【英語で読書感想文】The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
Title: The Storyteller
Author: Jodi Picoult
It’s been a few weeks since I finished listening to The Storyteller on Audible and I am still thinking about it. This is such a brutal and helpless tale that touches morally ambiguous situations. When I started listening, I immediately knew that there would be no happy ending to come in any way, but I couldn't help devouring this book.
Sage is a 25 year old baker who lives a quiet life. She has a traumatic past and joins a grief support group every week. One day she meets a 91 year old German guy named Josef at the grief session and they developed friendship despite the age gap. But when Josef learns that Sage is a Jew, he reveals her that he used to be a Nazi commander and worked at a Jewish concentration camp. His confession is already upsetting for Sage, whose grandmother is a Holocaust survivor, but he also seeks forgiveness from her and begs her help in assisted suicide.
Jodi Picoult deftly structured the story with multiple points of view and juxtaposes two stories: current time and war time. The Audiobook is about 18 hours but it didn’t feel that long due to the author’s skilled storytelling technique. I didn’t connect with any characters but admired the author’s character settings. The protagonist is totally messed up by her internal conflict, which made it difficult for readers to relate to her. Readers may not be happy about her behavior and actions, but how many people can be consistent and righteous in such a stressful situation like this?
At the end of the story, the final twist slapped me in my face. Not because it was surprising (it wasn’t an innovative twist so I could predict it in the middle of the story), but because the last few sentences had me ponder what forgiveness really is on a deeper level. What do people forgive others for? Who has the right to forgive others? How does forgiveness work for people? No answers written in this book. It provokes many thoughts and various emotions, I wonder why this hasn’t been published in Japanese.
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ジョディ・ピコーは白黒ハッキリとつけ難いような倫理に関するテーマとか、けっこう重い題材を取り上げている作家さんなイメージがあります。
Storytellerはホロコーストに収容されていた祖母をもつ女性が主人公。
年老いたドイツ人男性と知り合いになるが、彼がナチスの一員だったと知り、さらに彼から「赦し」を請われ、死ぬのを手伝ってほしいとまで言われる。
主人公もトラウマを抱えていたりして色々とっ散らかっている様子がかえってリアルで良かった。
Audibleで最後まで聴き終わってから、しばらくガッツリ引きずりました。
そもそも読者全員がスッキリできる結末を出せるような甘い題材ではないので、そこの覚悟は必要かも。
めちゃくちゃ重苦しいとは言いつつも英語はけっこう聞きやすいので、ぜひ英語学習してる方にも挑戦してみてもらいたいです！
元の投稿はコチラ↓です。