The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult *DNF*

 The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult *DNF*

 

G👀dreads:
Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day’s breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother’s death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage’s grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can’t, and they become companions.

Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret—one that nobody else in town would ever suspect—and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well.

Genre: Historical Fiction, Holocaust

RSCBC = RSCBC BookClubRead

This was a book club pick. At the prior meeting someone said she started it and it's depressing. Another lady asked "it's depressing?" "Well, it *IS* during the holocaust."  I'm preparing myself to have a tough time with this one so I'm not looking forward to it. Not to worry, I'm  not obligated to finish it. It's not mandatory but I'll give it a chance. 

When I Googled it it says "fast paced" but I'm at 19% and so far, it's not fast paced *at*all*.💤 I usually give them to 20%, 30% if recommended by someone I know who knows what I like. I'll give it to 25% to get going. If it doesn't, there are others on my TBR list that I'd rather be listening to. 

There was an interesting quote from her Rabbi. Same scenario, different outcomes. 
"In Heaven and Hell, people sit at banquet tables filled with amazing food, but no one can bend their elbows. In Hell, everyone starves because they can't feed themselves. In Heaven, everyone's stuffed, because they don't have to bend their arms to feed each other."

Later - No go on The Storyteller. Sage, the protagonist, is like a bratty teenager in her mid-twenties. I'm not sure if you're supposed to feel sorry for her but I didn't finder her very likable. She's having an affair with a married man (not sure the relevance to the story) but I can already predict she's going to end up with the FBI investigator. If you've read it, let me know if I'm wrong. One thing that would never happen that bugged me was when she went to see her married boyfriend. He is a Funeral Director, the business is owned by his wife's family. She drops by to see him while he's doing an embalming. He steps outside to see what's wrong "why are you here" and while he's talking to her the father-in-law comes out. "Can I help you?" She lies and says she's a reporter and wants to do a story on the funeral business. He buys the lie. So the BF takes her into the embalming room so she can watch the process for her "report". NO, NO, NO! After going to to visit a friend out of state when she was in the funeral business, I know that would never be allowed. When she took us on a tour, her husband (at the time) told her not to open the door to room (whatever) because Ethel was in there. That would not be ethical. And that would have just been seeing her on the table, let alone watching the embalming process. NO, NO, NO! This story is labeled historical fiction. The research about the funeral business should have been real. She's describing things he's doing while they are chatting so you know the author researched the business because they weren't things that would be considered common knowledge. Like how they stitch the jaw and mouth so they don't droop or drop open. Who knows that? So  ya, some research was done. Then the bakery chatter that also had nothing to do with the story, like how she cuts on the top of the bread loaf is dual purpose. To let steam escape but also it's like the baker's signature. She always puts the largest cut on the end. Blah, blah, blah...

I would have liked more about her grandmother, who is still alive in the story and was a Jewish Holocaust survivor. Less bakery antics, more Auschwitz history. 

I've not read any of the author's other books but based on this one, I don't think she's a great story teller. 

🎧 Mozhan Marno (Sage), Jennifer Ikeda (Anya), Edoardo Ballerini (Josef), Suzanne Toren (Minka), Fred Berman (Leo)

Next! 


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