The Historian

published	October 1st 2006 by Back Bay Books
first published	2005
binding	Paperback
isbn	0316154547 (isbn13: 9780316154543)
ebook
pages	704
literary awards	Hopwood Award
description	If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's l...more [close] If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts by moonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long but beautifully structured thriller The Historian. The story opens in Amsterdam in 1972, when a teenage girl discovers a medieval book and a cache of yellowed letters in her diplomat father's library. The pages of the book are empty except for a woodcut of a dragon. The letters are addressed to: "My dear and unfortunate successor." When the girl confronts her father, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement, twenty years earlier, in a search for his graduate school mentor, who disappeared from his office only moments after confiding to Paul his certainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler of Wallachia in the mid-15th century--was still alive. The story turns out to concern our narrator directly because Paul's collaborator in the search was a fellow student named Helen Rossi (the unacknowledged daughter of his mentor) and our narrator's long-dead mother, about whom she knows almost nothing. And then her father, leaving just a note, disappears also. As well as numerous settings, both in and out of the East Bloc, Kostova has three basic story lines to keep straight--one from 1930, when Professor Bartolomew Rossi begins his dangerous research into Dracula, one from 1950, when Professor Rossi's student Paul takes up the scent, and the main narrative from 1972. The criss-crossing story lines mirror the political advances, retreats, triumphs, and losses that shaped Dracula's beleaguered homeland--sometimes with the Byzantines on top, sometimes the Ottomans, sometimes the rag-tag local tribes, or the Orthodox church, and sometimes a fresh conqueror like the Soviet Union. Although the book is appropriately suspenseful and a delight to read--even the minor characters are distinctive and vividly seen--its most powerful moments are those that describe real horrors. Our narrator recalls that after reading descriptions of Vlad burning young boys or impaling "a large family," she tried to forget the words: "For all his attention to my historical education, my father had neglected to tell me this: history's terrible moments were real. I understand now, decades later, that he could never have told me. Only history itself can convince you of such a truth." The reader, although given a satisfying ending, gets a strong enough dose of European history to temper the usual comforts of the closing words. --Regina Marler [close]
date added	03-09-07 edit book

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J rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

05/19/08

Read in May, 2006

This novel is better than I had any anticipation of it being. I’d seen it among a friend’s luggage then later saw it at the library. Having just come off three weeks of nineteenth century novelists, I thought, Oh, something light would be a nice change. After all, I thought. Vampires. The book is about vampires. And not just any vampire, but the mack daddy himself, Dracula, the real Vlad the Impaler, who turns out to be the undead.

Light reading. Sure. Six hundred and fifty pages of vampire...more

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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

05/28/08

Read in May, 2008

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

So first, a disclosure: I actually received a free used copy of Elizabeth Kostova's 2005 modern vampire tale The Historian unexpectedly in the mail one day, from author Akmal Shebl at the same time he sent in his own book Prisoners in Paradise for review, not as a bribe I think but r...more

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Gena rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

01/11/08

bookshelves: stacks

Read in May, 2006

The Historian

By Elizabeth Kostova

Kostova received two million dollars for this debut novel, an almost unheard of sum for an unknown writer, but I’m sure it went a long way in reimbursing her expenses for the research that would have been required to write The Historian. Make no mistake, this is a lush and beautiful book, each passage is fleshed out in detail reminiscent of the grand medieval cathedrals and libraries in which it takes place. The reader is drawn into the past quickly and...more The Historian

By Elizabeth Kostova

Kostova received two million dollars for this debut novel, an almost unheard of sum for an unknown writer, but I’m sure it went a long way in reimbursing her expenses for the research that would have been required to write The Historian. Make no mistake, this is a lush and beautiful book, each passage is fleshed out in detail reminiscent of the grand medieval cathedrals and libraries in which it takes place. The reader is drawn into the past quickly and presented with the vast knowledge Ms. Kostova has of the Ottoman Empire, Eastern European folklore, and the legend of Dracula.

