Audiobook Review: The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Published: 2013

So apparently I have read this book before, but I don't remember it at all. I love Jodi Picoult's books and I love how they touch on subjects that are hard for us to hear about. The Storyteller is no different. Set in New Hampshire, it tell the story of Sage Singer. Sage is a Baker for Our Daily Bread and works at night so she doesn't have to be seen by many people. You see, Sage has a scar on her face from an accident and she can't see herself past the scar.

Sage is also in a grief group and has been since she lost her mother 3 years earlier. There is where she meets Joseph Weber. Joseph doesn't say much during the group, but when he shows up at the bakery just before Sage is about to start her shift, they strike up a friendship. Then Joseph asks Sage to do something that she can't imagine. When he tells her why, her feelings are mixed about what she should do. Joseph was an SS Officer for the Reich during WWII and Sage's family is Jewish. Joseph is a beloved member of the community so trying to match that person with someone who would have done so much evil in the world is hard for Sage to grasp.

Sage's grandmother had been at Auschwitz and she had never told her story to anyone, but when Sage has this decision to make, her grandmother is forthcoming with her times in Germany and how she survived. Will Sage be able to honor Joseph's request after hearing her grandmother's story, or will she leave Joseph for the authorities to take care of?

I loved this story and I don't recall any parts of it, so I'm kind of glad this is a re-read for me. This story made me want to cry several times. Most of us know the story of the Holocaust, but to hear a first hand account(even if it is fiction) really makes you feel most invested. This book makes you think, what would I do if I was in Sage's position? Would I go through with what Joseph wanted me to do? There are so many things to consider with this situation. Should she tell her grandmother that she sits next to an ex-Nazi officer during grief group? Does her grandmother know Joseph already and not realize who he really is?

If you haven't read this book you should. If you haven't read any of Jodi Picoult's books you should. She is one of my favorite authors and here is another book of hers that did not disappoint.

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Review: The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips

The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Josephine Jones has just move to the big city and is in need of a job. She finds one where her job is to input information into a database. She will sit in an office with smudged pink walls, in a building with no windows. Her only job is to enter the information and don't ask questions. But curiosity is a part of human nature. Will she be able to continue the job when she discovers what it is she is really doing?

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Josephine and Joseph Jones have left the hinterland(the place they call home) for the big city. I'm not sure what city they are in or what kind of people Josephine and Joseph are. Sometimes Josephine calls Joseph by a number 041-74-3400. They jump around their new city from sublet to sublet, each with one disgusting trait or another. Like black bubbling coming from the bathtub and gray sheets on the futon that were at some time in their life white.

This was a short story that captivated my attention, but also had me confused. There didn't seem to be enough time to tell the background of the story or develop the characters enough to really get to know them. There wasn't a name to the city they were living in and Josephine constantly refers to her boss as "The Person with Bad Breath". Overall this book was pretty good and I would read more by this author.

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