Salt to the Sea
“Winter. 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.”-Salt to the Sea. This is a story that will never let you down. It will never let you fall asleep or stop reading. It will only keep you interested.
Salt to the Sea does not have one main character or narrator. The story has four narrators, Joana, Florian, Emilia, and Alfred. They all have different troubles and secrets.
Joana is a very well-experienced nurse from Lithuania. Her training comes in handy throughout the book. She treats the other people in the group and when they arrive at the ship Wilhelm Gustloff, she gets chosen to be a nurse on the ship and treats more people on the ship. Joana tries to not worry about things besides her career but ends up having feelings for Florian.
Florian is a very mysterious and secretive boy. He is a Prussian boy who is extremely skilled at tricking people. Florian began the novel by being independent and always rushing to get everything done he began to start slowing down and taking other people's help. Florian tries to hide his feelings for Joana, but in the end, they get married.
Emilia is a young girl from Poland. She has went through many terrible experiences. She got raped as a young child and got pregnant. On the boat, Wilhelm Gustloff, Joana delivered Emilia’s baby. While the boat was sinking she threw Halinka, her daughter, down to Florian and she died that same day. Throughout the story Emilia trusts and relies on on Florian. Toward the end, she becomes more independent and relies on herself.
Alfred is a nazi sailor. He is extremely neurotic and the antagonist of the novel. Most of the novel he is writing letter to the person he loves. Although, the person he loves does not love him back. He struggles with accepting rejection. He finally accepts rejection towards the end. At the end of the novel his parts are not only letters but he also begins to narrate his side of the story.
Secondary characters include, the shoe poet, Klause, Eva, and Ingrid. All of these characters add a weird interesting since to the story. The shoe poet is a wise older man that worked to fix shoes. Klause is also known as “Wandering Boy”. Klause wandered around until he met the group. Him and the shoe poet have the sweetest relationship and Klause looks up to the shoe poet. Eva is a women who complained about anything and everything. She would often say “sorry” after everything to make it seem like she didn't want to offend anyone. Ingrid is a blind women who senses danger. While passing over a frozen river, Ingrid fell in a hole. Many people tried to help her out of the hole, especially Joana, but couldn't help and she sadly died.
There are so many themes to this novel. If I had to choose an overall theme for this story it would be chasing after a new life. All of these characters have gone through struggles, but somehow have never given up. Florian stole art, Emilia got impregnated, Ingrid had to go through everything blind, and the rest of the group had their own problems and secrets. Everyone in this group is on this journey to find a new life after the war. Some may find a new life and get what they have been wanting for so long. Others may find themselves lost, lonely, or afraid. Overall, everyone in this novel tried their hardest to find and make a new life for them and their loved ones.
This book is extremely interesting and never gets boring. On top of that it is very historical. History has been one of my favorite subjects since I was little. When I first started the book I didn't know much about it. Once I learned it was placed in World War II I was automatically hooked. There was no down part in this story. My expectations for this story was not high nor low, I didn't know what to expect. Although, this story exceeded my expectations thoroughly.
Most of the story isn't about one plot. It explores all the characters back stories which I loved. I became closer and more attached with all the characters, especially Emilia. Hearing everything she went through and how, made me feel terrible for her and wished I could have help her.
This story wasn't only interesting it taught me new things about World War II that I did not know about. For example the, Wilhelm Gustloff. I have never even heard about it before this story. After the story I researched the ship. I read things about the three German torpedoes, which was the cause of the sinking. Although, I learned that from the novel on page 327. Another new thing I learned was that the Wilhelm Gustloff was near the end of World War II.
This story was filled of War, struggles, love, and secrets. It's heart-wrenching and this story will keep you on your toes. This story made me and others informed of the tragedies of World War II. Stories like these will continue to keep educating us of the past to make sure we don't make the same mistake in the future.
ABC Murders
ABC Murders, is a novel that has ups and downs. At some parts it's thrilling and you never want to put the book down, at other parts it's extremely boring and you just want to rush to finish the book. It's hard to look back on this book and decide if you really did like it or not.
The novel has many characters, including Arthur Hastings, Hercule
Poirot, Alfred Cust, and Franklin Clarke.
Arthur Hastings is also known as Captain Hastings. Hastings is a
clever man that is dependable and is who he appears to be. Arthur Hastings is a normal and simple man who pays attention. Arthur Hastings almost gets put in the same position as the readers who gets tricked and who almost always gets the wrong conclusion. Hastings sticks to his job and doesn't worry about anything else. Hastings is an extremely likable and trustworthy character.
Hercule Poirot is a retired detective and he received a letter daring him to solve the case before a person of every letter of the alphabet is killed. Poirot is not very humble but he is good at figuring things out. Hercule Poirot is always up for a task and will not stop until he gets the job done.
Alfred Cust is a traveling salesman. He fought in the war, therefore he is epileptic. He is a good person, but because he is epileptic he sometimes black out or he gets extremely painful headaches. Cust believed he was guilty of the murder because of his bad memory, but Poirot doubted his guilt.
