Author: Ruta Sepetys
Series: -
Genres: YA, Historical Fiction, War
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Source: ARC
Pages: 400
Publishing date: 4th February, 2016
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SYNOPSIS:
Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.
As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.
Yet not all promises can be kept.
Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.
HANNAH'S REVIEW
THE WORLD: In this book Ruta transforms us into the past. We are in what now is Poland near Gdynia. Tho back during WWII it was called Gotenhafen and belonged to Nazi Germany. The timing of this book is right before Hitler killed himself in Berlin so yet it is the time when America joined the war and Germany started to lose. Therefore, Germans were forced to run back from chasing Russians. What I love about this book is that Ruta Sepetys keeps to the facts. She does not sugar coat and she does not modify history to her liking. What you read in this book is historically correct. And frankly, even tho the character in the book are fiction let's face it, Ruta just gave names to many many people who went through what her characters did.
CHARACTERS: There are four POVs in this book: Lithuanian Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian Florian and German Alfred. Now Joana is actually a cousin of Lina Vilkas, the main character we read about in Between Shades of Gray so really even it is not a series, this book tells a story of what was happening on the German side of Europe while Lina was taken to Siberia. So yes Joana...she is a trained medic aka war nurse. What I mean is that war made her into a medic. She is compassionate and made me realize that being a medic during war is probably the best profession. I really loved Joana, I literary cannot say a single thing about her that I did not like. Then we have Emilia...now her story is so tragic. Like seriously you are reading and sometimes you stop to take a breath. Fascinating and sad but true, no sugar coating. Like you know this book Into the River by Ted Dawe and how everybody is saying that oh how good it is because he writes about sex for teenagers. Well you know what, you do not need to write about sex to shake teenagers to the bone. And Ruta Sepetys proved it! I do not believe there is a single person who reads this book and does not stop to thing about what it says. Anyways, let's go back to the characters. Florian for me at first was strange but over time you start to like him and even love him. I especially enjoyed the meaning of his story, not everything is about survival and power. And then there was Alfred and let me tell you, Ruta has created a super creepy character. I had a feeling about his Hannelore but still...the level of delusion, I have studied biographies and cases of sociopaths and trust me when I say that Ruta Sepetys nailed it. Just so good!
ROMANCE: There is romance in this book but it is so subtle so cute. After all, it was all about survival and not finding love.
GOOD: As I mentioned already, the accuracy of history, especially the way Ruta Sepetys wrote about Russians. All this actually happened and all we know are things we see in the movies.
BAD: After the big change I was not sure how I felt about the final ending. And why America? That felt me a little bit sad but other than that no minuses.
OVERALL: I cannot tell you enough how good this book is. If you have not read it - go get it NOW! It broke me completely and still I regret nothing, best book of 2016!
BAD: After the big change I was not sure how I felt about the final ending. And why America? That felt me a little bit sad but other than that no minuses.
OVERALL: I cannot tell you enough how good this book is. If you have not read it - go get it NOW! It broke me completely and still I regret nothing, best book of 2016!
MARTYNA'S REVIEW
EXPECTATIONS: I have read Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, and it broke my heart! Being a Lithuanian and knowing first hand how horribly wrong my country was treated in the war made my heart break into millions of pieces, and the book just showed how strong people's will to live was! So I bought Salt to the Sea for the same reason, and I knew I would love it! And I did!
THE WORLD: It's the end of the WWII and people are fleeing to harbors trying to get out and away to somewhere safe. Honestly the world and the time this book is set in is just heart stopping. It's so dark, and filled with pain, and anger and fear and just so horrible it makes your blood freeze. I was always cold while I was reading this book.
CHARACTERS: We meet so many wonderful, beautiful and extremely brave people in this book. The book is written from the perspective of 4 people: a war turned nurse/doctor Joana Vilkas (the cousin of Lina Vilkas. We actually got to meet Joana in the Between Shades of Gray book). She's Lithuanian, who fled to Germany when the war broke out, since her mother was German. She is a great character! She is so brave, and compassionate to other people, just because the world is falling apart, she remains kind to everyone around her! We have a solder/mysterious Prussian boy Florian, who I liked from the beginning, he has his secrets, but also has a kind and loving heart. There is a German sailor Alfred, who to my mind was this total and utter freak and creep! He was an absolute psycho and maniac to me. If I met someone like that, I would definitely avoid him! And then we have the beautiful pink hat owner - Emilia! Emilia is Polish and even though I really loved Joana, I think Emilia was my favorite! The things that this young girl has gone through! She is a fighter, a survivor and a beautiful soul!
I also loved a side character - The Shoe Poet! Oh my God, was he amazing! He has this line in the book that says something like 'Always look at the shoes, the shoes tell the story' and I am not joking, whenever I am in public the first thing I notice is people's shoes!!! Such a great character!
ROMANCE: There is romance in this book, but it's not the focus of the story. I actually found the romance very pleasing to the fact that even at the mist of war people still found love, people still cared for each other and that little warm human touch kept them in hope. In hope of better future!
GOOD: Everything! Especially the details to the characters, that I just - Shoe Poet!!!
BAD: I have to admit, the ending was little rushed to me. I would have loved to read and know more about what happened to the characters.
OVERALL: Go and read this book guys! It will open your eyes so much!
What do you think about SALT TO THE SEA?
