Jodi Picoult is one of those authors that I can never get enough of. Each book pushes deep into my mind and forces me to reconsider some of the values that I have always held close to my heart. The topics she deals with are not light ones. Between a kid going and murdering his former bullies to another kid agreeing to kill is girlfriend because she begs him to. Ms. Picoult has a way of taking a very controversial topic and breaking it down so deeply that you go to a place in your mind where you never thought you'd be.In every book that I've read, Jodi Picoult has challenged my views. In her latest book, The Storyteller, she picks another very controversial topic and attempts to make you consider what you'd do if that situation. It was the first book of hers that I could not really reconsider what my views were.
There are five main characters in her book: Ania, Sage, Leo, Josef, and Minka. Each of them, like every other human being, has secrets hidden within them. Some of these secrets are more harsh than others. One is a former Nazi, another is a Holocaust survivor, one works for the DOJ attempting to find and prosecute Nazis, one killed her mother, and the last one is a fictional character written by the Holocaust survivor. In short, here is a mini family tree:
- Josef: A "former" Nazi who is seeking retribution for his actions by asking a Jew to help him die. In "present time" during the book, he is well into his 90s.
- Minka: A Holocaust survivor, she will not speak of what happened to her during that time until she is coaxed to do so.
- Sage: Minka' granddaughter who believes that she is the cause of her mother's death. Josef contacts her and begs her to help him die while revealing his "true" identity.
- Leo: A contact at the DOJ that Sage calls upon to reveal what Josef has told her.
- Ania: A character that Minka made up in her younger years and wrote a story about that reflected some of the things she was going though at the time of war. While it is not exactly about the Holocaust, it has the same recurring themes.
Jodi Picoult is asking you if you could forgive a "former" Nazi who has attempted to turn his life around after the war. I, honestly, could not even consider this. He has murdered, sacrificed, tortured, and punished people who did nothing wrong to him.The story is broken down into sections that are written in the view of one of the specific main characters. Each section starts with a piece of Minka's story about Ania. There are many similarities between the two; both girls' fathers are bakers. Minka's story is about the horrors she endured during the Holocaust, while Ania's story is about her village being torn apart by a monster.
Some people view every Holocaust story as being the same, once they've heard one they've heard them all. I feel differently about this though. Every Holocaust story is different. Different people, different hardships, different starts, different endings, different places. Every single story is unique in this aspect, so I cherish every single one I can get my hands onto. Minka's story was probably one of the worst I have read. Although it was fictional, it was based on facts of the time. Some people surely endured some of the hardships Minka did. People were in those camps that she was in. Although no one faced the exact same things that she did, many faced similar ones. 
One part of the book that really stood out to me was when Minka said she had tried talking once before about her experience. It was to a classroom full of kids. As she was talking, one kid stood up and claimed the Holocaust didn't exist. I know that there are people out there who believe/say this stuff because they claim to be "Neo-Nazis," but, for someone to say that to a Holocaust survivor that shows blatant ignorance. Jodi Picoult throws a major twist in at the end, which really shocked me. So what happens to Joef? What does Sage decide? What really happened to Minka during the Holocaust? Does Leo arrest Josef? How does Ania's story end? I strongly recommend that you read it!
- Your local bookstore
- Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-storyteller-jodi-picoult/1112033163?ean=9781439102763
- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Storyteller-Jodi-Picoult/dp/1439102767
- For a signed first edition: http://premierecollectibles.com/the-storyteller/
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