The Powerful Voice Of A Story Teller

This is a Leonberger blog but sometimes I post about books that are not about Leonbergers but that are books that I want to promote. This is another one of those. I recently read Voice Of A Story Teller Paperback – by Sara Kjeldsen. It was a book that I loved and therefore I want to promote it.

  • Paperback –  September 29, 2020, ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08KB137YM, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8690747237, 91 pages, Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4.8 ounces, dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.21 x 9 inches, it cost $4.65 on US Amazon. Click here to order it from Amazon.com. 
  • Kindle – September 25, 2020, ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08K5Q3J7L, 66 pages. It is currently $3.99 on Amazon.com. Click here to order it from Amazon.com. 
Mountainous landscape in darkness and a starry sky.
Front cover of  Voice Of A Story Teller. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the paperback version of the book.

Amazon’s description of the book

A troubled war survivor named Barak becomes obsessed with a beloved story teller named Almaz. Though she is beautiful and charming, Barak is convinced that she is a fake and has the power to start wars. He can’t seem to control his violent thoughts toward her and they worsen every time she runs into him. Will Almaz be able to help Barak heal with her words, or will he act on his urges?

My Amazon Review of Voice Of A Story Teller

The Story of a Lonely Mind Darkened by Pain

This story takes place in a somewhat dystopian future. The narrator, Barak, lost his friends in a terrible war, something that deeply traumatized him. He feels forgotten by his society and he becomes obsessed with a charming storyteller Almaz whom he feels is arrogant and is stealing everyone’s attention away from what he thinks is important. His bitterness, self-pity, envy and anger result in him hating Almaz. We are following his dark thoughts, which leads him to commit dark acts, which in turn result in an intriguing tale with interesting consequences.

I hesitate to call Barak a protagonist, which is why I call him “the narrator”. You can understand him and feel sorry for him even though you disagree with his thinking and his ghastly actions. Culpability, being responsible, karma, still apply even when you are hurting, a truth that your self-pity may overshadow. The Abel and Cain story comes to mind, and I was also relating it to the confessions of the demon in Clive Barker’s Mr. B Gone. I guess the author used her expertise in therapy to make Barak’s dark character possible to understand, even relatable, at the same time as the story teaches us readers something.

This book is very well written, compelling and imaginative. It is full of interesting twists and surprises, wow moments, and may even be shocking at times. It is a book you want to think about after you are done reading it. The book also demonstrates the value of storytelling. Stories are powerful and they stay with us long after the storyteller is gone. It is certainly a page turner and I highly recommend it.

The Amazon description of the book on black background. The author's picture is in the upper left corner.
Back cover of  Voice Of A Story Teller. Click here or the picture to visit the Amazon.com page for the kindle version of the book.

About the Author

Sara is a Canadian multi-genre author who loves tea and adventures. This is a list of her published books

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

33 thoughts on “The Powerful Voice Of A Story Teller”

  1. Thank you for the amazing review. 👏 I’m glad you enjoyed it and could sympathize with Barak even though what he did was wrong. I actually wrote that story during the pandemic and realized a few people secretly hated me and even thought I was evil so I wrote a story of why a hateful person might kill an innocent person who’s just trying to tell stories. I think even in real life people sympathize with the criminal more than the victim. I wanted to show that he never really killed her and he learned that lesson to the deepest degree.

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    1. I suspected that Almaz represented authors and maybe you, but I did not realize that the background was so real. That is quite interesting. Some people hate easily, and envy can really twist someone’s mind. It was a great story that I certainly will remember forever. Thank you for the great reading experience.

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  2. I have become interested in dystopian fiction, to try to understand the new world order. so there are parts of this that appeal to me. I do believe “a Lonely Mind Darkened by Pain”–a lot of truth there. Thanks for the introduction.

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    1. Thank you so much Robbie. Yes I think human psychology is quite interesting too even though I don’t know a whole lot about it. BTW I just entered your book “Lion Scream” into our list of considerations for the climate change book club I am part of.

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  8. This sounds great! Do you think that we should read it for bookclub? Is there a cli-fi element.

    Melissa-Rose Heer Ahmed, PhD Writer, Curator, Consultant

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. No, the story takes place in a dystopian post-apocalyptic future, but it does not discuss much about what caused it. It is not cli-fi. However, if you check my “All Posts” menu item and scroll down to “Non-Leonberger Books I want to Promote” you find “Lion Scream by Robbie Cheadle”. This is a poetry book focused on African wildlife and the effects of the sixth extinction and climate change. It also contains a lot of photos, videos, and art. I think it is quite a coincidence that Robbie Cheadle, the author, commented on this post one hour before you did. I would like to add her book to our list of considerations for our climate book club.

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  9. What an interesting book and review, Thomas. I was intrigued by the nature of the main character and the author’s balancing act in creating an MC who is disturbed and violent, and yet somehow also relatable. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book. Happy Reading.

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    1. Thank you Diane. Yes, normally the villain is just a black hearted character without much depth. However, the success of someone we don’t think deserve it can be difficult for anyone to accept and with PTSD and feeling forgotten by society it can grow darker and crazier.

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  12. What an interesting sounding book Thomas. Thanks for introducing me to it, I’m going to add it to my read list. Although dystopian isn’t my go-to genre, there are a few authors I can’t help but read – like Terry Tyler. Now I will check out Sara’s books. Thanks. 🙂 (PS aren’t you on Twitter anymore? I share your posts there but can’t get your name to tag anymore?)

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