Salt to the Sea

Picture courtesy of Goodreads

Greetings Earthlings,
(I have no idea why I started like that. it has no connection to the book I'm talking about at all.) Anyway, I mentioned this book earlier when I made my post on Between Shades of Gray. So, this post is going to be in a slightly different format than usual. It is going to be similar to a question answer format; you'll see. Let the post Begin:

Title: Salt to the Sea

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: Salt to the Sea is from the points of view of 4 different teenagers whose paths cross over the course of World War II. All have secrets and all seek safe passage aboard the ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff. The bulk of the story takes place as millions of refugees flock to one of two ports that can take them to freedom. Joana, who does everything she can to help whoever she can is haunted by the fact that she couldn't save those she cares about. Florian is haunted by his fate: will he die, or can he escape in time? Emilia is haunted by shame and what her friends will say when they find out what she has been hiding. Alfred acts like a hero, but does everything in his power to shirk responsibility. By the end of the book, you will see who survives and who becomes salt to the sea. 

Favorite Passage and Why: One passage that I like is from Emilia's point of view. "The shoe poet softly placed his hand on my shoulder. "Una, dear, are you all right?" Una. How could I steal Una? "As you can see, Una's quite far along," said Poet. "And she appears to be ill." " I liked this passage because it connects to Between Shades of Gray. In this passage, Emilia is pretending to be a dead Latvian woman named Una. In Between Shades of Gray, a Latvian woman named Una died. It is my opinion that they are the same person. Another passage that I liked is from Joana's point of view. "I spoke without hesitation. I wasn't sure, but I was sure I wanted to try. I leaned down to tell the soldier that he would see his son and give him the book. He was already dead. The condition of the soldiers spoke to the fate of the Reich. The voice was clear. Defeat. But I would get these wounded men on the big ship. The Wilhelm Gustloff would save them." I liked this passage because it really shows Joana's personality. Joana and a doctor had to assess many wounded soldiers and decide whether they would survive the voyage as the ship had limited space. It shows that she wanted to save as many people as possible, even if it only reassurances moments before they died as in the case of the soldier she speaks to.

I'll Remember: One thing I will most definitely remember about this book is the heartbreak. Ruta Sepetys is an incredible author and her books are magical but they are also some of the saddest books that I have ever read and I likely won't forget the end in a hurry.

Opinion: I love and hate this book at the same time but I definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone out there!

Anyway, I hope you liked this post and I hope you read this book. Just some advice, if you are the type of person who cries when reading books like this, don't read finish it right before you go to bed- it makes it hard to sleep because you just keep thinking about the ending. If you liked this format more than the other format, let me know in the comments. Also, Answer My Poll!!! Only 2 people have answered it!!! 

Just an update on my previous post: My friend told me about a plot twist that happens later in the series (The Mortal Instruments) that I didn't see coming that may just persuade me to finish the series, but we'll see...

Bye-Bye for now!