Title: The Storyteller
Author: Jodi Piccoult
Publisher: Atria
Published: February 26, 2013
Source: audible.com
Summary (from Goodreads): Sage Singer befriends an old man who’s particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone’s favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. They strike up a friendship at the bakery where Sage works. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses…and then he confesses his darkest secret – he deserves to die, because he was a Nazi SS guard. Complicating the matter? Sage’s grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.
What do you do when evil lives next door? Can someone who’s committed a truly heinous act ever atone for it with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren’t the party who was wronged? And most of all – if Sage even considers his request – is it murder, or justice?
Review: I know this isn’t YA but I absolutely love Jodi Picoult’s books. This one is no different. Not only is it excellent written but the audiobook was an amazing performance. Each character is read by a different person so you get the full experience of each character’s voice. As usual, Picoult’s storyline made me laugh, cry and gasp for air. My students are currently reading novels/memoirs about the Holocaust and I plan to add this title to the list for next year. I always go into the pages (or in this case the audio) of Picoult’s work with one way of thinking about her topic and come out the other side utterly confused on where I stand–which I welcome each and every time. If you’re a fan of Picoult, don’t miss this one. And if you haven’t had the opportunity to read her work, let this be your first experience.
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