This is a complicated story. In fact, I had difficulty to figure out who the real protagonist was.

Yet, the author deals masterfully with difficult subjects all intertwined: Mercy killing, the atrocities of Holocaust, guilt feelings, forgiveness, revenge and/or justice. The story is narrated by Sage, by the secret Nazi SS Guard Joseph, and by the fictional character Anya who Sage's grandmother created in the tale she wrote.

In the story, Sage Singer, a baker, lives a secluded life in a small town hiding her inner guilt and her facial scar, which she considers her disfigurement. To find some relief for her guilt, Sage has been attending a grief group. There she meets a very old German, Joseph, who is well liked in the community. Sage has a grandmother who never talks about her past in relation to her time in Poland during the World War II, and never mentions Auschwitz or any of the other Nazi camps she was in. Sage, too, is uninterested in her family or her own Jewish heritage.

These three people, however, share a deeply connected past, but to say anything further would be giving away the plot.

The pace is slow but the writing is beautiful with twists and turns, which at times confused me as to what the main storyline was; even though my confusion was partly due to the length and the horror of the Auschwitz scenes.

When I finished the book, I felt awed and unhinged at the same time, probably because of the depth of the issues the author had explored.

If the main objective of this book was to make the reader mull over and become disquieted over the moral problems, I think it has succeeded tremendously.

the fact that the writer took upon herself to explore several moral dilemmas, all so grave.

read Picoult's other books that I haven't read yet.

Jody Picoult, most noted for My Sister's Keeper, Plain Truth and The Tenth Circle.

It deeply affected me and will probably stay with me for some time to come.

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Created Mar 07, 2014 at 11:06am • Submit your own review...