Franklin Clarke is the real “ABC Murder”. He is the true antagonist of the novel. He is a serial killer that acts like he thinks a lot of himself, but panics when times don't go as planned. He tries to get out of things, for example when he tried to shoot himself but Poirot unloaded the amo to his gun. He is sneaky and clever, but leaves fatal mistakes.
Poirot and Hastings both had to work extremely hard to figure out who did all the murders. Most of the time they would get led in the wrong direction, or the weren't at the murder at the correct time. Franklin Clarke, was smart in the way he fooled Poirot and Hastings. He set up clues to make them led to a completely different person who was completely innocent.
Good or evil is one of the themes of this novel. You could choose good, like Poirot or Hastings and help people and care for people. You could also choose evil, and be a pessimist and not care for anyone but yourself. Franklin Clarke chose evil, not only did he kill four innocent people, he tried to frame it on Alfred Cust.
Justice would be another theme of this novel. If you do something wrong like, Franklin Clarke, you do and should face the consequences. Justice is defined as “ the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness.” In Franklin Clarke case that is exactly why we need justice in the world.
My favorite character in this novel has to be Hercule Poirot. He never gives up and will always finish what he starts. He is a smart thinker and knows what is right and what is wrong. I found it extremely interesting how he pieced together each clue to come to the outcome that Clarke was the murderer. He looked for specific things and never gave up when things were hard.
This story all together did not entertain me. I was looking forward to reading this book and trying to figure everything out since it was a mystery. When I found out it was a murder mystery and that it was written by Agatha Christie, the queen of mystery, my expectations were extremely high. Although it did not entertain me and I was surprisingly bored reading the novel. The characters besides Hercule Poirot didn't make me feel curious or surprised by left me feeling uninterested and discouraged.
Overall the novel did not please me. The conflict of Poirot trying to solve the murder at times were exhilarating and me wanting to read more, but most of the time left me confused and wanting to put the book down. I would most likely not recommend this to a friend but, I am going to read another book written by Agatha Christe to see if I like a different book better.
Nimona
The book Nimona makes me feel like a little kid again. With all the
Heros, villains, dragons and superpowers it makes me feel like I'm about to go to bed with my parents reading me a story. This story did entertain me, more than I thought it would.
One of the main characters is obviously, Nimona. She is a young girl with amazing superpowers. She can change into any creature that actually exists, any person, but she can’t turn into anything inanimate. In the story, they call her a “shapeshifter.” She can defeat and kill anyone or anything she would like to. Nimona is a quick thinker and she is not afraid of anything that comes her way. She has always been a shapeshifter and she has always been a trouble maker. She will always be both.
The next character that I adored was Blackheart. He was the “villain” of the story. Everyone saw him as a bad guy and a person of evil but he was actually a sweet, loving, and caring person. He cared for Nimona, his sidekick, even when she was a dragon and killing several people. He never wanted to kill anyone, he just wanted to prove his point. He was a fierce hero and soldier before he was known as a villain. His best friend, Ambrosius, blew his right arm up out of jealousy.
The “hero” of the story is Blackhearts ex-best friend, Ambrosius. He will do anything to be known as the good guy. He is extremely full of himself and will always be worried as of how people view him. He began to start letting his guard down and helping Blackheart in the end. He was a good person, it was just hard to see it in him.
Two of the secondary characters are the Director and Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer. The Director is the true villain of the story. She is the person behind the kingdoms darkest secrets and schemes. We don't learn much about her and most people in the story don't like her, they are just afraid of her. She was always focused on her job, and nothing else.
Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer is a scientist that Blackheart met at a science fair. She is a happy person that loves science. She is extremely intelligent and she spent her life's worth working on her Anomalus Energy Enhancer. She doesn't know much about Blackheart and what he is known for. She gives up her life work though to help him keep control of Nimona.
All of these characters face similar problems. Nimona and Blackheart wanted to defeat the Director and the rest of the institution while the the director and Ambrosius want to defeat Nimona and Blackheart. If I had to choose which one won, I would say Blackheart and Nimona because they made everyone see how bad and wrong the institution is.
If I had to choose a theme to this story, it would be to make things right. Blackheart and Nimona both knew that the Institution had bad things happening there and that the people running it were not good people. They were both convinced to make it known to people that it's not a good place and they do bad things to good people for no reason, like Blackheart, they made him the enemy for no reason. Blackheart had to live like that for an extremely long time and he did not deserve that.
If it’s not extremely obvious, Blackheart is my favorite character in the story. He is mysterious and he cared for others. When he was worried about Nimona in the institution when he escaped was the sweetest thing. When I first met him I wasn't sure if I would like him because he was rude to Nimona but he proved me wrong.
I would recommend this book to anyone I know. I didn't think I would enjoy this book because it was a comic book and seemed little kiddish. However, the conflict between the institution and Blackheart made me excited to read more. I ended up finishing this book in less than a day. I will definitely be reading more books by this author.