Historical fiction told from the points of view of four individuals thrown together as they flee the advancing Russian army in East Prussia in the final days of World War II, all ultimately boarding the ill-fated German ship, Gustav Wilhelm. This real ship, meant to hold 1,500 passengers was crammed with 10,000 refugees trying to escape when it was hit by three torpedoes launched by a Russian submarine; about 9,000 people perished in the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea. Those narrating characters, all with secrets — Lithuanian nurse Joana, who had been allowed to resettle in Germany; pregnant Polish teenager Amelia; delusional Nazi zealot and soldier Alfred; and Prussian art restorer Florian — as well several other characters they travel with (Eva, Ingrid, Klaus, and the "Shoe Poet") are all believably and beautifully rendered and fully developed, and while they are fictional people, the events that cuased their staggering struggle for survival are tragically.

I previously read Fountains of Silence by Ms. Sepetys, historical fiction set in the post-WWII Franco regime in Spain, which I enjoyed; this one had the same level of credibility and was quite special in that it gave voice to a diverse cast of ordinary people, even though fictional in this case, whose stories would have been lost in time -- not the military or the political, but the real people who are just numbers in the official histories. The author’s note discusses the real life tragedy of the torpedoing of the Gustav Wilhelm – and the countless other lives – military and civilian – lost in the Baltic Sea during WWII – and challenges other writers to give voice to the truths hidden from the official histories. ( )

Belum pernah rasanya aku seattached ini sama buku historical fiction. Buku ini adalah buku Mami Ruta pertama yang aku baca dan aku langsung jatuh cinta. Definisi love at the first sight. I'm head over heels for this book, really.

Buku ini sendiri udah aku beli cukup lama, tapi belum sempat aku baca. Bahkan ketika aku sedang mencari buku dengan tema Perang Dunia juga, aku lupa dengan keberadaan buku ini. Tapi karena aku ikut salah satu reading challenge, pacarku mengingatkan aku dengan buku ini.

Satu kata SERU. BENAR-BENAR SERU. Aku bingung harus menggambarkan dan menceritakan buku ini seperti apa karena aku rasa kalimat sederhanya yang aku punya nggak bisa menggambarkan segimana bagusnya buku ini menurutku.

Kalau biasanya sebuah buku akan berganti sudut pandang ketika bab-nya berganti, justru buku ini rasanya berganti sudut pandang setiap kali kita pindah halaman. Buku ini sendiri ada empat sudut pandang, Florian, Joana, Emilia dan Alfred. Di mana keempat orang ini menyimpan rahasianya masing-masing yang membuat aku terbengong-bengong.

Buku ini juga berhasil bikin aku patah hati, apalagi waktu kepergian Inggrid, Emilia dan Opi Heinz, rasanya aku ingin menangis.

Selama baca buku ini juga aku seperti belajar sejarah, diajak jalan-jalan ke daerah-daerah sebelum terjadi perubahan wilayah. Aku juga jadi tahu peristiwa tenggelamnya kapal Wilhelm Gustloff yang jauh lebih menyayat hati dibanding dengan tenggelamnya kapal Titanic dan atau Lusitania (yang baru aku tau dari buku ini) yang kisahnya lebih mendunia.

Kutipan,

"para penyintas bukanlah saksi yang sesungguhnya. Para saksi sesungguhnya, yang tahu kebenaran yang tak terungkapkan, adalah orang-orang yang tenggelam, mati, dan menghilang."

memang benar adanya, seolah bisa menggambarkan para korban perang saat itu.

Semua kejadian yang ada di dalam buku ini adalah kejadian-kejadian yang sebenarnya terjadi, kecuali tokoh-tokohnya yang fiksi. Ruang Amber, Operasi Hannibal dan Wilhelm Gustloff sendiri adalah hal yang nyata ada dan terjadi saat itu.

Selain keseruan belajar sejarahnya, aku dibuat greget maksimal sama interaksi Florian dan Joana. Mereka berdua adalah penggambaran kisah yang manis, menurutku. Sukses besar bikin aku senyum-senyum sendiri diantara ketegangan-ketegangan yang ada di buku ini.

