Salt to the Sea

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys (2016)

I loved Ruta Sepetys's first book, Between Shades of Gray, and then I loved her second book, Out of the Easy. Now I love her third book, Salt to the Sea. Four narrators tell us the story of the worst maritime disaster in history. That's right: worse than the Titanic, worse than the Lusitania. Almost 10,000 people died when the Willhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by the Russians, and you've probably never heard of it. I certainly hadn't.

Joana is a Lithuanian nurse, Emilia a Polish girl with a secret, Florian a Prussian art restorer, and Alfred a self-important Nazi. In alternating chapters they tell the story leading up to the disaster. Florian saves Emilia from a Russian soldier and together they join up with Joana's group of refugees, and they all travel to the port of Gotenhafen to escape East Prussia before the Russians attack.

Short chapters mean an almost constant change of perspective. It was confusing at first and took me a bit to get a handle on the characters, but then I was propelled through the story. Getting only a little bit at a time from each character meant I kept going and going so I could find out more. There was so much to learn about these people and their stories!

I don't want to say too much about what happens to them along the way, or even reveal much about the characters, because this is all part of the story. None of these people know who to trust and they keep their stories and their problems very close as long as possible. But they do need each other's help, and (aside from Alfred) were decent people just trying to get through a really, really rough time. In addition to the narrating refugees were a young boy known as "the wanderer," an older man who took responsibility for him and was known as "the shoe poet" because he could tell so much about people by their feet, a tall woman named Eva who was never afraid to say what she was thinking, but always apologized for it, and a blind but very perceptive young woman named Ingrid. Alfred was a strange, unsettling character and his chapters were primarily letters he composed in his head to a girl back home named Hannalore.

It's World War II so things are pretty awful, and despite writing for a teen audience Sepetys doesn't shy away from the harsh reality of the time. I wasn't surprised, because I read Between Shades of Gray, but some of the scenes were still pretty upsetting. The desperation of those who weren't able to get on one of the ships to escape was heart-wrenching and made for some scenes I won't soon forget. All through the novel, Joana, Florian, and Emilia feared for their lives, all for different reasons. I felt very anxious for them! Luckily it was a very quick read so I didn't need to wait long to reach the satisfying conclusion.

If you like good historical fiction, even if you don't usually read books for teens, I highly recommend picking up this one.

Out of the Easy

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys (2013)

It's 1950, and all 17-year-old Josie Moraine wants is to get out of New Orleans. Her mother is a prostitute at a nearby brothel, where Josie works as a maid, and Josie lives in a room over a bookstore where she also works. She is well looked-after by Willie, the madam at the brothel, and her driver Cokie, and has some good friends like Patrick, the book shop owner's son. When she meets a young woman named Charlotte who attends Smith College, Josie sets her sights on entry to the prestigious school. But with her background, how will she ever get the recommendations, not to mention the tuition money, that she needs? Further complicating her situation, a criminal named Cincinnati, who is involved with Josie's mother, has just returned to town and they threaten to drag Josie into their world of crime and keep her from her dreams.

Although this was written for teens, it's a great crossover novel, with its sophisticated writing and a story sure to appeal to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. There were times I had to remind myself that it was written for teenagers, especially when the prostitutes talked shop. It wasn't graphic, and Josie wasn't allowed in the brothel in the evening so she didn't witness the goings-on, but there was plenty of rough talk.

Josie was easy to sympathize with and to root for. There were a couple of times I wanted to implore her to understand something she just wasn't getting, or to take a different action than she was, but she was a teenager after all and honestly was probably handling everything better than most people her age would. She was tough - she carried a pistol strapped under her skirt and she knew how to use it - but was awkward with romance. She knew a lot about the seedy side of life, but little about how to get herself accepted at Smith. It would have been all too easy to end up at the brothel like her mother. But she was determined to avoid that.

Despite her mother's terrible parenting, Josie was surrounded by people who cared about her and wanted a different life for her as much as she did. I was touched by the affection Cokie showed towards Josie, and the loyalty of her friends Patrick and Jesse, and especially Willie. She even had good relationships with some of the prostitutes. As much as she didn't want to end up like them, she didn't look down on them either. On top of her goal of getting an education, the importance of friendship and loyalty also made her a very different person from her mother.

Out of the Easy has a similar feel to Ten Cents a Dance and The Girl Is Murder, both of which take place in the 1940s. If you like any of them I recommend trying the others. Ruta Sepetys continues to prove herself with this second really excellent novel. Her first, Between Shades of Gray, was a very different story but also historical and well written with a strong main character. I'll be eagerly awaiting her next novel which, according to Goodreads, should come out sometime in 2014.

Between Shades of Gray

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (2011)
 

During World War II the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania and many people there were removed and sent to prisons or labor camps. In Ruta Sepetys' novel, she imagines a teenage girl whose family has been separated, her father sent to prison and she, her mother, and little brother sent to a camp in Siberia. Lina is 15 and dreams of becoming an artist, but those dreams are all but forgotten when she must struggle just to stay alive in the arctic with only bread rations to eat and people dying around her every day.

I've read so much concentration camp and labor camp literature that I generally no longer go near. (The other recent exception was The Book Thief) But when I read a review of this book on a YA site, I was compelled by the lesser-known plight of Lithuanians during the war.

I listened to the audiobook, and at the end the author spoke about why she wrote the book, which was very interesting - I don't know if this part is included in the paper version of the book but it was a great addition to the novel. The narrator has a good reading voice, but very saccharine and a little over-emotional. Perhaps this was to make up for the bleak subject matter - little about this story was uplifting - but it was distracting at times. 

It was a well-crafted story with many moments of tension, as well as flashbacks to happier, more carefree times. There were moments of hope in the story, and reminders that there are good people everywhere, and sometimes their goodness is just hard to see. I liked Lina, who was the sort of person you just know will come through ok even if she doesn't believe it herself. I'm glad I took the time to spend with her in this book.