Review #7: Salt to the Sea

‘Salt to the Sea’ told the tale of four different characters, who were all destined to travel on ill-fated MV Wilhelm Gustloff during the Second World War.

After having read books before that were told from the perspective of a number of different characters and not enjoyed them, I was worried that I would not enjoy ‘Salt to the Sea’. But I was wrong.

Although it took a bit of time for me to get into the book, due to the fact that I had to get to know the four different characters, I thoroughly enjoyed ‘Salt to the Sea’, as I felt that it taught me very well about a period of history that I know very little about (the experience of people in Eastern Europe during WW2). Also, because of each characters’ clear differences, I felt that it was easy to distinguish between the characters and their accounts, which meant that I was able to understand and enjoy the story, and take in all the details.

For me, I felt that the book was at its best towards the very end, as that was when all the action happened, and in all honesty, I did find the characters’ journey up to that point a little boring after a while.

Nevertheless, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘Salt to the Sea’, and that it is one of my favourite reads on the 2017 Carnegie shortlist.