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Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys

Post 1
01/25/18
7:50pm

The YA novel, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys was a work of historical fiction, yet I found myself constantly having to remind myself of that fact. The characters were created by the author. The experiences the characters had in the story were obviously based on historical research. It was truly an amazing read. I found myself hooked. I read the entire book in two days. It was fast-paced, and I found myself caring about the characters, which is truly important for a YA novel. It explored many themes.

The most prevalent theme was hope. We see hope shown in Lina's mother, Elena. Throughout the story, until her death, she is full of hope that she and her family will get out. She believes they will be able to go home. She assures Jonas and Lida of this every occasion she gets.When Elena dies, Lina seems to take on the task of being hopeful. Everyone around her is dying, and she worries about surviving the winter. Jonas starts to believe that they will all die, as he has come down with scurvy again, but Lina forcefully tells him that they will survive, and make it out.

The character development was quite interesting in this story. We see the events through the eyes of Lina, and she matures throughout the story. In the beginning, she worries mostly about herself and her family. She does not care as much for anyone else. We can see this when she makes assumptions about Andrius and his mother. She eventually finds out what is really going on, and apologizes to Andrius. I think most of her character development happens because of Andrius. We see her go from not trusting him when they are first at the camp, to loving him in the end when she and her family are forced to leave. In a way, he forces her to look at a bigger picture past herself and her family.

The plot of the story is fast-paced, which is good for a YA novel (as I stated earlier). An adolescent reader will be more likely to stay engaged. The struggles of the characters were truly horrific, which may draw readers into the story. Isn't it why stories such as The Book Thief and Night are so popular? The text positions adolescents as having to fend for themselves. Lida only talks to her father once in the entire story, and her mother dies towards the end of the novel. At sixteen, Lida is responsible for eleven-year-old Jonas and helps care for the sick. She takes on the task of figuring out where her father was taken, and she steals her file in order to figure this out. No one helped her steal the file, and Andrius, who was seventeen, helped her by returning the file before officers noticed it was gone. Because adolescents are shown as independent in this story, it will appeal to the readers.

Grade: A-

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