ...

Exactly a year before, the Soviets have begun moving troops over the borders into the country. Then, in August, Lithuania was officially annexed into the Soviet Union. When I complained at the dinner table, Papa yelled at me and told me to never, ever say anything derogatory about the Soviets. He sent me to my room. I didn’t say anything out loud after that. But I thought about it a lot.Despite her father’s caution, 15-year-old Lena Vilkas, her 10-year-old brother Jonas and their mother Elena ar...

This is not a pretty book.Even though I found this novel exceptionally well-written, it was not a pleasure to read. It’s about Lithuanians displaced to Siberian work camps during World War II. It was pretty unflinchingly brutal, but here’s why I think you ought to read it:1. It is a side of World War II that you might not have seen before. I certainly hadn’t heard these stories of displaced Europeans, and I have to say, having been to Lithuania on tour last year, it made so much of what they sai...

Um... so I'm a bit torn on this one but I'm going to rate it 3.5 stars. I think what made it worse was all the bloody hype (like with Matched) that made me think this was going to blow my mind and it kind of just, well, didn't.It was an interesting history lesson. My knowledge of Soviet activities was previously more political than social and anything I did know of the more personal impact on people's lives was what I'd gained from German museums telling the story of the Berlin wall. It's tr...

Actual rating: 4.5 starsAs soon as I saw this video, I knew I had to read this novel. Between Shades of Gray isn't the type of book I'd normally read, but I'm extremely glad that I decided to read it. Lina is a very strong and courageous character. Despite the situation Lina is placed in at the young age of fifteen, she audaciously chooses to write about the terrible cruelties the Soviets are doing to those around her as well as her family and herself. Lina is an artist, and she uses this talent...