And yet again, I find myself reading another story about the Holocaust. Except this one is different from Sarah's Key, because that focused more on a specific French event, whereas this book takes place recalls events from Germany. And also similar to Sarah's Key, this book is told in various perspectives and stories where paths cross and lives become intertwined.
One of the things I particularly like about Jodi Picoult as an author is the questions that she makes you think about, and how you would respond in the main character's situation if you faced the same dillema. For example, in this book how Sage must choose between helping or not helping 'Josef Weber' die. And while it seems like a simple yes or no question, the book poses many more obstacles and complexities that get in the way of Sage choosing. Honestly, if I were in Sage's position, I don't know what I would do. To let him live would be keeping your hands clean, and seeing him suffer his existence. But, to let him die would taint your hands, grant him his wish to be put out of his misery, but also your satisfaction in killing someone who once killed your own. Yeah, its a problem. Good luck to Sage, I have no clue what I would pick.
If I had to pick one line to portray the book thus far, it would be Sage's thoughts when she thinks, "If my grandmother could reinvent herself, why couldn't Josef Weber?" (67). Two of the reoccurring ideas in this novel were forgiveness and having a 'story to your scar.' In changing his life around, Josef seeks forgiveness by molding into a lovable grandfatherly figure well admired in the community. He seeks forgiveness in his part in WWII, and confessing his story behind his scar to Sage helps him to accomplish righting his wrongs. But in his mind, forgiveness only comes with death, as that is what he did to need forgiveness in the first place. As for the stories behind their scars, Nana has a hard time revealing her life in Auschwitz and her past as a survivor. Their pasts and stories are hidden, and both Josef and Nana wished to reinvent themselves, not letting the Holocaust define who they are now.
Overall, so far this isn't one of my favorite books that she has written. From the way this book was written, you can defintely tell that Picoult has done the necessary research surrounding her topic, but its been presented in a boring way. Not much has been revealed about the characters, except Sage likes to bake, Josef is a Nazi and yup, that's about it. The entire book thus far has consisted of Sage baking, Josef confiding his story, or Sage baking some more. Oh, and grief group. But there hasn't been much else.
And the whole vampire story serves absolutely no purpose in the book. Josek references this as a "political statement," but it was completely unintentional to her and I don't think Picoult did a great job introducing that aspect of the story to begin with, so it just left me confused. (About the same level of confusion you are most likely experiencing trying to comprehend this.)
I hope something unexpected will happen, because so far the book has just consisted of Josef trying to justify his Nazi actions and Leo and Sage just trying to convict him for it. After reading the back cover, it basically gave away the whole plot line thus far. With a couple hundred pages to go, this book needs to get a move on. And typically her books start to pick up at the end, or have an unexpected conclusion, so hopefully this one pulls through.
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