Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys 4,25/5 Awards: SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Fiction (2016), Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction (2016), Milwaukee County Teen Book Award Nominee (2017), Audie Award for Young Adult (2017), Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee for Honorable Mention (2018), California Young Readers Medal for Young Adult (2018), Lincoln Award Nominee (2018), Carnegie Medal (2017), The Magnolia Award Nominee for 9-12 (2018) Français: Le sel de nos larmes Summary World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en routeto the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. 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. My thoughts Two years ago, I read Sepetys’ debut Between Shades of Grey and loved it. I was hesitant to pick up Salt to the Sea after I heard several reviews that it wasn’t as good as BSoG, but when the beautiful hardback edition came on sale for only 6$ (!) at my bookstore, I simply could not pass this opportunity. I expected to find the same poignant writing style, and the same attention to historical details than in her previous novel, however Salt to the Sea was even more refined. Sepetys’ writing style was even better than I remembered it. Instead of just leaving a crack in your heart, it completely destroys it. She clearly grew a tremendous amount as a writer between her first and third novel (still need to get on Out of the Easy). Since Salt to the Sea is a multiple-POV novel, which I adore, there is a lot of potential for it to go haywire. We have too often seen POV novels with no clear distinction between the voices of each character to the point where it just feels like the author is telling one long story. However, that is not the case in Salt to the Sea. The four main characters, Emilia, Joanna, Florian and Alfred, each have their own individual voices. It is clear that Sepetys took some time to fully establishing each character’s personality and a matching writing style. We still get a poetic flow throughout, but one cannot compare Emilia’s prose to Alfred’s pragmatism, or Florian’s reclusiveness to Joanna’s open-heart. Speaking of Emilia and Alfred, they were by far my two favourite characters. Emilia, a Polish girl who manages to hide away from the Germans, and Alfred, a naïve Hitler-abiding navy “soldier”, two characters in opposition, but I loved them for the same reason, that is their undeniable realism. Sepetys does not shy away from cruelty. She accurately showed what it was to be indoctrinated into believing far-right, murderous ideologies, and what the victims of both the German and Russian regimes went through. In order to tell a story as tragic as one of the refugees embarking on the Wilhelm Gustloff, if feel like such honesty is necessary. The only reason why I marked down this book is because of some plot holes. There was a logical line, but I felt there were some small yet annoying holes. For example (no spoilers!), they cross over a lake at some point with no details of how they got from point A to point B, we just know they crossed a frozen lake. However, it did end on a bang with what will probably remain one of my favourites ending of a historical novel ever?! Overall, I would recommendSalt to the Sea to anyone looking for a deeply emotional historical novel with a twist. If you liked Salt to The Sea, you will love… Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
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