The Storyteller

De: Jodi Picoult

Narrado por: Mozhan Marno, Jennifer Ikeda, Edoardo Ballerini, Suzanne Toren, Fred Berman

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

Perfect title especially for the audio format!

Would you consider the audio edition of The Storyteller to be better than the print version?

Absolutely. I haven't read the print version, but this book lends itself to being the perfect book for the audio format. The story is told by many points of view, including different voices of narration, and you can't help but being sucked into the story. I couldn't wait to be able to listen more and found myself annoyed when life got in the way. A theme throughout the book is "How does it (the story) end?" I found myself wanting to know the same and what happens next the whole way through the book including right up to the very end. Overall, a great book and a moving story!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sage - her internal struggles with grief and loss and the uncanny friendship she finds in Joseph only add to her struggles with his admission of his past secrets. Listening (and imagining) Sage evolve, transform and struggle with the task presented to her was fascinating and thought provoking.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Minka - when she opens up and tells of her past, you are drawn in. Her story is captivating and the narration makes you feel like you are sitting in the room as she shares her past in the ghetto and concentration camps.

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

No, my reaction to this book would be better described as captivated or spell bound. I was sucked in. While I did laugh out loud a few times (thanks to Leo's wittiness), I actually didn't cry. More times I was disgusted by the conditions and life described so many Jews were subject to.

Any additional comments?

There were some great quotes included in this book that I caught myself jotting down.

"Good people are good people. Religion has nothing to do with it."

"It's amazing what you convince yourself of if you buy into the lie. You can believe, for example, that a dead-end job is a career. You can blame your ugliness for keeping people at bay when in reality, you're crippled by the thought of letting another person scar you more deeply. You can tell yourself it's safer to love someone who will never really love you back because you can't lose someone you never had...."

Interesting...different than I thought it would be

Based on the summary, I thought most of the story would be centered on Josef, however, it was more about Sage's grandmother, , a victim and survivor of the Holocaust. I think I was looking forward to a more in depth exploration of a SS officer during and after the war, and that is the reason why I haven't given this a 5. Having said this, it is a very good story with good narration. I really liked "My Sister's Keeper" and did not like at all "Lone Wolf", so Jodi Picoult books for me can be hit or miss. I guessed most of the ending, however, the book has made me think about the characters and what I liked and did not like about some of them, well after finishing the book. I would recommend this book to others.

Always worth the wait

NO ONE can tell a story like Jodi Picoult. The narration is unbelievable. Perfectly fits the image she wants to portray I imagine. I do not know how a person can read when the narrators bring a story to life. I was a little nervous about this one...not being a fan of history or period pieces but as I said....Jodi just brings it to life.

Made me feel good to be an American

How many novels, nonfiction accounts, documentaries and movies have I watched about the Holocaust? My mother even worked at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. I figure I've had my fill of understanding that hideous time in history and yet...I was compelled, once again, to listen to the grotesque details, to ponder the evil and fortitude of human beings and to wonder what I would have done if I'd been alive then.

And then when the heroes show up to rescue the prisoners, I felt that wonderful elation I always do, to be on the side of the good guys who sent Hitler and his minions running for their lives.

Evocative writing with fresh details and intimate performances all the way around. Learned new things and even had to look up Schutzhaftlagerführer in Wikipedia.

Five stories perfectly entwined

STORY - Audible has categorized this as a mystery/thriller/modern detective. I would call it historical fiction, though there are mystery and detective components. The main characters are richly developed, and each tells his own story. There is Josef, who is an old man haunted by the crimes he commited against Jews during the Holocaust. Sage is a young woman who works as a baker at night so she can hide her disfigured face from the world. Leo is a government attorney who finds and prosecutes war criminals. Minke, Sage's grandmother, was a prisoner at Auschwitz and is "The Storyteller." Minke writes a story about Anya and two vampire brothers, which captivates those who hear it.

The book jumps between these five stories, sometimes for hours at a time and sometimes just for minutes. They are easy to keep straight because they are each read by a different narrator. Minke's story about her life at Auschwitz is very long and details numerous atrocities, but it didn't bother me to listen to it. Josef seeks forgiveness for his crimes and surprisingly asks Sage to kill him, which causes Sage to meet Leo and investigate who Josef really was and what crimes he might have committed.

The book is deep and emotional, but I found it enjoyable and not gut-wrenching. Many of the characters are emotionally damaged. Some heal and some do not. The ending is very good, and I must say it came as a complete surprise to me.

PERFORMANCE - How can you go wrong with five different narrators? They all did great jobs.

OVERALL - I highly recommend this book to anyone, as long as you don't mind probing around in this dark period of our history.