So I just finished reading the book Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, and let me tell you - it is TERRIFYING.
The book takes place during World War II, in modern day Poland and some territory of Russia - a part of what used to be East Prussia. It is centered around four characters: Joana, a 21-22 year old Lithuanian who also has some German blood from her father; Florian, a 19-20 year old East Prussian; Emilia, a 15 year old Polish girl; and Alfred, a German soldier whose age was either never mentioned, or I just don't remember (he's probably either 18 or 19 or in his early twenties). Each chapter is through the point of view of each protagonist, but there's no particular order.
A very interesting hook that Ruta Sepetys used that just pulls you in are the starting words of the first four chapters. It says that each character is being 'hunted' by something, which immediately adds to the mystery and kickstarted the curiosity I had about each character.
The first words of Joana's chapter are,
Guilt is a hunter.
Florian's chapter starts off with,
Fate is a hunter.
Emilia's are,
Shame is a hunter.
and Alfred's are,
Fear is a hunter.
I liked how right from the beginning, I knew nothing about the character except for these very vague yet specific pieces of information. It added to the suspense, especially when the author kept getting this close to revealing their (sometimes terrifying) secrets, before ending the chapter and not saying anything about it until 5 chapters later. And at the end when I learned everything I could possibly know about them, I thought back to these words, these things the characters were being 'hunted' by, and I realized how well it's all been woven into the main storylines of each characters. Ruta Sepetys really is, in my opinion, a master of suspense and mystery and secrets. I bet she'd be awesome at writing thriller stories. Although, sometimes historical fiction (or historical non-fiction) can feel like thrillers too.
Moving onto a completely different point, since the book is about World War II, the deadliest war on Earth so far, obviously the book has violence and death weaved into it. I knew this before I started reading the book - I knew that over 70 million people died due to this war; I knew a lot of the characters I'd be meeting would probably have some sort of dark past, present, or future; I knew there would be some characters that were refugees or orphans; I knew there'd be a lot of trauma, and possibly even some graphic descriptions. Before reading this book, I knew I'd feel a lot of emotions, and that most of them would either be negative or bittersweet.
What really scared me was everything I didn't know. Everything that's not mentioned in the average discussion about this war. Everything that's not mentioned in the (albeit few) videos or articles I've seen about World War II.
I know I'm just a middle schooler, and that I haven't had the chance to learn much about this period of history yet, but there's still a lot that most people - including adults - can learn from this book. This book is historical fiction, but Ruta Sepetys did take some of her characters' experiences from unfortunately common experiences shared by people who actually lived - or didn't - live through this war.
One thing I learned, for example, was about the Wilhelm Gustloff (note: if you plan on reading this book, do NOT search this up - unless you want spoilers). Another thing I learned about (this may be due to the fact I'm still a child - I'm pretty sure most adults know this already) is just how many people the Nazis killed. Alfred, the young German soldier even created a song about it:
Communists, Czechoslovaks, Greeks, Gypsies, Handicapped, Homosexuals ---insert breath here--- Jews, Mentally ill, *Africans, Poles, Prostitutes, Russians, Serbs, Socialists ---insert breath here--- Spanish Republicans, Trade Unionists, Ukrainians and ---insert breath for big ending here--- Yu-go-slavs!
- Ruta Sepetys, Salt to the Sea, pg. 51 - Alfred
*Ruta Sepetys uses a different word that starts with N - I am not going to use that word.
Yet another amazing thing about this book is how we get different points of view. A Polish girl, caught in between Soviets and Nazis that doesn't actually have a side of the war, and is an enemy - or rather a victim, to both. A selfless nurse, who is exceptionally lucky, but feels so guilty for it and tries to help others as much as she can. An artist at heart, who is a victim of manipulative thieves, but fights back. A German soldier, brainwashed and desperate, whose beliefs and mental health are spiraling more and more out of control. It's very interesting to read about all kinds of different people in one story like this.
I could go on and on about this amazing story (my parents can confirm that - they know the entire plot of the book, and they have never touched a single page of it. What can I say? I talk a lot,) but to conclude, Salt to the Sea is an educational, action-packed, and emotional story about the journeys of four deep, interesting (and kind of scary) characters. Through it, I learned a lot of facts about World War II, but it also taught me to be more grateful for having a loving, caring, family, for being able to have three meals a day everyday, and for having a home. I definitely recommend reading it - it was my first historical fiction, and I'm looking forward to reading more stories by Ruta Sepetys.
P.S.
(I don't know whether that's only for letters or not but I don't care)
Another thing that made my personal experience reading this feel so different and all the more scarier was that I read the majority of this book in three days - specifically, February 24-February 26 of 2022. I'm writing this blog post on Sunday, February 27 2022. I don't know if these dates will be big, super important dates. People definitely will remember them though, because right now, as I write this, my parents are watching the news, and they're talking about nuclear weapons.
On February 24, 2022, Russia officially invaded Ukraine. I was literally - no lies - sitting on the couch in my family room, reading this book, reading about being scared of Russians (everyone in the book is German except Emilia, who's Polish. Everyone has Russia as their 'enemy', but Alfred is the only one who actually supports Hitler) and war, when my mom turned on the news and everyone was talking about the invasion and war. It was a scary, weird experience for me. I'll just say that I hope this doesn't turn into something more.
P. P. S.
I don't know how to write a book review or structure a book review, so I don't know if I did this completely wrong. I just ranted and then I edited - sorry if this wasn't what you expected when you read the title.
-Gazala