The Storyteller: A Review

Although sometimes difficult to read, The Storyteller is a gripping and moving read. It's hard to summarize the plot because it switches from past to present, between different characters, and from fiction to reality. But, the result is amazing.

My favorite part is the saddest part: Minka's story, the one she kept hidden from her family. Although fiction, it was heartbreaking to read of Minka's survival of the Holocaust because Minka's fiction was the reality for millions of people. This part of the book shines as a reminder of what happened and begs readers not only to remember what happened but to realize it is still happening around the world. 

Of course, the ending has a Picoult-style twist, and even though I predicted the twist, the final scene still caught me off guard. 

Lone Wolf: A Review

Luke Warren spent his life researching wolves, a passion that pulled him away from his wife and two kids for two years as he lived as a member of a wolf pack. However, finding a place in the wolf world cost him everything in his human world: his wife and his son Edward, who left home at eighteen and never looked back. When Luke and his daughter Cara are involved in a serious car accident and Luke is put on life support with little chance for recovery, Luke's family must come to grips with the past and its secrets and decide Luke's future.

I love Jodi Picoult's books. I love the well-developed characters. I love that both sides of a moral/ethical/legal issue are presented and emotionalized (not sure if that's a word) while leaving the reader to decide his or her world view. I think that's what is missing most from this book: well developed characters. I am a character driven reader, and I didn't care about these characters. They were lifeless and boring. Edward finally came alive in the last 1/4 of the book, but by that time, I just wanted to see the end result.

The second problem in the book is that there is very little action. Most of the action is in the forms of Luke's memory, and the only action in those is the wolves. The plot's slow pace finally picks up towards the end, but again, it's too little too late.

As a Picoult fan, I'm disappointed in this book.