English 325: Blog Post #2

Between shades of grey in one word is an INSANE book. Even though I have only read half of the book it was one that was hard to put down. The plot has started to reach its peak, I still don’t know where it’s going to go, but I know for a fact it’s going to be an interesting one. I couldn’t imagine having my family taken away with only 20 minutes to pack. As the novel continues I can only imagine the pain that this family is enduring. Losing their dad and yet still having the will power to endure hardships and stay together as a family. The characters have been dealing with the cards they have been dealt. Analyzing Lisa, Jonas and their mother can only be put into one word “Troopers.” They have been starved, treated like nothing, but yet still do what it takes to stay together and survive. It’s almost hard to say that they have developed as characters in this novel because they have throughout been nothing but in survival mode. A few themes that I have noticed so far that relate to other texts is that Lisa believes in leaving drawings/clues for her father that he will find them. This relates directly to the film The Mummy Returns where the boy that was taken captive leaves clues for his parents to know where is headed next. Also another item that I noticed was that at the beginning of each chapter the first few words are in all caps, something that I have rarely seen in books. I have the up most respect for the mother because in the heat of the situation that they are in she still is building relationships with everybody in order for her family to survive. She even gives away her husband’s watch for Jonas to stay with the group. The community that has been built between the main and sub characters is something you don’t see in many novels. Giving food to each other, even though some are not grateful. . . Mr. Stalas. Continuing with the community bond, when everybody refused to sign the contract to work for 25 years, it made a statement to the NKVD. They had no power because since none of them agreed and that they were supplying their manual work force they couldn’t afflict any damage due to their needs of them. Even though the soviets tried to flex their muscles and scare them, all of them stayed strong and withstood it. I believe that this is a key component for the book because in order for them to survive they all must stay together. At one point Lisa believes that Andrius has betrayed them and started working for the soviets. However, little did she know that he was simply doing it for him and his mother’s welfare; he even still continues to help them and supply food that none of them have access too. It’s hard to comprehend how a son will sacrifice a sell out because his mother has to be pimped out to the enemy in order to survive. He has the willpower that most men don’t, if it were me I would be dead because I would have killed anybody trying to touch my mother without her consent. Yet, this is such a different circumstance and nobody can have an opinion unless they lived it. Let’s just hope it was worth it by the end of the book.