At it’s heart, The Historian, is the story of a young man led to believe his missing professor has been whisked away by the evil Vlad Tpesch, Dracula. Paul xxxx is drawn into a world where history and myth walk hand in hand. He receives a mysterious book, blank save for the chilling emblem of a dragon at the very center. When he shows this book to his mentor, Professor Rossi, it sets into motion a chain of events that lead him from his university in London, to Constantinople, Romania, Bulgaria and eventually the Transylvania province of Walachia. Along the way he meets a mysterious Romanian woman also searching for Rossi, a noble Turkish Scholar, various priests and numerous villains. His steps are dogged by bureaucrats, as well as the undead, making this a long and complicated search not only for Rossi but for Dracula as well.

Most vampire tales rely on cloaked figures, fangs gleaming, jumping out of dark alleys or taking the shape of a giant bat to prey on their innocent victims. The Historian has none of this melodramatic buildup. It plods along, gathering information about the real Walachian Prince, taunting not only our hero and his female companion but the reader with some menace and a few appearance of an undead librarian but for the most part the real blood sucking is minimal. I’m a history buff so the background information and the search for Dracula is something I find interesting. It has the feel of a research paper, but an intriguing research paper. However, I’m also a fan of vampire stories, so the slow methodical trudge and lack of actual sightings of the fiend are something I find irksome. It drags in too many places, and goes off on historical tangents that a scary story really shouldn’t. I can’t decide it the historical aspects and the amazing depth they provide help or hinder this book. It just seems to me that she could have tightened the whole thing up and gotten to the heart of the matter and the stake through its heart, sooner.

I found The Historian to be rich and luxurious - kind of like a mink coat, unfortunately the pacing and unrelenting narrative make it about as useful as a mink coat in Florida. Still, I wouldn’t mind reading the next novel Ms. Kostova writes, maybe a biography of one of the historical characters in this book because she has a wonderful ability to bring her characters to life. My only hope is that Ms. Kostova spent her two million dollar advance wisely, hopefully not on a mink coat.

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Martha rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

08/09/08

Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: compulsive letter writers and dull historians

This has got to be one of the most disappointing books I've read in a long time. Although the descriptions of the various eastern European cities are often pretty and atmospheric, my frustration with this book won't let me mark it above one star.

It starts out well; very interesting and suspenseful for about the first 100 pages or so. But as you read it, the book just gets more and more ridiculous. It's about ~~600~~ 900(!) pages long (which is way, way too long) and I urge anyone reading ...more This has got to be one of the most disappointing books I've read in a long time. Although the descriptions of the various eastern European cities are often pretty and atmospheric, my frustration with this book won't let me mark it above one star.

It starts out well; very interesting and suspenseful for about the first 100 pages or so. But as you read it, the book just gets more and more ridiculous. It's about ~~600~~ 900(!) pages long (which is way, way too long) and I urge anyone reading this book to just put it down or read one of the one-star spoiler reviews on Amazon and be done with it. Or better yet, ignore the book entirely.

What bothered me most? I'll try to make a list of my top issues:

-- Coincidences. *Everything* in this book happens by some remarkable coincidences. One here or there would be fine, even interesting, but it's as if the author decided 'here's how the plot should go', and couldn't be bothered to come up with realistic reasons for characters to do things and just wanted to move them from one point to another. One of the characters even ends up with amnesia. Amnesia! Like from a bad soap opera! I mean, are you kidding? So stuff just happens. For no reason. Which leads me to...

-- Stuff just happens. For no reason. Such as characters getting together romantically, well, just because. No build up, no logic, they just do because I guess they're both there and they have nothing better to do. Which leads me to...

-- The characters themselves. Completely non-existent. One reviewer on amazon said that if you take any random section of dialogue from the book, it is impossible to tell which character it came from. So true! The author is completely incapable of creating realistic, breathing characters that are different from each other. Instead they all talk the same, they all have the same reactions, the same motives, hook up randomly in the same way, etc. There is *nothing* believable about these people. And for some reason, they all write unbelievably detailed letters. Which leads me to...

-- Unbelievably detailed letters! Now I have read a number of great books that use the format of letter writing to convey the plot. But this? Ridiculous. Not only are these letters insanely long, but they are insanely detailed as well, creating yet another reason why the book and the characters are completely unbelievable. If that's how the author wanted to write this, why did she do the letter thing at all? Which brings me to my final big gripe (I've leaving the small ones out)...

