Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Septys

 Between Shades of Gray

Bibliography

Septys, Ruta.  2011.  Between Shades of Gray.  New York, NY: Philomel.  ISBN 9780142420591.

Plot Summary

Lina, a fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl and her family were taken from their home in 1941 during Stalin's occupation of the Baltic states.  Lina, her brother Jonas, and mother Elena were taken on one train to a beet farm in Siberia, but her father was sent elsewhere.  Throughout the entire torturous journey and work camp experience, Lina, a talented artist, tries to send word to her father through drawings.  Elena holds the family together and is a rock for the other prisoners, and Andrius, a boy they met on the train, helps Lina and her brother survive on more than one occasion.  After many months at the beet farm, Lina's family and some of the other families, but not Andrius and his mother, were loaded again on a train and taken to a remote coast north of the Arctic Circle where the prisoners had to build shelters from scraps in the extreme cold and snow and were given only a piece of bread each day.  Many people, including Lina's mother, succumb to the cold and illness, although Elena didn't give up until she found out her husband had been killed in prison.  Just when Lina thought she would lose her brother, too, reinforcements and medical treatment arrived after one of the guards, who Lina despised, was moved by Elena's kindness and her death and reported the inhumane conditions to the higher Russian authorities.  Although we find out in the epilogue that Lina was imprisoned for another decade after this incident, the story ends with a sliver of arctic sunrise and the smallest light of hope for survival and the future. 

Critical Analysis

In this novel, Septys does an excellent job of portraying the horrors inflicted on the Lithuanians and other Baltic people under Stalin's regime.  From describing the disturbing smells and sounds of the unclean train conditions, the expressions of the commander when Lina draws his portrait, to the biting cold of the camp in Trofimovsk the reader can really imagine what it like to be in Lina's shoes.  While everyone knows what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, the plight of the Baltic people is lesser know yet just as tragic.  Septys' grandfather and his family experienced being imprisoned in Siberian labor camps, which is what motivated her to write the story.

While Lina is the central character in the story, it is really her mother, Elena, that gives both Lina and the reader lessons in how to survive.  Above all, she fights to keep her family together, trading her valuables to keep Jonah with her and Lina when they first were taken from home.  She was always calm, polite, and generous to others, even those who did not deserve it or show any kindness, and even when she herself was suffering.  She even showed compassion to the guards such as Kretzsky, who ended up reporting the inhumane camp conditions to Russian authorities after Elena died from malnourishment, illness, and a broken heart.  Because Elena's kindness touched him, he was moved to action.  This teaches us to always be kind no matter what, as it can make a difference in others and provide us with hope.

Awards & Review Excerpts

2012 William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist

2012 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist

2012 Indies Choice Book Award Winner

2012 Golden Kite Award Fiction Winner

 

Publishers Weekly Starred, 1/3/2011

"A harrowing page-turner, made all the more so for its basis in historical fact, the novel illuminates the persecution suffered by Stalin's victims (20 million were killed), while presenting memorable characters who retain their will to survive even after more than a decade in exile."

School Library Journal Starred, 3/1/2011 by Renee Steinberg

"This is a grim tale of suffering and death, but one that needs telling. Mention is made of some Lithuanians' collaboration with the Nazis, but for the most part the deportees were simply caught in a political web. Unrelenting sadness permeates this novel, but there are uplifting moments when the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for compassion take over. This is a gripping story that gives young people a window into a shameful, but likely unfamiliar history."

 

Connections

I think this novel does a great job of highlighting the little-known atrocities committed against the Baltic people at the beginning of World War II.  The book includes some great discussion questions that could be used with students to analyze the story, and the plight of the Baltic people under Stalin could be compared to the genocide of the Jews under Hitler.  Readers might also enjoy Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen, also about Russian occupation of Lithuania, ISBN 9781338275780, or Traci Chee's We Are Not Free, about Japanese-Americans being held in camps during World War II, ISBN 9780358668107.  There is also a graphic novel version of Between Shades of Gray, ISBN 9780593404850, that might appeal to more reluctant readers.