Kalau boleh aku bilang, buku ini sangat worth to read and worth to buy. Sepertinya aku akan terjun bebas sama buku historical fiction dan buku-buku Mami [a:Ruta Sepetys|3407448|Ruta Sepetys|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1633801019p2/3407448.jpg] yang lainnya. ( )

In 1945 Nazi Germany was falling and the Russian front was moving eastward, leaving refugees in a nutcracker between the two forces. Nevertheless, it was known that the Germans were organizing Operation Hannibal to open a corridor through Prussian territories for refugees and soldiers to be evacuated from the shores of the Baltic Sea to Germany and German occupied Denmark.

Frightened refugees by ones and twos fled through the countryside; some came together in small bands as they learned whom they could trust and whom might help protect them. The story is told from the view of several of these people – each with their own secrets and their own reasons to be terrified if caught. One is a nurse; another is a Nazi soldier who has information and perhaps a small item he has stolen from the Amber Room, one of the great mysterious disappearances that occurred under the Nazis ; a third is a pregnant Polish girl whose story to me, was the most memorable. And lastly ,we have the story of one of the sailors on a rescue ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff. This man is not just a Nazi, but truly a disturbed individual.

I was completely unfamiliar with Operation Hannibal. According to Wikipedia “The flood of military personnel and German civilians eventually turned the operation into one of the largest evacuations by sea in history, even larger than the far more widely known British evacuation of Dunkirk five years earlier. Over a period of 15 weeks, somewhere between 494 and 1,080 merchant vessels of all types, including fishing boats and other craft, and utilizing Germany's largest remaining naval units, carried between 800,000 and 900,000 German civilians and 350,000 soldiers across the Baltic Sea to Germany and German-occupied Denmark. “

Unfortunately 18 ships were sunk by Russian submarines, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of refugees. The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff alone resulted in an estimated 9500 deaths, far more deaths than in the sinking of the Titanic and Lusitania combined.

And yet this devastation was almost unknown in the west. Germany hid it as evidence they were losing the war. The Russians also hid it as they did not want the world to know their brutality.

The New York Times in their review of Salt to the Sea—"Ruta Sepetys acts as champion of the interstitial people so often ignored—whole populations lost in the cracks of history”.

I was totally drawn into this story. The characters were fascinating and I was unfamiliar with this tragic corner of WWII. Although Ruta Sepetys books are almost universally called YA, and they do have young protagonists, they are brilliantly written. This is one of my favorite books of the year. ( )

This book was truly amazing. Up until the end, I forgot I was reading historical fiction even. The ship sinking was so beautifully worded and described, it broke my heart. There is so much to say about the tone and meaning and importance of this book that I just can’t write it all down. I’m truly amazed by the story telling and deeply saddened that I have never heard of the Wilhelm Gustloff until now. ( )

“Fate is a hunter. Its barrel pressed against my forehead.”

Salt to the Sea highlights a heartbreaking event in history that will have the reader weeping for what has been lost.

“I knew the legends of birds. Seagulls were the souls of dead soldiers. Owls were the souls of women. Doves were the recently departed souls of unmarried girls. Was there a bird for the souls of people like me?”

Salt to the Sea by Rita Septeys did not hit my core like Between Shades of Grey, but it was still worth the read. I love her representation in the historical fiction genre and her eye for capturing events. In this novel, Sepety's story revolves around a group of individuals traveling to board the Wilhelm Gustloff to escape the Red Army. Each member has a secret and is unsure who they can trust. Some people survive the journey to the boat, while others face their death.

“Yes, I know it must all sound hostile, but this is war. Brave men are reduced to numbers. These numbers are engraved twice on an oval metal disc we wear around our neck. In the event of death, they shall snap the disc in half… I am 42089.”

The Wilhelm Gustloff was supposed to be a vessel to safety but sank when struck by a Soviet submarine. An estimated 9,400 people died during its sinkage compared to the well-known Titanic, which had 1,496 estimated deaths. Salt to the Sea highlights the tragic journeys of people who persevered with the hope of obtaining safety but ended in catastrophic deaths.

“They refuse to abandon their estate. Instead, they have sent their servants toward the ships for safety. The family members have dug graves for themselves in their garden. Should the Russians arrive, they will step into the dirt pits and take their own lives.” ( )