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A review by drkbloodfntsies
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
5.0
⠀⠀✧ • ° . ◦ *⠀┊ four and a half stars.
⠀i bought this book for two reasons. i've heard nothing but fantastic things about ruta sepetys and because shes coming to my university in a few weeks. she's coming to speak about her works involving the soviet union, so this book will be a main topic. historical fiction isn't my favorite genre by any means so for me to like this as much as i did, that really says something about this.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀” have you ever wondered what a human
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ life is worth? that morning, my brother's
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ was worth a pocket watch. “
.
⠀things i really enjoyed:
❥ ┊the realism.
⠀⠀⠀⠀most, if not all, of the events in the novel are based on events that happened to real people. sepetys was able to recreate these events and craft them around characters that felt just as real. it felt like i was reading a really well-written textbook.
❥ ┊the characters.
⠀⠀⠀⠀although some of these characters weren't present in the story all that long, i felt connected to them by the last page. some characters met their fate and no matter how long i knew them, i felt for them. each character had their own history and purpose. i really appreciated that.
❥ ┊journal entries.
⠀⠀⠀⠀i thought lina's journal entries were a nice touch. with the addition of these pieces, you got an insight into lina's past life while also understanding the current events.
⠀things i thought were... okay:
❥ ┊the writing STYLE.
⠀⠀⠀⠀i enjoyed the writing. it was simple and to the point, while providing the detail the reader needed. however, it felt kind of juvinelle at some points. i pretty much only noticed this at the beginning before i really got into the story. with that said, ive also been reading more complicated novels for a literature class so this could be the reason why i felt this way.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀overall, this was pretty amazing. with the exception of the occasional gripes about the writing, i don't have many complants. this is the best (and one of the few) historical fiction novels i've read. granted, i'm a little bais seeing as how i love all topics related to russia and wwii. to put this in perspective, i'm minoring in russian (studies and language). this book shone a light on a topic i thought i was knowledgeable on. it made me feel more than i thought i could. this book made what happened pre-wwii real and not some passage in my textbook. if you enjoy the topic or the genre or the author, you will enjoy this.
⠀i bought this book for two reasons. i've heard nothing but fantastic things about ruta sepetys and because shes coming to my university in a few weeks. she's coming to speak about her works involving the soviet union, so this book will be a main topic. historical fiction isn't my favorite genre by any means so for me to like this as much as i did, that really says something about this.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀” have you ever wondered what a human
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ life is worth? that morning, my brother's
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ was worth a pocket watch. “
.
⠀things i really enjoyed:
❥ ┊the realism.
⠀⠀⠀⠀most, if not all, of the events in the novel are based on events that happened to real people. sepetys was able to recreate these events and craft them around characters that felt just as real. it felt like i was reading a really well-written textbook.
❥ ┊the characters.
⠀⠀⠀⠀although some of these characters weren't present in the story all that long, i felt connected to them by the last page. some characters met their fate and no matter how long i knew them, i felt for them. each character had their own history and purpose. i really appreciated that.
❥ ┊journal entries.
⠀⠀⠀⠀i thought lina's journal entries were a nice touch. with the addition of these pieces, you got an insight into lina's past life while also understanding the current events.
⠀things i thought were... okay:
❥ ┊the writing STYLE.
⠀⠀⠀⠀i enjoyed the writing. it was simple and to the point, while providing the detail the reader needed. however, it felt kind of juvinelle at some points. i pretty much only noticed this at the beginning before i really got into the story. with that said, ive also been reading more complicated novels for a literature class so this could be the reason why i felt this way.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀overall, this was pretty amazing. with the exception of the occasional gripes about the writing, i don't have many complants. this is the best (and one of the few) historical fiction novels i've read. granted, i'm a little bais seeing as how i love all topics related to russia and wwii. to put this in perspective, i'm minoring in russian (studies and language). this book shone a light on a topic i thought i was knowledgeable on. it made me feel more than i thought i could. this book made what happened pre-wwii real and not some passage in my textbook. if you enjoy the topic or the genre or the author, you will enjoy this.