The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Hello to all my followers :) Did you miss me? I know the answer :)) 

I finished reading the Storyteller yesterday and I just wanted to express how truly amazing is it. It was first book I've read by Jodi Picoult, certainly won't be the last. This book is define a must read. 

This was the most amazing book I have read in a long time, it tells the story of a former SS Officer telling his story to the granddaughter of a survivor of Auschwitz, it is in turns shocking harrowing and touching... I have cried at some of the things these humans (Germans) did to other humans. Humans (Jews) were treated horribly and killed. Families did not have their valuables to take with them. All they had was their memories. 

The central idea behind this book was forgiveness. Can you forgive such a heinous act? Should you forgive when so many who suffered are not present? 

I really like the message that Minka's Mother left to her daughter: " Be a mensch, (human) my mother told me, no matter what situation you are in. Be kind to others before you take care of yourself; make whoever you are with feel like they matter."

Some of my favorite lines:

"Good people are good people; religion has nothing to do with it."

"Sleep for a week. Get a massage. Hike up a mountain. Clear your head. And then come back. Your kitchen will wait for you." 

" You cannot separate good and evil cleanly, that they are conjoined twins sharing a single heart."

"If you keep telling yourself you are a certain kind of person, eventually you will become that person."

"What I want is someone I can run to, someone who will hold me tight and tell me that I'm going to be okay, someone who will hold my hand until I fall asleep tonight. My mother would have done that, but she's not here anymore. My grandmother might, but she would want to know what has upset me so deeply."

"True love is like bread. It needs the right ingredients, a little heat, and some magic rise."

"Why is God doing this to us? I murmured.

God's not doing anything to us, Darija said. It's the Germans."

"I reached down untied the boots that the dead woman was wearing. She would not need them anymore."

I highly recommend this book! I would like to thank my Sasha (Alex) for this wonderful book which he gifted me as a present for my 26th Birthday (19.02.14). I would probably have never read it otherwise.  

Have a good weekend and enjoy every moment!!!

Much love

Liuba

xxx