Upon opening the book Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, a foreboding and ominous feeling sweeps over you. Each sentence is laced with a gelid and captivating tone. Ruta Sepetys immerses you into the world of Lina Vilkas and her family. The book is saturated with death and lowers the value of human life, but demands for you to turn page after page.
The book does a great job of propelling into the main plot right away while still developing each character. By the time each character dies, you don’t identify them as just a fictional character, but as a person that you have a bond with. Because of this, when somebody dies (which is quite often) it feels as if a close friend of yours has passed in real life. This makes the book hard to read while making it intense at the same time. I like the book very much because it doesn’t hold back the truth. It doesn’t gloss over the past to make it easier to take in. Ruta Sepetys unloads the horrors of the past onto your shoulders through this book. While this makes it unsettling, it makes it more satisfying and more emotional.
Lina, her younger brother Jonas, and their mother; Elena, live an average middle class life in …show more content…
When Jonas has to change his pants because he wet them earlier, Elena asks the family sitting in the corner of the car to move so Jonas can have some privacy. Despite the horrible scenario, the mother of the family refused to move. This scene shocked and horrified me. No matter how bad the circumstances are, people were still so greedy they couldn’t share their corner of a train car for a minute. Put aside the violence and death, this was one of the most disturbing parts for me. It made me realise how greedy and selfish people can be in such a desperate time. This infuriated me, and made my confused at the same time. Because Ruta Sepetys manipulated my emotions and feelings so easily made this part stand out to
The book does a great job of propelling into the main plot right away while still developing each character. By the time each character dies, you don’t identify them as just a fictional character, but as a person that you have a bond with. Because of this, when somebody dies (which is quite often) it feels as if a close friend of yours has passed in real life. This makes the book hard to read while making it intense at the same time. I like the book very much because it doesn’t hold back the truth. It doesn’t gloss over the past to make it easier to take in. Ruta Sepetys unloads the horrors of the past onto your shoulders through this book. While this makes it unsettling, it makes it more satisfying and more emotional.
Lina, her younger brother Jonas, and their mother; Elena, live an average middle class life in …show more content…
When Jonas has to change his pants because he wet them earlier, Elena asks the family sitting in the corner of the car to move so Jonas can have some privacy. Despite the horrible scenario, the mother of the family refused to move. This scene shocked and horrified me. No matter how bad the circumstances are, people were still so greedy they couldn’t share their corner of a train car for a minute. Put aside the violence and death, this was one of the most disturbing parts for me. It made me realise how greedy and selfish people can be in such a desperate time. This infuriated me, and made my confused at the same time. Because Ruta Sepetys manipulated my emotions and feelings so easily made this part stand out to