The Storyteller By, Jodi Picoult narrated by, 5 great narrators

The Storyteller By, Jodi Picoult

Narrated By , Jennifer Ikeda as Anya, Mozhan Marno as Sage, Fred Berman as Leo, Edoardo Ballerini as Josef, Suzanne Toren as Minka

LENGTH

18 hrs and 13 mins

I need to admit some things right off the bat here, this is my first Jodi Picoult book, because I have honestly always lumped her in with Sparks, Steel and Roberts and I now feel I have been unfair in this assumption. This book was a very well written story, I’ve heard it is very different from her other books, however this has made me curious enough to read something else by this author. Okay, now that I’m done with that, on with my thoughts on the book.

I liked the character of Sage, scarred inside and out from a car accident, she keeps to herself, works nights so she doesn’t have to see other people or more so no one sees her. Her boyfriend is a married man and I think she likes this safe no commitments relationship because she never has to go out in public together. She attends a grief counseling group where she meets an old man named Josef they strike up a friendship until Josef comes clean with her and tells her of his horrendous past and asks her to do the unthinkable and so begins the moral dilemma that is the premise of this book.

The different views/stories were very interesting and very well done it was really interesting to hear Minka & Josef’s different views of the holocaust , Minka’s story broke my heart as well it should but she had a couple decent people help her out even though they were employed by the Nazi’s they still saved her life a couple times. Also Anya’s story about the Wampir (sp.audio) was almost eerie considering what Minka lived after she started writing this story.

I wasn’t put off by the little romance story of Leo and Sage it’s no surprise you can see it coming a mile away so this isn’t a spoiler, it made Sage more relatable actually. I liked Leo’s diatribe while he was on his blind date it was a well crafted soap box speech that everyone should hear. There is a reveal at the end that I had figured out pretty early on and was a bit saddened that we didn’t get to see the reactions of the main people involved (Sorry if that sentence makes no sense, trying not to have spoilers, come back when you read the book and let me know if it makes more sense then!).

The male narration was beautifully done Edoardo Ballerini as Josef was fantastic and completely believable and Fred Berman as Leo reminded me a bit of Scott Brick ( I am a fan so that is a compliment), however the voices of Jennifer Ikeda as Anya and Mozhan Marno as Sage sounded very similar at first until Suzanne Toren as Minka started telling her story then I could finally hear a clear definition of Anya’s story. I am glad they said who was narrating which part at the beginning because I would have guessed Minka was Jennifer & Anya was Suzanne. All in all I would highly recommend this on audio.

And one discrepancy I noticed was when they went to the hotel and were watching TCM and were saying the words to Philadelphia Story they said it went from the movie to a commercial, TCM doesn’t have commercials. Being a huge TCM fan this one bothered me but I may be the only person who noticed it.

I would highly recommend this book to all as a great story and well crafted historical fiction.

4 Stars