A Review of Salt by Hannah Moskowitz
Salt by Hannah Moskowitz is a coming of age story hidden within a large fantasy setting set in Earth. The story is set on the earth except, there are monsters that live in the sea. These monsters are hunted by people called sicarios, or sics for short. Regular people don't know about the existence of these monsters.
The main character named Indi, is a sicario and lives on a boat with his three siblings. His older sister Beleza, his younger brother Oscar, and his younger sister Zulu. All of them are orphaned off screen in the story after their parents die trying to take down a monster. Apparently, that monster guards a treasure that Indi's parents were after. All four of the kids are after the monster together although some want to do it more than the others. Now the scene is set for the kids to travel around the Mediterranean for shenanigans to ensue.
Meaning and tone (spoilers onward):
I would like to preface that this book is probably better suited for people around 14-16 due to general tone and language. Now that that is out of the way. This book has a strong focus on morality and beliefs that I really didn't see coming. Indi for the most part, is against going after the monster and wants to settle down with the kids and live a safer life. Beleza, on the other hand, wants to go after it and avenge her parents. This difference of safety and comfort vs risk and heroism is the main psychological driving force of the book. It eventually culminates fully when Indi leaves his family in favor for living a life away from danger. A big question in this book is how do you deal with your own problems when dealing with peoples lives. The monsters are shown to attack regular people and in Beleza's eyes, they are acting as heroes by taking down these monsters. However it is clear as the story develops that the younger kids aren't growing up in a healthy environment. This ultimately ends up in Indi leaving his family for a life of his own. whether it was the morally correct decision or not, his mental health clearly improves and he is better able to focus on himself.
My opinion:
Man, I really wanted to like this book, I really did. But there were some things that really irked me. first off, the monsters, little to no detail was given to enrich the monsters or their characteristics. The fights were so bland and rushed that I felt bored by them. In addition, the book seems to struggle with consistency. Characters would limp for a chapter or two and then in the next chapter which would take place a day later they would be completely fine. The characters are all pretty good and for me, the highlight of the book is the banter between the four of them. unfortunately, this is cut off by long scenes of travelling which are frankly pretty boring. I get the idea that the author wanted to communicate a sense of homelessness and get across that these characters are drifters. But what happens is that the story basically swaps from being on the boat to being on land for a day. This formula gets really repetitive fast and scenes and locations start to blend together, making the settings feel less memorable. Finally, I want to talk about what I think is the biggest flaw in the story, The tonal shift. It is pretty clear that the author wants the book to look like a regular fantasy book, but in reality it ends up being a psychological and moral coming of age story. This idea is really cool and definitely interested me upon first read. The problem is that the actual setting is very weak which isn't a good thing seeing as how it is supposed to drive the characters actions. I was incredibly bored when the character development ended up taking a backseat to setting development, when they were supposed to drive each other. The characters are all very interesting and it is really disappointing when the setting falls so flat.
Overall the themes and characters are pretty good, but the story is held back by a weak setting and inconsistencies. 2.5/5, needs improvement, see me after class.
Eli Khuri-Reid
The main character named Indi, is a sicario and lives on a boat with his three siblings. His older sister Beleza, his younger brother Oscar, and his younger sister Zulu. All of them are orphaned off screen in the story after their parents die trying to take down a monster. Apparently, that monster guards a treasure that Indi's parents were after. All four of the kids are after the monster together although some want to do it more than the others. Now the scene is set for the kids to travel around the Mediterranean for shenanigans to ensue.
Meaning and tone (spoilers onward):
I would like to preface that this book is probably better suited for people around 14-16 due to general tone and language. Now that that is out of the way. This book has a strong focus on morality and beliefs that I really didn't see coming. Indi for the most part, is against going after the monster and wants to settle down with the kids and live a safer life. Beleza, on the other hand, wants to go after it and avenge her parents. This difference of safety and comfort vs risk and heroism is the main psychological driving force of the book. It eventually culminates fully when Indi leaves his family in favor for living a life away from danger. A big question in this book is how do you deal with your own problems when dealing with peoples lives. The monsters are shown to attack regular people and in Beleza's eyes, they are acting as heroes by taking down these monsters. However it is clear as the story develops that the younger kids aren't growing up in a healthy environment. This ultimately ends up in Indi leaving his family for a life of his own. whether it was the morally correct decision or not, his mental health clearly improves and he is better able to focus on himself.
