I do believe this is the fastest I’ve ever read a novel, so I’m as shocked as you are with how quickly this review is coming out! Especially considering I just published that book review last week! I admit it! I’m sort of a slow reader. Sort of a half hour at a time deal. I’ve just got other stuff I’d rather be doing/watching 🙂
With that all being said, I had a hard time putting down Ruta Sepety’s novel Between Shades of Gray. Since we’re being honest here, history bores the living crap out of me except for when I watch drunk people retell it (thank you, Drunk History). So naturally, I was a little hesitant to read this. But from the first page, Ruta had me hooked.
Gray is told in the perspective of Lina, a sixteen year old Lithuanian girl, whose life changes dramatically in the middle of the night during the early stages of World War II. Lina, her mother, and brother are taken and abused in a Soviet labor camp during Stalin’s reign over the Baltic States. In everyday life outside of this torture camp, Lina is an artist through and through, drawing what she sees and is endlessly inspired by Munch. She keeps her passion for art during her torment, and documents what is happening to everyone in hopes of reaching her father who was taken to a different camp.
As soon as I finished this book, I zoomed over to Youtube to watch the film based on the novel for free. While the title was changed to Ashes in the Snow, the film itself followed pretty closely to the contents of the novel. In general, the books details were much more grim in comparison to this Hollywood version of it, but it was still uncomfortable to watch at times.
Also different, was the treatment of one of the Soviet officers, Kretzsky. In the novel, while he was mean, you could always tell there was a part of him that hated what he was doing to these innocent people. In the film, he was still sympathetic, but was also sort of portrayed as a pig. He groped Lina’s mother at one point, and I just liked how he was written in the novel. I understand that some things need to be dramatized for the screen, but he was already torturing these people.
Ultimately, I enjoyed both, but if you’re going to pick one, read the book. The details are just so much more vivid and intricate. Truthfully, the main reason I even looked into this novel was because I wanted to see Mr. Robot’s Martin Wallström in the film! He did a fantastic job of bringing Kretzsky’s conflicted emotions to the screen. Equally as enthralling, was Bel Powley who played Lina. That casting needed to be perfect considering the whole story was told through her eyes. Wonderful!
There’s still a whole week left to 2019, so who knows what you’ll catch from me next!