The Storyteller

 
Genre: Romance,Drama

Author: Antonia Michaelis
Release Date: January 1st 2012
Publisher: ABRAMS
Source: Bought at Book Depository

I must admit i expected much more. This book got really high praises from some of my book friends so i was ,before even starting the book, so sure this must be a "masterpiece" .
I was very glad to got this book recommended because as a fantasy lover i very rarely come across of non-fantasy books that i like.

So i thought: Cool! That's the one i will love..! Cause i didn't read anything worth mentioning after Forbidden so it was about time to add some more titles on my contemporary none-fantasy shelve .

Well..ok back to the book.

This is a love story about teenagers.He is poor and she is rich. Ok..nothing new here.
He is a nice guy,a knight in shiny armor ...not really.He is a bad boy. But girls do fall for that kind of boys..
He has a little sister and with all his means he tries to keep her with him,because his mother is gone,he is not an adult yet and the social services are lurking close to tear the kids apart..

There are few problems i had with this story . First of all -the Storytelling . The boy is telling his sister a long story through the whole book. The story is actually a fantasy version of there real life. The thing is ,the story never felt like it came from a 17 years old boys mouth...how ever he is talented.
It was totally out of character. And for me,this storytelling was very boring.Like reading the Little Prince over and over again .I understand the story is meant to be full of symbolism and second meanings,but it gave up to much, it was full of spoilers about the real events,given away to early...

Then there is my problem with the love story it self. I never felt in anyway that the boy cared for the girl. He cared only for his little sister,everything else was just a mean to keep her save.
He would never come to my list of all favorite book crushes.There was no chemistry between them.Just a stupid girl falling in love with a bad boy...Things that he did to her ...well that would be a spoiler.But even if there probably are disturbed teenagers who can forgive such a thing i doubt anyone would forgive just so without a reason for why he did that..

The characters are good and deep described its just there actions considering the love between them ,that was to plastic and not believable at all.

It didn't stir any emotions in me (if you wanna cry rather read Forbidden) and i am afraid it will be soon forgotten .

On the other hand this book could be interesting for the younger people with not so much reading and life experience.
The writer is very talented ,she has a nice melancholic style ,she uses very beautiful words describing the nature and the surroundings ,i could easy imagine my self being in some places so vivid they where described. But it just wasn't enough for me,because i was yearning for an epic love story and this i didn't got.