Author: Ruta Sepetys
# of Pages: 393 (hardback)
Genre: YA, Historical Fiction
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis: 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 route to 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.
Review: This book is borderline between one star and two stars.
I can't believe this is a Goodreads Choice 2016 WINNER.
The biggest problem is the first person POV switching between Joana, Emilia, Florian, and Alfred. This is always, and Salt to the Sea is a perfect example as to why. The chapters were very short, and the perspective overlapped (so there were times when the same event was described up to four times).
Sepetys hoped to increase exposure to the Wilhelm Gustloff; a tragedy that was greater than the Titanic. Although Septys describes some of the gruesome events that occurred as the Wilhelm sank, the overall execution through the first person POV switching weakened the weight of the impact. Also, the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff was such a small portion of this book; if education on the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff was one of Sepetys's main goals, she should have made it take up a larger portion of the book. The fiction outweighed the main historical facts.
To address this in the least spoiler way possible...the romance was very very weak and underdeveloped.
I had high expectations for this book, which might be why I ended up rating it so low. Not worth the read.
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