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

WWII Historical Fiction with a Twist

I have mixed emotions about this book. It was well done and the narrators were good, but it didn't have a particularly satisfying ending, which is disappointing after 20+ hours. The stories jumps around between three points of time, which is sometimes hard to follow. It was interesting and held my attention for the most part. If you are interested in a story about Nazis and concentration camps, it's worth a listen, but it's not what I was expecting, nor what I would normally choose to read.

Unforgettable!

After recently listening to several Holocaust related novels, I didn't expect this one to affect me so deeply. Jodi Picoult is such a masterful storyteller herself that she is able to weave several narratives into a powerful tale of survival and humanity, even incorporating a work of fiction into her own work of fiction. While it's impossible to hear stories of Nazi Germany without getting emotional, The Storyteller makes it relevant in present day and spiritual in a way only Picoult can.

Beautiful Story

The author's depiction of the war and injustices faced by the Jews is shocking, convicting, and devastating. It is very well done. The story within the story is craftily written as allegory. The surface story left something to be desired, in my opinion, but the redemptive ending was satisfying.

Wow!

Great story with believable characters. Well worth the listen. Hard to put down. I am. A fan of this author. All of her books are good but this one is great.

Not disappointed, not going to remember

What did you love best about The Storyteller?

The performance was so good that it made it a better book. I think it would not have been as good to read instead of listening.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Wondering what choice the girls was going to make.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The different voices for the different characters.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no

the storyteller is a wonderful story

although this book has had some bad reviews I found it to be a touching and compelling story even though I do not like to read anymore about the holocaust. It causes me too much distress. Picoult did a remarkable job of telling the story and I got a kick of how she ended it.

Captivating

If you could sum up The Storyteller in three words, what would they be?

Captivating, well done.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot left you always wanting to hear what happened next. The storyline could have been predictable, and maybe in some ways it was, but it was so well told, I wanted to keep going.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I think these are some of the same voices that do many other Jodi Picoult books, but the different voices for the different characters go a long way towards making the story more of a play and giving it an interesting voice.

Any additional comments?

Spoiler: this was totally well done and a great story. But, since I've read/listened to many other Jodi Picoult books, I knew there would be a twist and found myself constantly thinking about it. The book wasn't so complicated that you couldn't guess - in fact, I figured out the twist early on and was disappointed to learn I was right. Her books are awesome, but I really do wish that plot line was much less predictable.

This was so much better than my highest expectations!

If you want to read a story that’s a fusion of love, hurt, history, adventure, plot twists, etc. look no further. I kept getting sucked in to different parts of the story, and over and over again I became obsessed with the characters. It was easy to follow and so enticing!

A bit repetitious

While I don't regret spending the time listening to this, the middle of the book gets very repetitious. The story within a story, within a story, format is laboured. After spending too long on the middle of the story, the very ending is rather brief, which is consistent with some of Picoult's other books. I think some of her other works have a better pace to them and are more suspenseful and engaging. It was very well read by all the narrators.

captivating

Could not put this one down! The stories told in this book are quite intriguing.