Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes. Not country, nor culture, nor status matter as all ten thousand people—adults and children alike—aboard must fight for the same thing: survival (Via Goodreads.com)
Pages: 393
Release Date: February 2nd, 2016
Rating: 5/5 Stars
Review:
Ruta Sepetys is one of my absolute favorite authors. Her debut novel, Between Shades of Gray, is one of my all time favorite novels and is currently a completed film under a different name, Ashes in the Snow. I know that the movie has been shown to various audiences in the United States and Lithuania; however, I am not aware when the movie will be released on a larger scale. Nevertheless, I am extremely excited to watch the film. Between Shades of Gray and Salt in the Sea deal with two different issues during World War II, but a character from each novel is related and the novels surprisingly coincide in an unexpected yet unfortunate way.
I love that Ruta Sepetys explores rather unknown parts of World War II. While concentration camps and the inhumane treatment of people by the Nazi should continue to be explored, as a first generation Lithuanian American, Between Shades of Gray deals with the deportation of Lithuanians by the Russians during World War II. Salt to the Sea tells the story of several teenage refugees and soldiers aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, which is the largest maritime tragedy in the history of the world. While you probably know about the Titanic tragedy, have you ever heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff? I remember Salt to the Sea was published around the time we were talking about World War II in my AP US history class. The only reason I remembered the significance of the ship was because it was briefly mentioned in our textbook and the novel was soon to be released. Both topics dealt in Ruta's World War II based novels are important components of World War II; however, they are rarely mentioned in textbooks or mainstream talks about World War II.
The characters of Salt to the Sea are quite the crew. They all come from various countries, circumstances, and walks of life. Some are automatically your favorite character while you want to throw others overboard. The story follows four main narrators who are all attempting to aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff to escape mainland Europe, Nazi threats, and the imminent invasion by Russia. Many of the characters have witnessed, been a part of, or have suffered directly from the tragedies of war. They converge along the way and while aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff. While I loved most of the characters, Emilia was my absolute favorite. She is a young Polish teen who is attempting to flee Europe after her family was slaughtered. She can barely speak German so she has to communicate to the others with a combination of Polish and German; however, individuals of Polish descent are being hunted at this time by the Germans. Poles are considered as lesser and she has to keep her nationality hidden along their journey otherwise she faces death or imprisonment in concentration camps. She has also encountered additional threats along the way that I do not want to spoil.
While I loved the characters and the writing, I will note that I did not love how short the chapters were at times. The story alternates chapters from each of the main four characters and although short chapters can be beneficial for suspense, it could be annoying at times with the number of main characters there were. For example, we could spend ten pages with one character then two with another. The alternating chapters added depth to the story and variation of chapter length did keep me engaged in the story; however, it was sometimes difficult spending very little time with one character and then a lot with another. I would sometimes forget the conflict one character faced or what they were doing because it felt like I had bookish whiplash from the constant change in narrator. Sometimes too much was going on to keep track. Within their narrations though, each character had their own unique voice and it was easy to tell who I was reading about without looking at the character's name at the beginning of the chapter.
Salt to the Sea was an emotional novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. Ruta Sepetys is one of my absolute favorite authors and I highly recommend reading any of her novels. She spends so much time researching her novels. It takes her a bit longer to publish books than most authors I read, but the wait is completely worth it. Readers can tell that she puts all her energy and her heart into every novel she researches and publishes. Ruta wants hidden histories to have more attention. Her characters might not be real, but their stories and the past people they represent are phenomenal and eye-opening. While I already love reading about history, Ruta makes history intriguing and engaging for all her readers. I cannot recommend Ruta Sepetys or Salt to the Sea enough.
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