The Storyteller

By: Jodi Picoult

Narrated by: Mozhan Marno, Jennifer Ikeda, Edoardo Ballerini, Suzanne Toren, Fred Berman

Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Jodi Picoult's poignant number one New York Times best-selling novels about family and love tackle hot-button issues head on. In The Storyteller, Sage Singer befriends Josef Weber, a beloved Little League coach and retired teacher. But then Josef asks Sage for a favor she never could have imagined - to kill him. After Josef reveals the heinous act he committed, Sage feels he may deserve that fate. But would his death be murder or justice?

©2013 Jodi Picoult (P)2013 Recorded Books

amazing

jodi picult is such a great writer...I love how she always leads you one way and suddenly leaves you scratching your head...the storyteller was seamlessly written, taking you back in history, to imaginary, to current day...love how her characters are flawed and perfectly imperfect, so relatable!

Excellent story and narration

Excellent story and narration! Fantastic historical fiction. I very much enjoyed this book and the narrators just brought so much life to the story. 

Enthralling

It’s one of those books you can’t stop listening to.
The performers were riveting. It has it all, suspense, history, romance. I need more!

Graphic holocaust scenes

Great book. But I wouldn’t have chosen to read a holocaust story. I just picked it because I like the author.

Enthralled from the start!!

Amazing how we’ve learned so much from history, and yet how we still learn more, and should learn how to prevent horrific events in the future.

Love, hope Faith and perseverance

Will take you on a journey through the obstacles one must face during tragic horrifying life, events with maintaining love and faith

The Baker, The Nun, The Virgin and The Monster

This books begins with Sage Singer's life. She chooses to be a baker working alone at night she says, to hide her scar(s). She tells us "I leave the dough alone. It's silly to anthropomorphize bread......it needs to sit quietly, to retreat from touch and noise and drama in order to evolve and so do I". Sage is evolving; she rejects her religious heritage; she is an atheist.
She finds herself befriending a very old German man with a past that is perhaps entwined with her family somehow. She is faced with her Jewish roots. Sage must make choices that cause her to question her most basic beliefs.
I usually stay way from detailed stories about the Holocaust, I just find it too horrific. This author does go there. So just know to expect a detailed first person account of many atrocities.
I liked that the author is very serious and addresses these issues head on. And then at times Ms. Picoult made me giggle, she writes,“....tutoring a four year old to get into an exclusive preschool made as much sense as hiring a swim coach for a guppy......”
I liked this book because it held my interest throughout. Although at times, for me, Ms. Picoult's writing lacks something, it was easy for me to overlook because I was really hooked in the plot.
Overall this is a solid good book.

Great story and well crafted historical fiction

The male narration was beautifully done Edoardo Ballerini as Josef was fantastic and completely believable and Fred Berman as Leo reminded me a bit of Scott Brick ( I am a fan so that is a compliment), however the voices of Jennifer Ikeda as Anya and Mozhan Marno as Sage sounded very similar at first until Suzanne Toren as Minka started telling her story then I could finally hear a clear definition of Anya’s story. I am glad they said who was narrating which part at the beginning because I would have guessed Minka was Jennifer & Anya was Suzanne. All in all I would highly recommend this on audio.

The different views/stories were very interesting and very well done it was really interesting to hear Minka & Josef’s different views of the holocaust , Minka’s story broke my heart as well it should but she had a couple decent people help her out even though they were employed by the Nazi’s they still saved her life a couple times. Also Anya’s story about the Wampir (sp.audio) was almost eerie considering what Minka lived after she started writing this story.

I liked the character of Sage, scarred inside and out from a car accident, she keeps to herself works nights so she doesn’t have to see other people or more so no one sees her. Her boyfriend is a married man and I think she likes this safe no commitments relationship because she never has to go out in public together. She attends a grief counseling group where she meets an old man named Josef they strike up a friendship until Josef comes clean with her and tells her of his horrendous past and asks her to do the unthinkable and so begins the moral dilemma that is the premise of this book.

I would highly recommend this book to all as a great story and well crafted historical fiction.

My first Picoult-very well--a written story!

I usually avoid "blockbuster authors", you know, those who are always on the top ten lists, as many are over-rated, IMHO. However, this book had great reviews along with subject matter that currently interests me, so I took a chance. I figured it was about time I decided from actual experience whether a Jodi Picoult was credit-worthy. The answer is yes!

I am really glad I chose this book, as it was a compelling, fascinating story that kept me interested all the way through. I liked all the narrators and their different characters and felt there was a smooth transition between each of their stories. The thread of the "vampire" was at first distracting, but I do feel it added meaning to the story and didn't detract enough to lower the rating.

The characters were well-developed, believable, and interesting. The book elicited a plethora of emotions from me. There was sadness, of course, but also humor along with a bit of a budding romance and I enjoyed every part of it. I laughed, smiled, and shed a few tears.

I am still not sure I loved the ending and have to give that some more thought, but it also did not detract enough to cause me to lower my rating. It is sitting on a fence between 4.5 and 5 stars but really deserves the higher 5 stars.

Jodi Picoult does it again.

I have read and listened to many books about the Holocaust...this one includes so many different facets...the granddaughter of a woman who survived the camps, the holocaust survivor herself, and one of the camp officials and his background. Listened to this obsessively to see how it ended; also, it gave some insight on how Germans were recruited to participate in "the final solution." Chilling, gripping.