The Storyteller
The Storyteller
By: Jodi Picoult
Why are there so many WWII books? And why do I keep reading them?!
Every time I read them my heart is broken in new ways. It is just unfathomable to even experience the Holocaust secondhand through the written word.
This quote from the book is fitting, "If you lived through it, you already know there are no words that will ever come close to describing it. And if you didn't, you will never understand." I didn't realize how this book affected me until I almost cried just telling someone about it. It is such a compelling and riveting composition. Ugh. It's such a difficult book to review because there are just no words. The emotions it evokes are a lot to process. As a daughter, a sister, a wife, and most emotionally, a mother, I can't imagine. Survivors of that are the strongest people I know.
But more about the book itself. A lot of books that flip back and forth between the past and the present tend to have an empty 'present' storyline that is more obnoxious than helpful. However, Picoult gives us a reason to care about the present because we have to wrestle with the question of forgiveness- who can give it? What is unforgiveable? What is moral? Does it matter? And we wait to see whether or not Sage will forgive and assist Josef in killing himself. I have mixed feelings about how it all shakes out, but at the very least, I appreciate a book that spurs good discussion.
Minka's allegorical story that's threaded throughout the book is a creative and brilliant addition to the story and added a whole new level of depth that I for sure could have spend more time pondering. Would make a good discussion if you read this for a book club.
One critique I could mention that has been mentioned by others as well would be some of the details that seem a bit superfluous- i.e. all the baking info- but surprisingly I didn't get too distracted by them. Maybe because I love eating bread...? But, while there were a lot of details or descriptions, they seemed more relevantly added than how I've read in other books where it just seems like the author needed more words and decided to describe the color and shape of everything. To me, Picoult gave us details about the baking of a variety of items because what that represented for her characters shaped who they were and a lot of their experiences, it's an important thread that helps pull it all together.
This is not 'just another Holocaust book.' It is a story that we need to read, wrestle with, and be affected by. Because things like this shouldn't happen. We can't become indifferent to the value of human life in any stage. And even further, Picoult reminds us that , while they shouldn't, atrocious things do happen and we do have opportunities to forgive. And I can't help but add that God can really fill in the blanks for us. To look at things with an eternal perspective influences these conversations greatly.
Read. Remember. Reshape.