The Storyteller

by Jodi Picoult

An astonishing novel about redemption and forgiveness from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult.

Some stories live forever . . .

Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day's breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother's death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage's grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can't, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret--one that nobody else in town would ever suspect--and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she's ever had clouded, Sage begins to question the assumptions and expectations she's made about her life and her family. When does a moral choice become a moral imperative? And where does one draw the line between punishment and justice, forgiveness and mercy?

In this searingly honest novel, Jodi Picoult gracefully explores the lengths we will go in order to protect our families and to keep the past from dictating the future.

• ISBN10: 0606407553
• ISBN13: 9780606407557
• Publish Date: 5 November 2013 (first published 26 February 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 528
• Language: English

Reviews

At first, this book was easy to put down. I could forget about The Storyteller for long periods of time without wondering about it or caring what would happen next. However, this story started to slowly, slyly and unexpectedly seep into my heart. I was unable to put it down!

I feel as though it's better to go into this story completely blind. I will, however, give the basic plot even although I feel that it is mildly spoilery.The Storyteller is about Sage Singer, a baker, who befriends an elderly man named Josef Weber at her grief counseling group. Josef Weber is not the friendly old man that he appeared to be. He was an SS Soldier during Hitler's reign and wants Sage, who comes from a Jewish background, to kill him.

This book made the History student in me scream with delight. This book is all about the Holocaust. We learnt about the Holocaust in Grade 9 and we learnt about it in more detail two months ago. The story of Hitler, the Nazi's the Holocaust and the concentration camps are extremely accurate. It is also extremely brutal and sickening to read about.

This book made the person in me, who's interested in the human psyche', dance for joy. This book questions every single thing to do with humanity: What is the difference between good and evil? What makes a monster? Can a monster be good or bad? Is the world white, black or full of shades of grey? What makes us human? What is forgiveness? What is survival? Picoult's analysis of humanity, good vs evil, character, human survival and forgiveness vs revenge was spot on!

This book is told in multiple POV's and each POV is typed in a different font. There is Sage, the main character, Josef, Leo, Minka and a fictional story that is woven into the main story. Each characters POV shows their personality and their backstory. I felt as though each POV was done extremely well. My favourite POV was Minka's, which I will explain later in this review, and my least favourite was Josef's.

This book made me emotional. I don't cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm angry and I definitely don't cry when I read a book. I didn't cry when reading The Storyteller, but this book! Minka's POV made my eyes burn and water slightly. Minka is a Holocaust survivor and the story that she told was realistic, terrifying, sad and hopeful. I understood everything that she felt. That's an understatement! I felt everything that she felt and so much more!

Jodi Picoult has an amazing writing style and every single word of hers drew me deeper into her story until I was so engrossed in it that I couldn't get out, no matter how much I tried. I abandoned my homework, my projects and checked out of life just so that I finish this amazing book.

GO READ THE STORYTELLER!

[Leah]

I love Jodi Picoult, I love the fact that she takes a plot that’s perhaps a bit controversial and she makes it into something you really want to read. Something you really care about. I look forward to every new release, and I’ve loved her past 5 or so releases. When I heard about The Storyteller, I was so interested to read it. I loved the sound of it, I adored the cover (it’s my favourite Jodi Picoult cover, it’s so pretty!) and when I received a proof copy, I nearly died of happiness. I couldn’t wait to read it, and it blew me away. It blows my mind that she continues to shock and delight me. The Storyteller really has taken Jodi Picoult to a whole new level and it very much her best novel to date.

I’ll be honest, The Storyteller’s plot isn’t something I’m at all familiar with – history wasn’t my strong suit at school and I don’t remember ever being taught about the Holocaust. I know about it, vaguely, but I will admit to being mostly ignorant about that time and about what happened. (I very much find that you don’t need school to learn these things, picking up a Jodi Picoult will tell you most of what you need to know about major life events, trust me.) But it’s fair to say that now I am fully versed in the events of the Holocaust and in a way I’m pretty glad I’ve only just learnt the full extent of it now, because it’s a lot to take in. I never would have appreciated it as a teenager, because it is truly unbelievable that this was allowed to happen, that so many Jewish people died, it’s just really, really, really horrific and it seems somewhat unreal.

I generally don’t find books hard to read, I can stomach most things – I read Chick Lit, so it’s not as if you regularly come across such tragic topics but I found it difficult at times to read The Storyteller. It was so compelling, so hard to put down, but it was also on the flipside so hard to read. It was hard to hear Josef’s account of the deaths on his hands, it was hard to read Minka’s tale of what it was to be a Jew during the Holocaust and to read about how horribly awful her life was at Auschwitz, and before that in the ghettos. I did struggle a bit to get into Minka’s tale, which takes up the main part of the book and is definitely the crux of the story, but once everything started happening and Minka and her family were moved into the Ghetto, it really came to life and it was so, so horrible to read about what was happening. This is a novel that’s most definitely reliant on its plot, although I will admit I loved Sage as a character, along with Leo, but mostly, I was just interested in learning more about Minka’s life, and Josef’s crimes. I found them utterly compelling, even if they were hard going.

The Storyteller blew me away. It was magnificent, this is the novel that will cement Jodi Picoult as one of the best fiction writers to date. The story was harrowing, but it was utterly compelling. It was fiction, absolutely, but to know that this actually occurred, made it all the more difficult to swallow everything Josef and Minka were telling us. The novel is told from various points of view, mostly Josef and Minka, but also Sage, Minka’s granddaughter, along with Leo, who is helping Sage on her quest to learn all about Josef and his life, and then there’s a story interweaving between the chapters, telling the tale of Ania, I thought all of the stories interacted with each other perfectly, they complimented each other, and none of the stories or voices sound forced and I enjoyed seeing the novel from many different sides. I just loved The Storyteller. It’s truly the best novel I’ve ever read from Jodi Picoult, probably one of the best books I’ll read this year, if not ever. It’s a book that you simply have to read to believe. It really opened my eyes as to what happened during World War II and I’m so disappointed in myself that I didn’t know all of this already, how could it have passed me by? Just read it, it’s simply amazing.