The Storyteller (UK edition)

by Antonia Michaelis

Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she? Award-winning author Antonia Michaelis moves in a bold new direction with her latest novel: a dark, haunting, contemporary story that is part mystery, part romance, and part melodrama. Praise for The Storyteller STARRED REVIEW “Michaelis crafts a beautifully written, carefully constructed mystery and love story that will capture the both the reader’s imagination and heart from the first page. The novel weaves a sad and loving spell...this suspenseful, often violent, read will haunt readers long after its final page is turned.” –Booklist, starred review "The fairy tale is beautifully woven in and out of the contemporary scenes and the characters are well composed. –School Library Journal Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

• ISBN13: 9781419701221
• Publish Date: 15 January 2012 (first published 1 November 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 February 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Abrams
• Imprint: Amulet Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I had a really hard time getting into The Storyteller. First it was because I didn't care too much for the writing style, then I didn't connect with Anna. She's very sheltered, which is fine, but she's also pretty bland and annoying. Why is she all of a sudden obsessed with Abel? Enough so that she quietly stalks him and his sister around town. I get that she's sick of her boring, sheltered life, but suddenly clinging to Abel was a bit random. Then after hanging out with him a few times, she starts thinking she knows so much about life, and that she's better than her shallow friends. That was extremely annoying, since all she did was listen to the fairytale he tells his sister. She can go back to her comfortable, upper-middle class life any time. He's living something that she cannot even begin to understand, and yet she thinks being around him makes her so wise. I don't think so.

I'm sure there's lots of beautiful imagery and deeper meaning, but it got lost for me behind an unforgivably slow and boring story. Yes, I felt bad for Abel, but seeing him through Anna's rose-colored glasses made it hard to actually care and connect. The fairytale was an interesting addition, but I found that I didn't really care for that either. It's based in reality, and holds the answers to the bigger mystery surrounding Abel and Micha's situation, but again, I just didn't feel connected to it and didn't bother trying to fit things together myself.

Anna and Abel's growing relationship was sweet as he slowly opened up to her, but then it takes a turn for the worst. I wanted to yell at Anna to abandon her little social experiment and stay away. She was so caught up in fairytales and having an adventure that she was completely blind to reality. I'm not blaming her for what happened, but she shouldn't have pushed him, and should have taken off those damn rose-colored glasses to see what is really going on in front of her! Neither of these characters were redeemable at that point. Abel cannot be forgiven no matter what his background was, and Anna is in desperate need of a reality check.

Unfortunately, this book just did not work for me. I typically enjoy stories with darker themes and rough topics, but not this time. The story didn't really grab my interest and I didn't connect with any of the characters, or particularly like any of them, including the secondary characters. I mainly kept reading to see who the murderer was, but I was surprised and disappointed to learn that I figured everything out from the beginning. I was hoping for some shock ending, but it didn't deliver. I just found myself even more frustrated with Anna.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Joni Reads]

*Contains Spoilers in the sixth paragraph*
Originally published in Germany, this novel tells the story of Anna, a plin girl who is not much of a risk taker, who falls for Abel, the school's resident drug dealer who harbors more secrets than anyone can possibly imagine. Told as part novel, part fairytale this book is truly unique.

Anna has never been one to do anything unexpected. We first meet Anna as she is planning what a trip to the ocean after school to see the water before it freezes. I got the impression she was a bit immature for her age. Before she leaves school she finds a small doll in the student lounge at school. She tucks the doll in her pocket and vows to find the owner, though she thinks it odd to find a doll lost inside a high school.
She comes to find the doll belongs to Abel's younger sister, Micha. He takes the doll from Anna, not really saying much but his actions interest Anna who decides to follow him after school to find out if he really does have a sister. She follows Abel on her bike as he rides to the loval elementary school and finds out he truly does have a sister and watches as he returns her doll to her. Then, instead of going home Anna continues to follow Abel and his sister to the local community college where they eat dinner. She finds a seat close enough to eavesdrop on their conversation and this is where Anna first hears the story Abel has been telling Micha.

The story is a fairytale about a little queen with a diamond heart who lives on an island in the ocean. But hunters are trying to find her and kill her to steal her diamond heart and the little queen is forced the leave the island to flee from the hunters. Throughout the novel this fairytale continues, weaving new characters in and out of the story as they go.

Eventually Anna and Abel find themselves in a complicated relationship. Anna discovers that Abel and Micha's mother has abandoned them and Abel is taking care of his sister on his own, which is why he is selling drugs, as a way to provide for himself and his sister. But his sister's teacher is catching on to the fact that their mother has left and is starting to interfere with the life Abel has made for himself and his sister. Soon enough Child Protective Services intervenes, attempting to take Abel's sister away from him and place her in foster care. Anna is in over her head and unsure how to help Abel and things start spinning out of control. Then when people start dying in the Abels' fairytale and then in real life Anna is forced to consider that Abel will stop at nothing to keep his life and that of his sister's the way it has been.

This story is part fairytale, part love story, and part mystery. Which sounds intriguing but honestly, it almost has a little too much going on. I had trouble following the story sometimes and it seemed to be never ending. This is not a book I could have read in one sitting. With everything going on I took it a few pages at a time or else I put the book down unsure of what was going on. The story is great until people start dying, which seems like it would be the part where things start to get interesting and the story would fly from there but I found that by the time I reached that part of the book I was so confused and just frustrated with the book that I had to put it down and give it a rest for a while. A few weeks later I picked it back up and finished it. The end of the book is pure chaos and I am still unsure of somethings that happened but can't bring myself to go back and reread it and have to deal with it again.

*This paragraph contains SPOILERS, STOP reading and skip this paragraph if you want to avoid them.* One thing that bothers me about this book, and I mean, I was apalled at how it was handled, is that Anna was raped by Abel towards the end of book. They go for a walk and things are fine, they go into a boathouse and start making out and then Anna decides is ready to take things to the next level. Abel tells her no but she insists she is ready. Abel then rips of Anna's clothes and proceeds to rape her on the floor of the boathouse while Anna asks him to stop. He then stands up and leaves. Anna is obviously upset and angry but after just a week she has already not only forgiven him but back in a relationship with him. To me, the whole thing was totally unecessary and there was no need for that scene in this book. It played no bigger role and for an issue as big as rape to play out in the way it did apalled and angered me to the point of nearly giving up on the book and never looking back. If anyone else has read this book and has thoughts on that scene, can maybe give me insight into it and explain why they think it was in there or if anyone else was equally angered by it, feel free to leave a comment for us to discuss it. *End SPOILER*

After everything I have said about this book I honestly can't say that I hated it. It held my attention for the most part and the concept was truly interesting. But there was too much going on that I found myself with a headache from all of it and I would not read it again. I do think, given the opportunity, if you like books that tell many stories at once and never stop with the action that you should read this book. Just because I did not enjoy does not mean it's not for anyone. And if you did enjoy it, comment and tell me why. Or link me to your review. I would love know what other people thought of it.
Grade:C-
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*