-- The ending. OMG if you value your sanity, do not, I repeat DO NOT finish this book. Because if you are sane, you will get to the ending and go, 'What? What?? Are you f-n kidding me?? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!' No joke. The ending, especially after 600 pages, has got to be the biggest let down of any major novel in recent years. I won't spoil it here (however badly I want to vent about it), but I swear to you: it will cause you physical agony when you read it.

In short: bad book, promises a lot and delivers none of it. Ignore it, read something else....less

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Alex rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2007

Read in January, 2007

THE HISTORIAN BY ELIZABETH KOSTOVA: Welcome to a retelling of Dracula for the twenty-first century, only think much better and more interesting; less of the weak and pitiful women and demanding men; more history and research. Elizabeth Kostova, while no doubt being a very well off person who went to the best schools for writing, has nevertheless spent a long time researching and writing The Historian with the resulting book being little about vampires and undead and more about books and history...more THE HISTORIAN BY ELIZABETH KOSTOVA: Welcome to a retelling of Dracula for the twenty-first century, only think much better and more interesting; less of the weak and pitiful women and demanding men; more history and research. Elizabeth Kostova, while no doubt being a very well off person who went to the best schools for writing, has nevertheless spent a long time researching and writing The Historian with the resulting book being little about vampires and undead and more about books and history and researching and following the trail; its an academic adventure novel.

Our narrator is a young girl in her teens traveling through Europe, following the letters of her father from his travels in the 1950s, who is following the letters of his mentor from his travels in the 1930s. While most of the book is in letter form – with speech quotes framing just about every sentence – Kostova forgoes the accuracy of the letter form and, like Bram Stoker in Dracula, makes the letters part of the novel with action, emotion, and character reaction – attributes that would not usually be in a letter, but for the sake of this book, they need to be.

The premise is that Dracula, or Drakulya, better known as Vlad the Impaler, who was killed in battle in the fifteenth century is still alive and well in the twentieth century. The three story lines of the narrator, her father, and his professor, all have an event in common: they each received a copy of an ancient book with an elaborate woodcut of a dragon, the symbol and emblem of Drakulya. Each of them travel throughout the many cities of Europe tracking Dracula and tracking each other through their letters; clearly Kostova herself traveled to each of this cities, for the book is partially a travel log of Europe, written in exquisite detail.

At the end of the book, when each person finally confronts Dracula in their time, it is revealed that Dracula himself is a lover of history and books and has been building up his library for hundreds of years with the hope of having every old book and important piece of writing in history at his finger tips, all he needs is a librarian to maintain it, of course they need to be turned undead so that their duties as librarian will last as long as Dracula is alive. The professor is turned and when this is discovered, is staked, while the narrator’s father leaves due to the loss of his wife – the narrator’s mother – thinking her dead. It is at the very end when the narrator finds Dracula, she also finds her father on the trail, and then her mother who all play a part in killing Dracula once and for all; the family united at last.

While this review may make The Historian seem trivial and “tied in a big red bow,” the author clearly worked very hard and long in her research of books and places; the result is a lengthy tome that takes you on a long journey through a well-described Europe, through old documents and books, to an adversary we have read and written about for hundreds of years.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

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Lara rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

03/22/08

Read in March, 2008

This book reminded me of the DaVinci code in some ways, but was much more interesting and better written. All of the research and historical documents were fascinating. I was especially interested in the subject matter, because it was about Vlad Ţepeş, the Wallachian (Romanian) prince, who Bram Stoker popularized as Dracula. (Not because I'm interested in vampires, but because I served my mission in Romania and was interested in Vlad himself. Evil and terrible as he was, the Romanians actua...more This book reminded me of the DaVinci code in some ways, but was much more interesting and better written. All of the research and historical documents were fascinating. I was especially interested in the subject matter, because it was about Vlad Ţepeş, the Wallachian (Romanian) prince, who Bram Stoker popularized as Dracula. (Not because I'm interested in vampires, but because I served my mission in Romania and was interested in Vlad himself. Evil and terrible as he was, the Romanians actually are very proud of him because he saved their country from the Turks. They do not like it at all that he is construed to be Dracula. His father was called Vlad Dracul, which is where that name comes from. Dracul is the Romanian word for the dragon.)

