Making Choices

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I could not put this book down. I almost always like Picoult's writing because it makes you really think. The Storyteller is no different. In some ways it reminded me of The Book Thief, particularly the last half of the book.

Sage works in a bakery. She likes it that way because she doesn't have to interact with any other people--it's her safe place to hide and work through her grief at losing her mother and living with the scar that's left on her face from the accident they were in. Curiously though, Sage continues to go to a grief group where she contributes little to nothing. However, it is here in the grief group that she befriends a man, Josef Weber.

Josef has a secret that he shares with her and it changes everything in her life, as well as how she views Josef. He was her friend, to be truthful, almost her only friend, but, by sharing his secret it's practically impossible to remain his friend.

We also meet Sage's grandmother who has her own story to tell. She has secrets too, that Sage eventually persuades her to share.

As these stories entertwine, we see both the good and evil in the characters and in each other. Given the circumstances of the characters lives, we would have made choices. Would we have made the right choices? I was reminded, while reading, how choosing not to take a side, or take a stand, but to remain aloof from a situation is also a choice. That's the comfortable choice many of us make in our lives without even thinking about it. I think Picoult is a master at using her stories to make us think about judgements and choices we make in hard situations. I can't wait for my friends to read this--it's pretty hard to review it here and not give away any of the things I want to talk about!


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