THE BEST BOOK EVER (not talking about Harry Potter :D)

Hello Muggles,

I am SOOO excited right now because I found out that my favourite Book "Der Märchenerzähler" by the german author Antonia Michaelis is now available in English -> "The Storyteller"!!

Unfortunately the cover isn't as pretty as the German one but don't be too superficial with that. :D REEEEEAD IT!! :)

What is "The Storyteller" about?

 The Storyteller is about Anna, who lives quite a perfect and carefree life, and Abel, who is the exact opposite as he's called the "school drugdealer". Although Anna and Abel are in the same year in school they don't really know each other. That changes when Anna follows Abel after school finding out that he has a younger sister he has to take care of. Anna then listens to the story Abel tells his sister Micha and as the story continues through the whole book you, the reader, can't really tell if it's only a story or a "real happening".
Of course, Anna and Abel get to know each other better and Anna finds out how tragic Abel's life has been and in a very subtle way they start to like each other - but it's never 100 % obvious, so it's no typical love story at all!  

What do I think of "The Storyteller"?

Hm, so after reading the headline it's quite obvious. I'm totally convinced by the characters, the story and every little thing about it.

I don't want to spoiler, so I try to hold myself back BUT there are some things I just have to say: 

I'm not going to talk about a particular scene that has been discussed and "ripped apart" by German readers, because it would reveal too much of the content, but what's connected to it is the relationship between Anna and Abel. And this is what I like about "The Storyteller" - it's not easy but complicated, tragic and confusing. I personally don't want everything in a book to be pink and full of butterflies, rainbows and gooey declarations of love. 
Well, let's get to the point: The story is told by a 3rd person narrator, who is mainly personal (Annas view!). We never get to know what Abel thinks or what he does when Anna's not around. What a lot of German readers claimed is that Abel doesn't "love" Anna and that she only runs after him. I really can't understand this because we just don't know what's going on in Abels mind due to the narrators perspective. Most people don't know how it is to live with someone that had not even 50 % of the problems Abel Tannatek had in "The Storyteller" - so I think only a few people can understand how hard living is for him and for everyone else with family problems. I hoped there would be more empathy out there. Of course, you don't have to understand everything he does (because he does very cruel things) and you can't but if you deal with psychology just a little you know that you can't just judge him. Otherwise you would be quite an ignorant person. :/

Well, okay - Antonia Michaelis made me feel extremely sorry for Abel due to her style of writing and building up the whole story. Not until the end you will know what really happened to Abel and what he went through and the moment you get to know it (at least it was the case with me) you will break down or cry and just feel the need to take Abels hand and be there for him ... like Anna did. So maybe this is why I could understand what Anna did and why she behaved like she did. I just felt incredibely sorry for Abel and even now (after 15 months or so) I think about Abel Tannatek every freaking day. The whole story and especially his character are still stuck into my head - probably because I "know" that there is someone like Abel in every school and maybe you see this person daily without knowing his / her true background story. 



Would I recommend "The Storyteller"?

This is quite difficult although I love it to death (quite an inappropriate stylistic device^^)...
I would recomment it to everyone, who has quite strong nerves and a good heart. :)
Basically I would recommend it to everyone except for young people (maybe 15+) and those, who are easily offended or very sensitive. ;)

Please tell me if you have read "The Storyteller" by Antonia Michaelis in the comment section down below. :)

See you next time,
Hermione