The Historian goes with the belief that he is definitely a Vampire, and that he is still alive. Or "undead" as it were. There are three different stories weaved together into one about three people who are trying to find Dracula: The narrator, who is telling her story from her viewpoint as a 16 year old girl in 1972, her father, whose story is told through letters to his daughter as well as conversations about his experiences in 1954 and finally, Professor Rossi, who was the father's advisor in college. Rossi's story is also told through letters and conversations and occurred in 1931. Every once in a while it is difficult to figure out which story you are reading as they jump around so much, but after the first few chapters you start to get a feel for it and it seemed really ingenious the way she chose to combine the three stories.

I loved reading so much about the history of Eastern Europe during the rule of the Ottomans as well as during Communist times. I don't know how much of it is actually based in fact, as that line blurs when we talk of vampirism and Vlad Ţepeş, but I know much of it was. The author is obviously an excellent researcher and really knew her stuff.

I was slightly annoyed by the fact that the Romanian language wasn't always written accurately (I guess she didn't research that quite enough). It was almost always missing diacritical markings, except for in place names. Her Hungarian seemed to have all the diacritical markings in it, and I am unsure of the Bulgarian, since she used our alphabet rather than cyrillic. So I was just bugged by that, although I know most people wouldn't even care! :)

It also bothered me that we never know the name of the narrator. Her father never refers to her by name, and neither does anyone else it seems. We know she was named for "Helen's mother" but "Helen's mother" is another character whose name we never actually hear. I don't know why this bothered me so much, but it did. I guess we get to make up her name, and since we know it was Romanian, I choose Anca. :)

The epilogue was a little unsettling, and the final resolution of the story seems comical when I think about it now, but it was completely fitting and totally acceptable in the framework of the story. I did have to chuckle every time I read the phrase "evil librarian."

It is not a quick read...took me nearly a week to get through, but definitely enjoyable. Kostova has a lovely, almost Victorian style of writing. Very descriptive. The book also scared me out of my wits at times. Really good though. Loved it, despite all my above annoyances....less

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Silver rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

11/24/07

Read in November, 2007

recommends it for: insomniacs and very bored librarians

Am I destined for some kind of literary hell if I say I wish Dan Brown would rewrite this story with the spark and intensity of the Da Vinci Code?

I think I read some review here on GoodReads that called this a book to be conquered. You know, one where after a time you feel so invested that you MUST finish it, you must defeat the book, you will NOT give up, no matter how much you are suffering. Whoever said that about Kostova's The Historian, I salute you.

I kept telling my friends I was r...more Am I destined for some kind of literary hell if I say I wish Dan Brown would rewrite this story with the spark and intensity of the Da Vinci Code?

I think I read some review here on GoodReads that called this a book to be conquered. You know, one where after a time you feel so invested that you MUST finish it, you must defeat the book, you will NOT give up, no matter how much you are suffering. Whoever said that about Kostova's The Historian, I salute you.

I kept telling my friends I was reading "a book about hunting for Dracula through libraries across Europe," and that it was about as exciting as it sounds. I also needed to conquer this book because I wanted to figure out why so many people, good friends of mine included, loved this book. Maybe the long, hard, snoozy slog, occasionally punctuated by some good old fashioned undead suspense every hundred pages or so, would have a really terrific ending that made it all worth it. Clearly Kostova is very influenced by Gothic and Victorian writers like Stoker, so maybe this book would have a grand payoff of an ending to merit the praise and best-sellerness.

Instead, Dracula is a librarian. Sigh. Just as boring as it sounds.

It wasn't completely terrible - many charicterizations are off the charts for their specificity and originality. The thing about the books with the Drakulya print was really intriguing. Except that's not enough. The Drakulya books, which could be counted as a premise, with the intrinsic map that is hammered on as a significant discovery, amount to nothing. The map doesn't even figure into the conclusion! Not even with a character saying, "we were totally wrong about that map."

