Between the Shades of Greatness

By Devika T.

In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is taken from her home in Lithuania by the Soviet military, along with her mother and brother. Thrown onto cattle cars with many other Lithuanians, her life changes overnight. While her train travels farther and farther away from home, she worries about the fate of her father, whom she glimpses on a separate train. Slowly, she and her traveling companions cover 6,500 miles packed tightly together, traveling north to Siberia and crossing the Arctic Circle. Lina never could have imagined that things could get worse, but when they finally arrive at their destination they are forced to work in unthinkably cruel conditions for a single piece of bread each day, Lina fights with the others to survive, and finds an outlet for pain in her drawing. Lina is determined to make it out alive, no matter what how hard that may be.

Between the Shades is a beautiful survival story about Lina and her family. The hard thing about reading the book beside the fact the story is based on truth is understanding that these horrible things did actually happen to these people. I thank those brave enough to bring stories like this into the open. You will not be able to put this book down. Although hard to read, believe me, you'll be so absorbed that you'll want to keep reading. It seems so realistic and historically backed up that you get sucked into it.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good realistic fiction book. It is an eyeopener and almost makes you feel like you're reliving that dark past. It's simple, raw and indulges you in a great story.

A Million Little Lies

By: Devika T.

A Million Little Pieces is a memoir of addiction and recovery, written by James Frey, who records the time he spends in a Minnesota Rehabilitation Clinic at age twenty-three. At the beginning of the book, Frey checks into the Clinic with an intense addiction to alcohol and crack and soon after begins suffering symptoms, including hallucinations and nausea. In the Clinic a series of eventful events occur such as him getting in a fight with another patient or him getting a couple root canals with no anesthesia. He also makes a couple friends who are just as messed up as him and they help him through the process. He refuses to consider himself a victim and the story continues on to tell the story of his recovery.

This book is a brutal and inspiring tale which was enjoyable to read. Yet, there were some issues that were difficult for me to get past like the fact that none of the paragraphs were indented. There were no quotation marks as well. So it was a bit confusing as to where the dialogues started and where they ended. Although, I think that the intention of this was to maybe make it seem more honest (which it isn't). The author describes each scene and event with painstaking and gory details. This is something I appreciated because it made it seem more real. Something else that I liked was the fact that he wouldn't refer to himself as the victim. He saw all his loved ones as victims to him.

Though this book is an eye opener to drug and alcohol abuse much of the significant parts were fabricated. For example, when he was explaining his past and how he went to jail, he didn't really go to jail for three months, he went for a couple hours, he really didn't have his root canal done without anesthesia, etc. I think that this could pass a a fantastic novel but as a nonfiction, it failed. If you are looking for just a good read in general, I would recommend this book but I'm warning you, it is confusing. If you are looking for a genuine story, you won't find it here.

You Snooze You Lose

By: Devika T.

The Silent Alarm is young adult novel by Jennifer Banash that showcases the perspective of a school shooter's sister. Alys's younger brother Luke enters a crowded library with a gun that no one is aware of. Upon his entrance, he tactically kills fifteen people before pointing the gun Alys. His last word was "Hey" which is what he said to Alys before taking his own life. Of the fifteen people that were killed, many were close to Alys and her family. Because of this, her family suffers with the trauma of losing their son and the distress from other households. What's even more nerve wracking is that they don't know they reason as to why he killed those people or why he had spared Alys. The book unfolds as a story of how they came to a consensus in their life after this situation and how they coped with the negativity, shame, and indirect guilt.

This book is a little slow moving and doesn't have a real climax after the shooting, which was at the beginning of the book. There's nothing keeping you excited enough to flip to the next page. Although, I think that the intention of keeping it slow and flat was to make the story seem more genuine to the unique situation and perspective. The story would have had to be a progression to show how she coped with the incident and how her life gradually came back to place. Realistically speaking, there would probably be more obstacles in the way of her resolution than the ones that were presented. I think that is where the book fell short. The only real conflicts Alys went through after the incident was the hateful comments on social media and the death of her boyfriend's sister. Banash could have went into more depth on how it felt rather than just stating what happened.

I would recommend this book to those who enjoy a slow, smooth, progression with no significant heights. If you're a person who likes to be at the edge of your seat, it is extremely painful to read and something that you shouldn't have to put yourself through. Her perspectives and ideas were unique but the book was ordinary and bland.