Book Review - The Storyteller
Book Review
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Book Rating : 5/5!
I have to give this book two big thumbs up because it mixed three different stories together and connected them into the same plotline. There was the girl Sage who just happens to befriend a former Nazi and has to decide if she should turn him in or do what he wishes, to kill him. Then throughout the book there is a story being told about a young girl and a upior, a fictional vampire which just happens to be the story told by the main character of the third story which is Sage's grandmother, Minka. Jodi Picoult wove them together so perfectly that I was pleasantly pleased with the final result. Especially how she left the Ania story open-ended and had Sage explain that her Grandmother wanted her story to live on in everyone's imagination instead of ending it altogether. So many writers do that nowadays so I guess Minka was ahead of her time.
I was so surprised though at the end that Josef did not turn out to be Reiner, but instead was his brother Franz who was way more human than Reiner turned out to be. I was so disgusted with Josef for a long time because of all the things that he kept claiming he'd done that I actually started beating myself up internally when I found out it was actually Franz. And then everything started to make sense. Reiner was way too inhuman to want forgiveness or to start a family in America and connect with a survivor's grandaughter. It didn't make sense...and as soon as Sage figures it out I felt like things were way too unresolved. In my own head I wanted to re-write the ending so that Franz could see Minka again and hear the rest of her story. It just happened to be one of those "too little, too late" scenarios.
One of my favorite parts about this book is Minka's story that she wrote. I have always loved Vampire stories so it was awesome to hear the legend of the upior who falls in love with a human and is trying to control his hunger so he can be with her. I also love that the story is so open-ended so the reader can choose which ending they want to happen. In my story it would be a Romeo and Juliet thing. She's kill him to show him merfcy and then kill herself so she won't have to live without him. Dramatic and Romantic at the same time! BAAAM!
Minka's tragic story was hard for me to read because of all the brutality that she experienced. It's hard for me to read about horrors like that that actually happened. Even though Minka is a fictional character, the holocaust was a very real thing and it was hard to stomach. Especially considering if I was living in Europe at that time I would be one of the ones persecuted because my grandfather was a German Jew. And according to Hitler and his craziness, Jewish bloodlines needed to be exterminated to make way for the perfect race. So ironic, considering he was from a Jewish bloodline too.
The Jesus loaf part was pretty cool. I'm not happy with Sage's reaction to it. Obviously it was pretty neat that she happened to bake Jesus into a loaf.Yeah, it oculd have just been coincidence but just because you're atheist doesn't mean you get to bash people's religion. She drove me insane whenever she would say stuff like that. Like Mary, I kept wanting to steer her away from all the crazy things she was getting herself into but luckily near the end Leo atleast got her to go to a temple, which is a big step up from where she had been in the beginning. And she actually felt better afterwards, so...YAY LEO!
I just have to comment on this because it was literally driving me absolutely nuts the entire story. I want to know how to make that little Cinnamon chocolate roll because cinnaomon rolls are my passion so...if someone has read this book and happens to know how to make it...Give me a message. LOL. just kidding...NOT. REally I am...NOT. Okay yeah this book made me wish I had an oven..or knew how to bake in general but no biggie. I can survive!
Again, two big thumbs up for this book which is a testament to finding light at the end of a dark tunnel. It was amazing and inspired me so much that I have literally dubbed it "The Book of Hope" Corny, I know, but it works! SO PICK IT UP! You'll love it!
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Book INFO-->https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15753740-the-storyteller
About the Author-->https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7128.Jodi_Picoult