So while I enjoyed parts of this book, and had many moments when I couldn't put it down (the alternate to finding it incredibly tedious, with no in-between), I think its merits don't outweigh its shortcomings. I wish I'd read an Actual Gothic novel - maybe even by Bram Stoker - instead of wasting way too long on this frustrating book....less

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Rachel rated it:

(review of isbn 0316011770)

08/23/07

Read in August, 2007

so here's the thing. I really didn't hate this book and I wanted to for some reason. in fact, I kept thinking that I loved it but that it was the kind of love that you keep secret from everyone who cares about you because they will fear that you have gone off the deepend and are going to follow the object of your affection into his plot to hold a bank full of people hostage.

I have become an eastern/central europe-phile over the past year. those parts of this book I adored. she describes ...more so here's the thing. I really didn't hate this book and I wanted to for some reason. in fact, I kept thinking that I loved it but that it was the kind of love that you keep secret from everyone who cares about you because they will fear that you have gone off the deepend and are going to follow the object of your affection into his plot to hold a bank full of people hostage.

I have become an eastern/central europe-phile over the past year. those parts of this book I adored. she describes place beautifully. and made me go to Borders so that I could sit in the travel section for a couple of hours devouring books about romania and turkey.

I didn't even mind the vampire-y parts of the story...but in the historical context. I abhorred when Dracula appeared and all other "contemporary" appearances of, well, his contemporaries.

I can only imagine the amount of research and scholarly pursuit that went into this book (my heart=swooning). I assume that most/all of it is non-fictive. I could be wrong. but she caught me up so tightly in all of that that I want to go find out. and she obviously has a lovely writer's eye and ear (see above: travel). my problem is that she seemed to rely on her natural ability and have devoted so much time to the research that she was tired out and didn't 'figure out' everything writing-wise. that's kind of what I meant in my mid-read review of this book with the attempts at suspense. along the same lines, just because your story is being told in first person you cannot always say that you don't know why something is or don't know what something is (I don't have the book in front of me nor do I remember the specific words, but what I mean is something along the lines of..."there was something in his eye, but I didn't know what it was". you're the writer. you HAVE to know what it was.) and you have to provide a cozy context for things...for this I do remember an example...when Barley pulls out a lighter simply because they have no other source of light and the narrator says that she had no idea he smoked. well we didn't either! over 600 pages into the book, there had been no intimation that he smoked but at the exact moment when they need nothing else he pulls a lighter out of his pocket...yeah, that doesn't fly with me.

but I sound harsh and curmudgeonly. I did enjoy this book for about the first 500-600 pages. you only criticize the ones that you love...just ask my family ;-)

****

I don't like it when chapters end in questions...too batman-y for me (will our hero defeat the evil joker and his legion of joke-ettes? will he plunge to his death over the parapet? tune in next time to find out. same bat-time. same bat-channel.) and I don't like when a book constantly has characters or narrative (along the same lines) say that they are going to soon tell you something. tell me or don't. if you don't tell me now I'll be excited when you do later. if you tell me you're going to tell me something later, that's not suspense...that's just schlock. but I'm thoroughly enjoying it otherwise......less

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Juushika rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

08/28/08

bookshelves: borrowed

Read in August, 2008

While exploring her father's library, a young woman finds a cache of letters addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and so uncovers a long lineage of historians, including her own mother and father, who have all set out on the same quest: to discover if Vlad the Impaler, known as Dracula, still lives; and if so, how he can be found and destroyed. A book of stories within stories, The Historian combines fiction and history, using narratives and letters to interweave th...more While exploring her father's library, a young woman finds a cache of letters addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and so uncovers a long lineage of historians, including her own mother and father, who have all set out on the same quest: to discover if Vlad the Impaler, known as Dracula, still lives; and if so, how he can be found and destroyed. A book of stories within stories, The Historian combines fiction and history, using narratives and letters to interweave the narrator's journey with the journey of her father and his mentor, traveling through France and through the East Bloc of the Cold War. It is intelligently plotted and dense with cultural and historical detail, but it is also ponderous and unrealistically constructed. I appreciate the concept, and enjoyed the first few hundred pages, but the book simply drags on too long and, by the end, is boring. I don't recommend it.

