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Book Review of Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray
kimberlyrav avatar reviewed on + 417 more book reviews


What a compelling, sad, lonely, yet victorious piece of history. As with any book dealing with victims of the holocaust, it can be very difficult to read. This is a unique book in that it is told from the perspective of a young Lithuanian girl. She is sent to a prison camp along with her mother and brother, while her father is sent separately to another prison camp far from them.

The father was a professor at a University in Lithuania. In all of the politics and he said, she said, this young girl and her family are forced into the same life experienced by the Jews and other peoples the regime found fault with. I am not very good at explaining things from WW2, I get confused about Stalin and Hitler and the people's and countries involved during that time. This book was more about Stalin and the Russians imprisoning this girls family and many others. Only one Jewish man is in their camp out of hundreds.

Lina, for whom the story is about, ends up in the Arctic along with other prisoners, dying of starvation, cruel treatment, Dysentery, Typhoid, the struggle with lice. Trying to hold on to the good times before this all began, using memories as a way of escaping these horrific hardships that none of us, could really ever imagine. It is tough to write a review on this without delving into history that frankly I need more education on.

I highly recommend this book, especially to those who enjoyed reading Anne Frank's Diary and other accounts during this dark time of the worlds history.