My opinion:
Man, I really wanted to like this book, I really did. But there were some things that really irked me. first off, the monsters, little to no detail was given to enrich the monsters or their characteristics. The fights were so bland and rushed that I felt bored by them. In addition, the book seems to struggle with consistency. Characters would limp for a chapter or two and then in the next chapter which would take place a day later they would be completely fine. The characters are all pretty good and for me, the highlight of the book is the banter between the four of them. unfortunately, this is cut off by long scenes of travelling which are frankly pretty boring. I get the idea that the author wanted to communicate a sense of homelessness and get across that these characters are drifters. But what happens is that the story basically swaps from being on the boat to being on land for a day. This formula gets really repetitive fast and scenes and locations start to blend together, making the settings feel less memorable. Finally, I want to talk about what I think is the biggest flaw in the story, The tonal shift. It is pretty clear that the author wants the book to look like a regular fantasy book, but in reality it ends up being a psychological and moral coming of age story. This idea is really cool and definitely interested me upon first read. The problem is that the actual setting is very weak which isn't a good thing seeing as how it is supposed to drive the characters actions. I was incredibly bored when the character development ended up taking a backseat to setting development, when they were supposed to drive each other. The characters are all very interesting and it is really disappointing when the setting falls so flat.
Overall the themes and characters are pretty good, but the story is held back by a weak setting and inconsistencies. 2.5/5, needs improvement, see me after class.
Eli Khuri-Reid
I think this book's concept sounds interesting. It's a shame that it wasn't that entertaining. Good job specifying the ways in which the book fell flat and recognizing the themes that the book discusses. It's interesting how the story seems like sci-fi at first, but then transforms into a coming of age story, and how this makes the novel seem less coherent. I liked your review and found it insightful. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteWhen you laid out the premise for the story to take place, I thought to myself: this is either going to be very interesting or boring. I say this because when there is such a potentially large-scale story, it sometimes seems that it is trying to be too many things. From your review, it seems like this book fell into the second category. I liked how you summarized the problem in you last sentence. There are so many times when a book excels in one area but falls short in another. I enjoyed you detailed analysis of what went wrong. I am curious to see how you would have fixed these issues.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this review! Your comments on the plot, setting, tone, and even just the overall message of the book have definitely given me a good sense of whether or not I would like this book. What I found interesting was how you said that the book was intending to be a tale of homelessness and drifting around, it came across as a more repetitive and stagnant coming-of-age story. I also found that your descriptions of the setting as a flat, 2-dimensional structure without filling really drove home the idea that none of the places they visited stuck in your mind as physical loci, rather as unmemorable background plates. Very well done!
ReplyDeleteReading your review made me learn a lot about this book and everything about it. I like how you were upfront about the many flaws of the book and the structure of your post made me really want to just like the book. If these flaws were not present I myself would read this book because of all the insight gave into the story and message. Overall, amazing and well thought review.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very helpful review. I learned everything I needed to know about this book including your opinion that tells me not to read it and I thought that the way you thought about the book was very interesting. You didn't just focus on the story of the book, you also considered what the book was meant to be and pointed out the clear flaws that don't make it seem like a fantasy book. If I had chosen to read this without knowing that it did not fit its supposed genre of fantasy I would have been confused, but thanks to your analysis I know that if I ever do read this I shouldn't expect too much or trust what the author says about the plot.
ReplyDeleteBased on your description of the meaning a tone, I would really like to read this book. The fact that the children want to avenge their parents, and the monster guarding a treasure that the kids might go after is appealing to me. The fact that the book focuses on morality and beliefs also makes me want to read the book. The analysis makes me not want to read it. Bland fights suck, and shifts in the tone are some of the most annoying things about my least favorite books. Thanks for the review!
ReplyDelete