All reviews for O Longo Inverno (2011)
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This is a well-written book, taking as its subject matter the capture and deportation of a cultured, well-educated Lithuanian family. 15 year-old Lina, her younger brother and her gentle mother are arrested by Soviet secret police and sent (on what is a lengthy journey, indeed) to a Siberian work/death camp. Interestingly, the year is 1941 -- placing it well within the horrendously long roll call at World War II atrocities, although the Baltic liquidations are not nearly as well-known as the German concentration camp horrors.The author was inspired by her own Lithuanian family history and a desire to tell a story which had long been suppressed by the Soviet regime. She is very considerate of her target age group, though, and the simple writing style and point-of-view of the 15 year-old protagonist keep the story from the overly grisly. I felt it was a worthy novel, but not quite a novel that I found unputdownable. I was never completely drawn in by the narrative voice.
This book is about a fifteen year old girl named Lina. Russian officers barged into her family’s home without any reason as to why, Lina and her mother and brothers were all taken to a train station with many other people. They are in the train for a couple days separated from her father who believes they are going to Siberia. They are sent to a prison camp for 10 months. They later end up serving 12 years of hard labor. The story is based off of a letter found that Lina wrote to her father.The genre of this book is culture. The format of this book is a chapter book. The reading level for this book would be middle school students. This book could be used in a unit on the holocaust. The theme of this book would be the soviet war. I think that anyone from any gender, race, and socioeconomic status would enjoy this book. Sepetys, R. (2011). Between shades of gray. New York, NY: Philomel Books
4.5Amazing book! Heartbreaking and hopeful in the same breath...
Powerful. Something I want my daughter to read in the future.
Add Sepetys to the "must read" list of YA authors.