Historical+Fiction

Click on the reviews below to see trailers to these YA books.

[|What I Saw and How I Lied]

[|What I Saw and How I Lied2]

Alex Turner Mrs. Thompson-Calio 9 English Honors 23, September 2011 A Trail of Drawings Across a Continent She goes from the comfort of her own home, with her family all around her, to the cold Siberian wilderness in winter, wondering if they will ever be together again. Lina Vilkas ’ s journey from comfort to starvation is told in Ruta Sepety's // Between Shades of Gray. // She and her family are taken prisoner one night by Soviet soldiers and are spirited away to a train station full of innocent people like them. They board a train and within a year are transported all over North-eastern Asia and Russia until reaching their final destination of Siberia. They are contained in concentration camps not unlike Hitler's for the Jews in WWII, with terrible conditions, little to no food, and back breaking labor. I think this historical fiction novel was a wonderful story of hope, survival, love, and life and should be read by teenage girls and women everywhere. I think this book was amazingly well written and had me on the edge of my seat all the way through. The novel starts in Lina's house in Lithuania where their door is pounded upon by Soviet soldiers, also known as the NKVD. Lina, her mother, and her brother Jonas are taken prisoner as her father was already captured. They are taken to a train station where the men are separated from the women, children, and the elderly, and all are forced into cattle cars, wondering, “ Where were they all going? And where were //we// going … ? ” (Sepetys 62) There are hundreds of people in the same situation as them; innocent people being wrongly accused of crimes such as being “ thieves and prostitutes ” (Sepety 41). With Lina being a phenomenal artist, she uses what ever she can get her hands on to draw. It helps relieve her pent up frustration and anger about their situation, but also helps her leave a trail of drawings for her father to follow when, and if he ever gets out of prison. During the journey, those with the Vilkas ’ s in the train car lend moral and physical support to each other, and after weeks of traveling through rural Russia the passengers are sold to communal farms, where they work harvesting beets and potatoes, and doing other odd jobs for the Soviets. After a few months, the Soviets split up the farm. Some stay and work on the farm; others are transported to what is surely to be their deaths. //Between Shades of Gray// hit me right in the heart. It is about a young girl, not unlike me. I to love to draw, and can be just as strong willed and stubborn as Lina sometimes as well. I love how Lina never gives up. “ A tiny sliver of gold appeared between shades of gray on the horizon, ” (Sepetys 336) Throughout the rough journey, Lina hangs on to the one hope that they will one day pull through. That one day, a bit of light will shine through the impenetrable barrier that bars her way, and this I really admired. I think this book is in a category of its own. It is the first of the like that I have read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it page by page. As I said before, I am not that different than Lina, and if it were 1941, I could have ended up in the same situation as Lina. This book I think can be enjoyed by girls and women ages 13 and up, as Lina displays characteristics that teenagers can relate to, but her story and experiences can be shared to those beyond her age. //Between Shades of Gray// is a tale that can survive any era, and should become a classic that can be remembered forever.