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Have You Ever Read a Book That Made You Grieve? Rejoice? Weep?

Have you ever read a book that spoke so deeply to your soul that you wept while you read it, couldn't put it down even for the pain, and thought about it for days after you finished?

I have. I've been fortunate to wander upon many books that have done such for me, but the most recent literary treasure of this variety in my life has been "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys.



I don't want to give much away, but I will say this: this book brought to my awareness of the WWII era histories of many Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian people. Previous to this novel I was aware that Jews (and other persecuted groups alongside them such as gypsies, the intellectually disabled and homosexuals) were victims of holocaust crimes under Hitler. But I was not aware that Stalin held his own "cleanse" and subjected millions of people to labor, cruelty, and death.

The reason why I loved this book was because of the humanity and true charity many victims chose to embody, from exhausting their limited money to buy candy to cheer fellow prisoners to sacrificing their meager rations to save the life of someone dying of scurvy. The kindness that the mother in this novel shows towards one of the young NKVD officers--one of those that perpetrated her suffering--broke my heart in the most beautiful way. The figures in this story taught me about the darkest depths of human suffering while simultaneously demonstrating the light, love, life, and hope in each of us when we choose love instead of hate.

10 out of 10 would recommend. I hope you take the time to read and learn as much as I did!



Day #308

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