The Historian is unlike most modern vampire novels: interweaving multiple timelines, many related via letters and articles, and rich in historical and geographic detail, it is an dense novel which sits outside of the mainstream vampire genre. This is a bold and promising premise, and the book begins well. The narrator discovers her father's letters, and he tells her about his mentor's search for Dracula and the beginning of his own. Everything is detailed, almost to the point of hyper-realism: characters and motivations, setting, dialog, and the passage of time between plot points. The narrative is overshadowed by the threat of real violence, creating a careful tension which keeps the reader interested and immersed despite the slow pacing.

However, this tension does not sustain itself as the book goes on. Violence, both historical and a part of the plot, continues but does not change or increase; eventually it becomes redundant and too easy to dismiss. Meanwhile, the rest of the story gains in complexity but mostly in length. With precise dialog and long descriptions of settings and the filler between plot points, the partially-epistolary style reaches unbelievable detail and length. At over 600 pages, even though it contains three plot lines, the book is too long. While some of this detailed content is interesting, it largely serves to clutter the book. The plot slows to a crawl, the tension dissipates, and the novel becomes quite ponderous.

I would love to see more "intelligent" vampire novels, as this one tries to be. It would be a welcome departure from genre. Kostova also proves that there is sufficient content for a historical vampire novel tracing the legend of vampires back to the historical figure of Dracula. This, however, is not that novel: although intelligent, although outside of the genre, although heavily historical, this novel loses its vampires. They're there, of course, and they become marginally more threatening as the book goes on, but they are buried beneath ponderous description and the filler between plot points. I enjoyed the premise, admired a few of the characters, and appreciate what The Historian tries to do, but the more of the book I read, the less I enjoyed it. Having finished the novel, I'm not glad to have read it. It's not a bad book, but neither is it good or enjoyable. I don't recommend it....less

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FicusFan rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

05/04/08

bookshelves: fiction, historical-mystery, read-2008

Read in April, 2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I found this book to be a slog. I really didn't care much about the characters, in fact I disliked the main narrator, and I didn't care what happened to them for most of the book. I didn't find the search or mystery to be compelling reading.

I thought the book was way too long, and didn't really need the teenage daughter as the narrator. The book had several levels, but only the past ones: the father's search, and his mentor's search were interesting. I didn't feel that the issue of the mys...more I found this book to be a slog. I really didn't care much about the characters, in fact I disliked the main narrator, and I didn't care what happened to them for most of the book. I didn't find the search or mystery to be compelling reading.

I thought the book was way too long, and didn't really need the teenage daughter as the narrator. The book had several levels, but only the past ones: the father's search, and his mentor's search were interesting. I didn't feel that the issue of the mystery book was ever really explained in enough depth to make it valid, and I thought the ending was weak for an almost 700 page read.

My problem with the main narrator was that she was not really needed to tell the story. On top of that she was way too passive. She never challenged her father to complete or continue his story. It was all too pat, that every time the book got interesting, the story would break off. It was a cheap and obvious manipulation by the author to create cliffhangers. It backfired. I wasn't hooked, only made more and more angry by the waste of my time.

The other issue with the narrator was the set-up at the start of the book. The way she tip-toed around the whole concept of Vampires. Later in the book it could be explained, but not at the start. As a vampire Aficionado I know that back in the 70s, the subject exploded. There were books, magazine articles and TV programs about them, about Dracula, about Vlad Tephes (SP?), about the legends, and the historical truth. But though the book was set in the 70s, the narrator acted like Vampires were a dirty secret.

It seemed to me as I read that the author was trying to rewrite or update Dracula for the modern day. She did reference Dracula and Bram Stoker, so she wasn't pretending that his idea never existed. She was taking his story, indirectly, and moving on after the events in London. But it was boring.

The slow dragging pace of the story also seemed as though she was trying to emulate the 19th century style of writing. I did like her writing style, it was smooth and she did a good job with the information, the description, the new locals and the minor characters. Her story telling was also not bad, once the daughter was pushed into the background. She just didn't construct an overall story arc that was worthy in terms of the journey and the ending to carry such a long book, and such an investment in the readers' times.

