"The Storyteller" is Jodi Picoult's attempt to draw out the tropes of the Holocaust. Who is guilty? Can someone who perpetrated atrocity be forgiven?
This novel is typical Picoult in that she uses various POVs to navigate difficult subjects and questions which really have no 'right' answer. Generally I enjoy her style, but in this story she completely drowns the atually intriguing part of her tale. I wish Picoult would have spent much more time with Sage Singer, baker, granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, and an accidental 'friend' to an ex-Nazi SS officer who wants her to forgive him for his 'sins' and help him die. Instead Picoult spends the majority of the book with Minka, Sage's grandmother, and her recounting of what happened to her during WWII. While this tale is heart rending and devestating, it merely felt like a regurgitation of every horror tale you've already heard. Of course Minka was involved with every historical aspect of the Nazi genocide machine (Lodz ghetto, Auschwitz, death march). It felt contrived, and overly lengthy. I've read Eli Weisl's "Night," I don't need to have it retold from a woman's POV here. I wish Picoult would have instead focused her energy on the more unique aspects of her story - including the present day struggle Sage goes through when she learns her friend is in fact a monster. Worth a read if you are a WII newbie.