Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

41 reviews

katrinaburch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow.... I don't know what to make of this book. The last quarter sped by (that's not to say that the first part of the book was slow, it wasn't, Sepetys is very good at that) but I have to say, I HATED the format. I did finally get used to it but it was really hard keeping track of who's who and what everyone's back story was. And to be honest, I wish Sepetys had fleshed those out more because they were what kept me going, what was everyone running from, I needed more! 

It's sad, I've read a lot and studied a lot of World War 2 history and I've never heard of this disaster! So I'm glad Sepetys used it. 

I'm also glad Alfred died... Holy moly, I've never had someone creep me out in a book so much before. Also, again, I wish that Emilia had survived and lived to help her baby grow up. I know the daughter had a happy ending and I'm happy the little boy survived (though I wish it would have told what happened to his family) but still. She suffered though so much (like so many).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Vomit, Hate crime, Pregnancy, War, and Death

Minor: Antisemitism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Religious bigotry, Gore, Violence, Child death, Blood, and Bullying

aphrochilds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Blood, Child death, Colonisation, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit

bethusery's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

This was a great book. It was tough to read, though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, War, Antisemitism, and Death

lostintheplot's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Rape and Medical content

Minor: Death of parent

romy_elizabeth13's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Okay okay okay. So much to say here. This book absolutely wrecked me. But I loved it.

So at first I was like “this is boring and I don’t like it”. I will admit it has a slow start. However, once you get into it, it becomes one of the most amazing books ever. It has an incredible storyline, amazing cast of characters (well, most of them) and is generally very well written. 

This book is narrated by four people: 
Joana, a nurse girl who is incredibly caring and persistently pushes through everything. She was probably my favourite character. I also loved seeing her through Florian’s perspective, it was so interesting. She was incredibly relatable and I really did love her. She was also kind of a badass so we love that. I really admired how despite everything she had been through, she never found a reason to be selfish or do anything that was morally wrong even though it might benefit her.

Florian, who is sort of running away ish. It’s kind of complicated but anyway. He was amazing. The second he appeared on the page, I was thinking “hey, you’re gonna be one of those guys who pretends to be all tough and doesn’t care but in reality you do care very much and are so sweet”. I was right. He was so loveable and I really respected how he helped everyone and really came to love everyone. He was also very great at looking after Emilia who saw him as a really brave person and soon came to trust him with her life. There’s so much to say about Florian. I did love him. 

Emilia, a girl of fifteen. She struggled with so much and I genuinely felt so sad when I thought of everything she went through. However I absolutely loved her with my whole heart and just admired how brave she was. She really was so persistent and passionate about who she loved. I also found it heartbreaking how her innocence was almost taken from her. 

And finally, my least favourite character, Alfred. Oh my gosh, he was the worst — aside from being racist, sexist, homophobic, cruel, completely vile and self centred, he was also so creepy. He generally disgusted me. But oh well.

he dies

 

The general idea is that all  these people start off being completely lost and not knowing what do do, war has completely wrecked their lives. But they all eventually cross paths and (aside from Alfred) all build strong relationships with each other. They need to get on a boat called the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship which could hopefully get them to freedom and safety. However, unfortunately it is never that simple and the ending of this book was tragic. It was also kind of happy. It was one of those sad/happy endings. I generally loved this book so much and would really recommend it. It also had some great side characters (except Eva, I didn’t like her). It was so compelling and I enjoyed it so much. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Death of parent, Vomit, Racism, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, War, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Racial slurs and Misogyny

dorset_daisy's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful sad

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland from the west.

On September 17, 1939, Russia invaded Poland from the east.

I remembered these dates.

Two warring nations gripped Poland like girls fighting over a doll. One held the leg, the other the arm. They pulled so hard that one day, the head popped off.

The Nazis sent our people to ghettos and concentration camps.

The Soviets sent our people to gulags and Siberia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

pucksandpaperbacks's review

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, Blood, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Ableism, War, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Rape, Medical content, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Antisemitism

Death during child birth

kat_rowlen's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Haunting and heartbreaking 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Animal death, Grief, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and War

Moderate: Rape, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Deportation, and Medical trauma

amberinbookland's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, Violence, Grief, Deportation, Death of parent, Death, Ableism, Medical content, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, War, Physical abuse, Child death, Pregnancy, Murder, Child abuse, Body horror, Antisemitism, Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

sukidookie's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This book was wonderful and heartbreaking. I loved each and every character. I feel like I gained a deeper and more personal understanding of WW2, but through the lens of the younger generation. As I went along, I was constantly reminded of the fact that these characters could have easily been real people. I loved how the romance between Joana and Florence was natural, acted as a beacon of hope, and simultaneously reminded the reader how young and brave these people were. Everything in this book had a thematic purpose. The writing was perfect and it felt like I was there with them. I had no idea this tragedy existed before reading Salt to the Sea, and after reading the acknowledgements and author's note, it made me wonder how many more traumatic war-related incidents were lost to history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Rape