Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Product details
Web ID: 5364731It gets referenced in the book at a very important
The characters are written incredibly, some you hate without even knowing why which was the intention.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Fascinating
I’ve read a lot of historical fiction. I’ve also read a lot of it set during WWII. I’ve never read - no, I’d never ever heard about, the events in this story. At first, I really struggled to connect with the characters and story because I didn’t have the background knowledge I wanted, but then I googled some stuff and regretted it! So, if you feel a little confused because you’re going in blind, just roll with it and don’t google like I did! I highly recommend the audio, as the four POVs are perfectly narrated. Beware, you’ll spend several hours researching and reading once you finish the book, and keep tissues on hand! It’s an absolutely fantastic read by someone who’s become one of my new favorite authors!
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Four Refugees Try to Evacuate Germany During WWII
Intensely emotional, this book is a deep dive into suffering and hardship during World War II, told through the stories of a handful of refugees -- all of whom wind up ultimately trying to evacuate aboard the ill-fated and overcrowded German transport ship, MV Wilhelm Gustloff. This is likely a ship you've never heard of. Like the Titanic and the Lusitania, the Gustloff also sunk - in the waning days of the war - when three Soviet torpedoes hit it on January 30, 1945. But despite the fact that many more people died in the Gustloff tragedy (as many as 9600 died of the 10,000+ military, injured, and civilians onboard), its story is much less widely known. SALT TO THE SEA begins with a small group of strangers who come upon each other while slowly moving across the German countryside, fleeing encroaching Russian troops: • Joana Vilkas - a young Lithuanian woman in her 20s brings much needed nursing skills to the group. While hoping to reunite with her mother, she is hiding substantial guilt. • Florian Beck - a formerly loyal German who has spent years restoring stolen art, but now feels he has been duped by members of the Nazi command and is eager to take his revenge. A cautious man, he is distrustful of EVERYONE he meets. • Emilia Stożek- a Polish teenager, with no identification papers, is already acquainted with invading Russian soldiers. She too is hiding a secret. • Alfred Frick - a lowly-ranked German sailor assigned to the Gustloff, with a passionate attachment to the beliefs of Adolph Hitler. Readers get to know him primarily through letters to his girlfriend back home. For me, his contributions to the story are primarily his wild, officious, and grandiose delusions (aka delusions of grandeur). There are other members of the group who play a more supporting role. Author Ruta Sepetys constructs the book using 174(!) short (1-3 pages) chapters, each written from the point of view of one of the four leading characters. I was not a fan of the jumping around, even though the story remains largely chronological, just told from different viewpoints along the way. But the construction does not diminish the power of the novel and the authentic way it immerses you into a wide variety of horrors of war. But also the strength and resilience of human beings and their innate desire to connect with others. NOT an easy book to read; I found I needed to put it down at times to break the tension. FYI, this is billed as a young adult novel, though it didn't strike me as simplified in any way. I recommend the book, particularly for highlighting such an interesting but little known story from the last year of World War II.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
omg
SOBBING BRO I WAS DEVESTATD OMG I CAN"T RECOVER read it bro it's too good.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Beautiful!
I read this boon as required reading for my Language Arts class in school and I’m sad that I hadn’t read it sooner! I read ahead of the class the whole time because I just couldn’t put it down! The writing is stunning and the foreshadowing is cleaver and sneaky. It’s told from four points of view and you really get to know each character. It had my whole class crying. Would definitely recommend!
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Excellent Historical Fiction
Ruta Sepetys grips you from the beginning in Salt to the Sea, a historical fiction novel set at the end of World War II told through four points of view, each as enthralling as the last. It is one of those stories you want to keep devouring because you are rooting for the characters and the twists keep coming. I did not know very much about this disaster and it left me with a full understanding of how tragic it was and the impulse to go and learn more.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
AMAZING
I had to read this book for school and feel in love with it. I read it in three days. The plot is amazing and so well written. The only small issue I had was in the beginning it was a tad confusing. But once you get it ( it starts to make more sense to me like 20 ish pages in) it is SO good!
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
amazing and heartbreaking
definitely one of my favorites reads. absolutely beautifully written.
Recommends this product
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com