Readers Journal...
Right when i started reading Between Shades of Gray I was hooked. I always have taken interest in the holocaust and other major historical events, so this book sparked my interest. Between Shades of Gray is a very well written and well spoken book. The author Ruta Sepetys gave a voice to all the people who lost their lives during stalin’s rule. Reading this book made me realize that I never learned about this tragedy, because during around this same time the holocaust was going on. I feel terrible for all the people who were taken from their homes and forced into work camps, extreme living conditions, and even killed. You never know how much your life is worth until your read about these tragedies. In the book there's a line that says “have you ever wondered what a human life is worth? That morning, my brother’s was worth a pocket watch”. That line says a lot about how the soviets/Stalin’s soldiers didn't care about how they treated or how they saw all those people. This book is told in the perspective of a 15-16 year old girl, all the events that happen and the description of these events make it feel like this is only something an adult could endure, but yet there is children enduring these extreme conditions. By reading this book i learned that whenever I think that I’m having a bad day, I know that these people lived a life of bad days, more like bad years. Its insane to me that there was/are people in this world with the power to kill millions of innocent people, without even thinking twice. How do people come to be that bad of a person. I feel that now after I read this book, I want to make the most of my life, and help others who are having a bad day, or are enduring a hardship in their life. I want to make a difference in the world and if i’m going to do that I’m going to have to change the way I live my life, for the better of others. This book is incredible, it changed how I view my life and I would Recommend it to anyone.