Book info

• Title The Storyteller
• Author Jodi Picoult
• Year 2013
• Genre Historical

After a tragic accident which left her deeply scarred, Sage Singer retreated into herself, allowing her guilt to govern her life. When she befriends kindly retired teacher Josef, it seems that life has finally offered her a chance of healing. But the gentle man Sage thinks she knows is in fact hiding a terrible secret. Josef was an SS officer during the Holocaust and now he wishes to die - and he wants Sage to help him. As Josef begins to reveal his past to her, Sage is horrified. Does this past give her the right to kill him?

Thoughts

A difficult read, this one. The story follows Sage, a reclusive baker who has family issues to deal with. Aside from her own problems, she’s also faced with learning the horrific history of an elderly friend who claims to be a Nazi officer that presided over Auschwitz. The way the story weaves around, through different points of view and alongside a fiction inside the fiction, is great and it gradually builds up the horror and the history of the Holocaust.

It’s hard to read, intensely sad and oppressive but hugely important too. My only real complaint is that the ending felt like an anti-climax, that we had built up so much of these characters and in the end it didn’t quite sit right. Perhaps that’s intentional though, something like this doesn’t really deserve a happy ending. Interesting read overall, not perfect but certainly worth the time.

Rating: 4 / 5