In the novel, "The Storyteller," the author writes about a young girl, who has the job of a baker, and how she befriends an old man who visits her shop every day. They get to know each other, and then the man, named Josef, tells the girl, Sage, that he used to be a Nazi officer in Germany. Sage is shocked, as she is a Jew, and her grandmother lived through that horrible time as an orphan. To follow that, Josef asks Sage for a huge favor, a favor that would change her life, and his, forever. Sage doesn't know what to do, and spends most of the book figuring out how to fix the problem.
Personally, I found this book very enjoyable to read, as I love reading about World War II and what happened during that time. Something that I believe Jodi Picoult did very well when writing this book was show how Jews in Nazi Germany were treated, and how they felt, even though she herself wasn't present at the time. A large portion of the book was spent on a flashback from Sage's grandmother, who was a young woman during the war. Picoult describes how she could feel every part of her body aching at the camps, and how much she just missed her home. This is something very hard to write about, and she did it very well.
Another strength I found in this book was how the author managed to balance out the different emotions in this book. While this subject is very heavy, Picoult manages to include other emotions like humor and love, when that doesn't seem very possible. This helped me as a reader, as I didn't feel worried the entire time, as there were places where I laughed. The character Leo, who helps Sage in her research, cracks jokes whenever something gets too out of hand, causing the other characters to relax a little. Leo and Sage also have romance between them, which also relaxed the mood a little at times, once after a funeral, and another time after someone gets emotionally hurt.
The only weakness that I found in this book, which other readers may disagree with, is the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger. Even though this is a style that many authors use, I personally don't like it, unless it has a sequel that concludes the issue. I will not spoil exactly what happens, but Picoult opens up a new problem at the end of the book, one whose resolution the readers will never truly know.
Personally, I found this book very enjoyable to read, as I love reading about World War II and what happened during that time. Something that I believe Jodi Picoult did very well when writing this book was show how Jews in Nazi Germany were treated, and how they felt, even though she herself wasn't present at the time. A large portion of the book was spent on a flashback from Sage's grandmother, who was a young woman during the war. Picoult describes how she could feel every part of her body aching at the camps, and how much she just missed her home. This is something very hard to write about, and she did it very well.
Another strength I found in this book was how the author managed to balance out the different emotions in this book. While this subject is very heavy, Picoult manages to include other emotions like humor and love, when that doesn't seem very possible. This helped me as a reader, as I didn't feel worried the entire time, as there were places where I laughed. The character Leo, who helps Sage in her research, cracks jokes whenever something gets too out of hand, causing the other characters to relax a little. Leo and Sage also have romance between them, which also relaxed the mood a little at times, once after a funeral, and another time after someone gets emotionally hurt.
The only weakness that I found in this book, which other readers may disagree with, is the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger. Even though this is a style that many authors use, I personally don't like it, unless it has a sequel that concludes the issue. I will not spoil exactly what happens, but Picoult opens up a new problem at the end of the book, one whose resolution the readers will never truly know.