Spoiler-Free Review: The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

 

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Synopsis:

    The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys follows two main characters’ POVs: Daniel who is an American visiting Spain during the Franco regime and Ana, a native Spanish girl living with the aftermath/consequences of the Spanish Civil War. They meet when Daniel and his family stay at the hotel that Ana works at. During his stay, certain truths about life under Franco’s dictatorship are revealed. Things in Spain are not like what the government would like the Americans to think!

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Review:

    Honestly, I was quite disappointed by this book. The looming threat of Francisco Franco and his regime did not seem to be fully explored throughout the story. It felt like nothing really happened or really changed throughout the story which I found to be quite frustrating! The characters seemed very one-note and did not appear to have any sort of growth or development throughout the story. And I really felt like Part 2 of the story was quite unnecessary and the ending, in general, was just really perplexing. 

    Throughout the story, it always just felt like the writer was really just telling us about how bad things were in Spain under a dictatorship rather than showing us. Sepetys describes some of the atrocities that occurred at this time in Spain but we never really get to explore it in the setting or see these things happening in real-time. One thing I thought was pretty cool was how she included a little bit of mixed media in the book with these radio recordings/quotes of people who had actually visited the hotel that the fictional Ana worked at and Daniel had stayed at. 

     I liked the characters at first a lot. I thought Daniel was a type of character that I had seen a lot before in other novels but I didn't mind that too much. Ana seemed interesting and I really felt like her character had quite a bit of potential, I just don't think that Ruta Sepetys developed the characters as much as she could have. It just felt like the characters didn't grow or learn from the experiences which was a bit disappointing. I think what really ended up bothering me was the fact that the characters hadn't really changed all the much in Part 2 which occurred YEARS after the main part of the story took place!

    I don't want to delve into spoilers on this review, but that ending was super odd and confusing. I understand that Sepetys was just trying to show the repercussions of a dictatorship and how Civil War continues to affect people's lives generations later, but it just felt a bit too convenient, too perfect for my liking. Ruta Sepetys really wanted to bring attention to the fact that thousands of children were taken from their parents and put for adoption because their parents had been part of the rebellion against Franco. 

    I would definitely love to learn more about this, but, I think I will seek out non-fiction, historical accounts in the future. The little bits of history and nonfictional elements included at the end I thought were quite interesting and helpful. I think that if this story had been nonfiction instead of fiction I would've found it more interesting! I didn't really care for any of the fictional elements of this book but I was fascinated by the history that the story was inspired by. Overall, I'm sad to say that I didn't really enjoy this story, if you're looking for a fictional account of life under a dictatorship, I highly recommend that you read In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez instead!

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Publisher: Penguin Random House