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Salt to the Sea

Ruta Sepetys

Start date: April 22, 2016

Finish date: April 30, 2016

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What Members Thought

Feb 23, 2016 Kim Benouski rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction

I didn't know about this boat tragedy and appreciated learning about it. I also connected with three of the four main characters telling the story (one was creepy and just didn't fit), as well as the shoemaker character. It was a bit difficult with the shifting views as I feel the author didn't differentiate the voices enough, but their unique stories were intriguing and heartbreaking and heart warming wrapped into one. Reading it in one sitting helped keep everyone straight, and by 1/3 of the w ...more

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Feb 05, 2016 Kate rated it it was amazing

Ruta Sepetys really knows how to tell a story about little known events in history and totally grab your heart and drag you along for the ride. You know that there will be tragedy, because that is what she writes. And the fact is, how could there not be. Life is not a fairy tale where everything ends up Happily Ever After. Life contains many moments of tragedy and to turn your back from them and never study them, you run the risk of repeating them. You have to honor the dead by remembering their Ruta Sepetys really knows how to tell a story about little known events in history and totally grab your heart and drag you along for the ride. You know that there will be tragedy, because that is what she writes. And the fact is, how could there not be. Life is not a fairy tale where everything ends up Happily Ever After. Life contains many moments of tragedy and to turn your back from them and never study them, you run the risk of repeating them. You have to honor the dead by remembering their stories... the horrors that they lived through. And that is what you get in a Ruta Sepetys novel.

I will admit, before this book came out, I did not know of the Wilhelm Gustloff. When I thought of sinking ships, I always thought of Titanic. Of Rose and Jack and that floating piece of driftwood. Of barely filled lifeboats that could have fit so many more. But that tragedy (and it still is a tragedy) doesn't even come close to comparing to the loss of life when the Wilhelm Gustloff was sunk by a Russian submarine. There were well over 10,000 people on-board that ship (with a capacity of only 1500). And it is estimated that 9,400 people lost their lives. But the greatest tragedy of it is all that it is estimated that 5,000 of those were children.

Ruta Sepetys makes this all come alive as we get to know several of the people (albeit fictional people) who were on-board the ship. Emelia was my favorite. I connected with her too well. She was the victim of rape. Pregnant with a Russian soldiers baby and 15 years old. And when I was only 13, I was also a victim of sexual assault. It didn't go as far as it did for poor Emelia... but I immediately identified with her. But even if it weren't for that, it was so easy to like Emelia. She lived in a fantasy world, where none of the bad things had happened. She was so child-like in many ways. She was also a hero. She was brave beyond her years. And fiercely loyal. I liked all the other characters (except that sniveling pathetic worm Alfred... that is not a spoiler. It is obvious what he is from the very get go). I loved the shoemaker Poet and the wandering boy. I was interested in Joana's story. And "the Knight" (as Emelia referred to him) was also intriguing. But none of them captured me as thoroughly as Emelia did.

One note that may be of interest to anyone who has read Between Shades of Grey (also by Ruta Sepetys) - there is a small connection between the two books. It was very interesting to see.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone. We need to know more of our history as a people. Things like this get buried, but we need to remember them. ...more

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