Something that is hard to find at times and truly get your head into reading is: historical fiction. I love history and truly enjoy reading a book that can give you a perspective on major historical events.
"The Storyteller" is historical fiction based on the Holocaust. Just by reading the back of the book, you would have no idea that this book is about the Holocaust. So I was definitely a little surprised when a large section of the book was devoted to the main character's grandmothers story of survival during the Holocaust. Without this section, I think this book would have fell flat.
The book had three sections. The first was developing the main character and the story line that leads up to the second section, which is about the Holocaust. Sage is the main character, and she has been through a lot. She is only 25 and lost both her parents. The one thing in life she is sure of is her ability to bake bread. She works at a bakery during the middle of the night so that the bakery can be full by morning. Once her shift is over, she goes home and sleeps. She classifies herself as a loner. She only gets of the house when she is meeting up with her lover, who is married. They met at her moms wake because he was the funeral director. She walks around trying to hide the large scar she has on her face. But you never find out why she has the scar.
Josef, a very old but respected man in the neighborhood comes into the bakery everyday. Sage against her will talks to Josef because she feels bad that he comes in all alone. Before long, they build a friendship and Josef tells her that he used to be an officer during the Holocaust and did the wort imaginable things. He ask her a huge favor. He wants her to help him die. Josef feels that he is being punished because he can't die and he has no one left in his life.
Sage battles with this decision, But she ultimately feels she needs to tell the authorities. She gets in contact with Leo, another main character, whose job it is to convict former Nazi's.
This leads us up the section where, Leo and Sage get to listen to her grandmother, Minka's story about her time in the Holocaust. It was one of the most vividly, amazingly examples of historical fiction I have ever read. It was full of real emotion and it made me wonder just how horrible some things in life truly are. It made me so grateful to be where I am today.
Eventually, they find out that Josef was the man that killed Minka's friend during the Holocaust. This was enough to get him convicted. However, Minka dies the night after she tells the story. Now they no longer have a witness to identify the man to the murder. Their only next course of action is to get Josef to confess to the murder on tape. Sage successfully completes that mission but is still torn on whether she should help him die. Leo wants him to go to jail but ultimately Sage takes it upon herself and poisons him and doesn't tell anyone she is doing it. Leo and the police find him dead in his house.
However, when you think the book is over, the plot twists and leaves Sage completely speechless. I don't like to give away the ending of books because I'm not running a spoiler blog but I truly believe this book will help you to grow as a person and change your perspective on different cultures and walks of life.
