Hey guys,
So I just
finished our book of the month. It was incredible. Now I know we will be doing
a big review at the end of the month, as well as announcing the March book, but
I thought I would do a little one now.
So today
I'm going to be reviewing Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys.
This was
my first historical fiction novel, I don't avoid them, but this was the first
one that's really caught my attention. It follows an actual event in history,
but surrounds made up characters.
I wasn't
aware of the event that took place in the book, but I haven't studied WW2 in
depth as of right now.
The book
is about four characters that all have a secret, they're not all bad, well in
the eyes of the beholder, but they are secrets. And, the most are refugees.
They all are on board the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that plans to take
refugees across a sea (I think the Baltic).
In some
places it was quite harrowing, it doesn't help when needing to take a break,
that I realized everything that happened is true, to an extent. Some of the
scenes didn't surprise me but still shocked me, if you get what I mean.
I didn't
love any of the characters but I was interested in all of them, and their back
stories. A big component of the story was piecing together a back-story for the
characters.
So that is
all. I recommend you go pick up this book, it was fantastic. Plus, it is our
pick for February for our book club, and we would appreciate it if you read it
along with us. I will see you soon, but I warn in advance; I'm going to be gone
next week. I will schedule ahead, but I make no promises of a review any time
in the near future.
Welcome
to my spoiler dungeon...
I like to
have a new creepy intro to this section every time.
So, where
do I begin, the beginning. So we start with the introduction to our characters.
We had the: fate is a hunter, guilt is hunter, shame is a hunter and fear is a
hunter. What I didn't realize until the end was how the characters ideals of
their personal hunter link in with their secret. Their secret is the reason for
their opinion on the hunter. I like how Ruta put the hunters in at the end to
close the story.
Let's
discuss characters, they were all dishonest but I feel like, although she was
one of the nicest, Emilia was the most dishonest. She told an outright lie,
whilst the others just kept to themselves. I was not expecting Emilia to be
pregnant, that surprised me.
I intensely
disliked Alfred/Frick he just had an arrogance surrounding him, as well as
being a mini Hitler himself. I kind of liked that he died at the end; it was interesting
how he went insane first though.
Florian.
He interested me the most; I was interested in what secrets he was hiding from
the very beginning. When we met him he seemed suspicious, but he was an
interesting character. I liked his romance with Joana.
This
brings me neatly to, Joana. I really loved her need to help people. She just
seemed liked the nice girl that everyone loves. Her secret wasn't too bad; she
was blaming herself for something that wasn't fully her fault.
My
favourite scene for funniness was when Alfred was watching the women and the
other sailors came down, and they said: ' don't mind him; he's been watching us
all morning'. The scenes like that counter balanced some of the darkness. My
proper favourite scene was the one where the boat was leaving and the people
were still trying to get on. I have a quote because I want to: "Mothers
tried hurling their infants up to passengers on deck, but they couldn't throw
high enough. Their babies smashed against the side of the ship and plunged into
the sea." That scene just shocked me, and I had to take a break.
The only
negative thing I can say is the boat journey was very near the end, and to me
felt a little rushed. A couple more chapters to add detail would have been
nice.
I won’t
talk too much about the actual sinking, because I would like to discuss that in
depth at the end of the month. Sorry for the pre-review but I had to write my
feelings somewhere. I hope you enjoyed it; I would love to hear your thoughts
on the book. See you soon...
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