The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page is an easy to read book. It’s an enjoyable story, and it also makes you think a bit as well about your own life story. Here’s my book review of The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page.
Overview of The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page follows the story of Janice, a cleaner who lives in Cambridge, UK. As a cleaner, she meets lots of people and she likes to ‘collect’ their stories about their life. My book review of The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page might give a few spoilers – so be warned if you haven’t read it yet!
Janice enjoys her work as a cleaner, and enjoys spending time with a lot of her clients, and even one of her client’s dog. Each person she meets has a story, and she likes to think of herself as collecting these stories. She starts cleaning for a new client, an older lady she calls Mrs B. Mrs B has an interesting story of her own, and she also tells Janice the story of Becky, a girl from France.
Despite her love of collecting other people’s stories, Janice is reluctant to share her own story. She’s unhappy in her marriage, but doesn’t have the confidence to leave. However, she starts to get to know Euan, a bus driver. And through meeting Euan and spending more time with her clients, Janice finally finds the courage to leave her husband and start spending more time with Euan. However, she is still reluctant to fully share her own story – until she finally tells Mrs B about her traumatic childhood, and her attempts to protect her sister from her mum’s new boyfriend.
What I liked about The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
My favourite part of the book The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page was the idea that everyone has a story. Or, as Janice learns towards the end of the book – you can have more than one story. I liked this idea, and it made me start to think about what my ‘story’ would be. If I had to summarise my life and tell my story, what would I include? And, as importantly if not more importantly – what would I want my story to be? Is the life that I’m living now – my current story – the story I want to be telling?
For me, a big part of my ‘story’ has to be travel. And I like that – I want to be known as the girl who travels, despite health issues and life challenges holding me back. But thinking about what I want my story to be – I don’t really know. Maybe more travel, including travelling to some exotic and far away places. Or maybe something else.
I think for a lot of people reading this book, this book will inspire you to think about your own story and what you’d tell. And, for people who are into travel, thinking about your travel story will definitely inspire you to travel more! Even if you haven’t travelled much already, you can still change your story and become a person who travels. To me, that’s really inspiring – to think about your story so far, and how you’d like to change your story in the future.
What I wasn’t so sure about
I liked a lot of this book, especially the overall theme of each person having a ‘story’ and how it inspired me to think about my own story. I liked Janice and felt like she was very relatable. And I also really liked the character of Mrs B and some of the other characters. However, I still wasn’t completely wowed by this book.
I felt like the events of the book were often a bit mundane, and some could have been developed a bit more. My biggest issue was with the ending. There was an attempt to make the ending exciting – with a missing school boy, and Euan coming to the rescue. But it felt a bit cliche to me. It was all very predictable that it was all going to turn out fine, and felt like just making some drama to try to have a dramatic ending to the book. I don’t think the book needed an attempt at a dramatic ending like this – especially one that felt a bit childish and cliche and predictable.
Telling Janice’s story
I’m also not sure how much I like the plot point that Mrs B was the one to tell Euan the whole truth of Janice’s story. Mrs B told Euan about Janice’s childhood secrets without permission from Janice. And I found that a bit uncomfortable. I definitely wouldn’t want someone telling other people things that I’d told them confidentially. And I thought it would have been a nice character development for Janice to gain the courage to tell Euan her story herself. Having Mrs B tell Euan meant that Janice still didn’t have a chance to fully come to terms with her story and choose to openly share it. It’s not a major issue. But I would have just preferred if Janice had had the confidence to share her story herself.
Would I recommend The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
I’d definitely recommend The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page. It’s an easy to read book, with nice characters and a nice story. And, most importantly for me, it’s an inspiring book as well. It inspired me to think about my own story, and what I want my story to be in the future. And for anyone who wants travel to be part of their story, this book can help inspire you to travel more.