between shades of gray

"these three tiny nations have taught us that love is the most powerful army.
whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy --
love reveals to us the truly miraculous nature of the human spirit."
- ruta sepetys

I've literally just finished this book. I read the very last page of the Lithuanian acknowledgements and I ran to my computer to try and capture some of these emotions. I read the book in a little over 48 hours and intend to revisit it again as soon as possible. It's a must read. But not in that pretentious "this book is going to be huge" way or a snarky "well the movie that will surely come out will surely have some fantastic actors in it" kind of way. It's a must read in a "this story is so important that you have to share in it" kind of way.

The book is beautifully written -- simple, sensitive and incredibly human. It's an emotional journey told through the eyes (and the drawings) of a strong-willed young Lithuanian girl. I have so many favorite parts and am still amazed that Ruta was able to weave so much into only 350 pages. Above all, this book is a love story. An awe-inspiring, nearly unbelievable love story.

Between Shades of Gray is a Young Adult novel, so it's not littered with too many harrowing or gruesome stories. I certainly recommend that you read this after you've read a flagship Holocaust story like Night -- it'll come through more vividly for you if you have a bit of background on that kind of unthinkable tragedy. And I must say after finishing the novel, I have so many unanswerable questions and a fierce desire to know more, learn more. The physical actions that took place during the Soviet genocide are horrifying enough, but the forced silence that came after is simply terrifying. Having never remotely felt that kind of fear myself, this book pushed my understanding of pain and loss to an uncomfortable, but necessary level. This kind of history is so important to explore, so that these kinds of bigoted and ignorant actions never resurface in any capacity.

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I should have prefaced the post with this (but at least I'm telling you now...) -- Ruta Sepetys was my absolute favorite professor in college. She's a beautiful person, a wonderful teacher and an inspiring mentor. I'm overjoyed that this book was met with such excitement and am anxiously awaiting where this journey will take her next. xo

Love, love, love.
me.