I am a complete-ist and almost always finish a book I start. I also own the book so I feel the need to read it because I want to recoup my investment. Finally the book was a choice for my real life fiction book group so I needed to keep reading so I could discuss it with the others.

I can't say that I would read anything else by her. I wouldn't reject it outright, but would be very cautious and test read it before committing my time and money.
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Arthur rated it:

(review of isbn 0316011770)

01/15/08

Read in September, 2007

The historian is about a scholar. Or at least up till his dissertations, of its being his only interests in this world. Then there is later years later his daughter. Also like him but had not started her university, or had but imagined she would, unless of course her father the scholar would contribute his personal interests. He does course; he has been raising her alone since she was an infant. They make a great two. He’s acting his usual self. He has a dark secret; his lost wife, which he re...more The historian is about a scholar. Or at least up till his dissertations, of its being his only interests in this world. Then there is later years later his daughter. Also like him but had not started her university, or had but imagined she would, unless of course her father the scholar would contribute his personal interests. He does course; he has been raising her alone since she was an infant. They make a great two. He’s acting his usual self. He has a dark secret; his lost wife, which he refuses to talk about. He will not reveal the truth. He doesn't know what he truly thinks about his wife whom he lost, he gives the impression of her being dead. His wife Helen dies because she disappeared one night while not staying with her husband. That is the reason he'd not known what had occurred to her. She’s missing, and he’d known both his owned dark secret and Helen, and that they had been trying to find a vampire, so assuming that she does disappear, that from vampire stories ...she was bitten twice by a vampire, before he loses Helen, and upon the third traditional bite encompasses the undying kind of undead destruction of all, of the living; the causes, according to this Dracula, to become a Dracula’s vampire too.

Resemblances of earth and its advances proclaim history or of higher regency so that it expands explaining earth’s events naturally that something candid like this can explain well, but mathematically, history, goes to expand itself only as the old earth had, but negotiating the stories it actually has, and publishes the same chronological journals for arguments sake.

I basically was pressed for time I would spend with this book. By it’s title the historian and the story itself is impressive, and its well put together, it will give it, you, an impression of very great story telling.

I was mainly interested at the time of downloading books; and but I have this in hardback book. It's filled with scenes very descriptive and that makes wanting to have read more from Elizabeth Kostova. I recently read Vlad the Undead, afterwards, feeling impressed because this history is all genre and fiction and stress...just pure fun set in impossible situations, containing its aggressive antagonists.

Glowing within is an intelligible presence controlling through a thirsty or hungry ominous that is simply transmitting through each of its contacts that moves as it moves upon its prey of his indulgence. Shape or fear due in part to this ominous existence has no campaign to indulge, and if the world were shaped round, it would posses our human minds till we are nothing more than our naught. That we are here of survival, treading this path may be delusional. -What had Rossi advised? “I wouldn’t go around with garlic in my pocket, no.” And something else, too: “I’m sure you carry your own goodness, moral sense, whatever you want to call it, with you — I like to think most of us are capable of that, anyway.”-...less

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Poo1987 rated it:

(review of isbn 0751537284)

07/11/08

bookshelves: adventure, historical-fiction, horror

Read in July, 2008

Since Stoker's Dracula published, I bet this is the one of horror novels many and I praising for and crying 'Bravo' at the time the book coming to an end. Kristeva brings an instance of European histories mysterious and dreadful to life, mesmerising me by those she created. With sophisticated and careful research, a portrait she drawing is delight and realistic, but also brings her characters into thrilling existence. (All right! someone said this is a very flat book, containing unbelievable cha...more Since Stoker's Dracula published, I bet this is the one of horror novels many and I praising for and crying 'Bravo' at the time the book coming to an end. Kristeva brings an instance of European histories mysterious and dreadful to life, mesmerising me by those she created. With sophisticated and careful research, a portrait she drawing is delight and realistic, but also brings her characters into thrilling existence. (All right! someone said this is a very flat book, containing unbelievable characters and accidental events. I agree with those comments, but I read it for fun, so such those elements are not any problem.)

Although I must complain something bothering me during I was taking pleasure in. That is Kristeva using words 'East' and 'West' almost of time she describes Ottoman or Islam as one side, Christianity or Europe as the other, an opponent of the former, as if we can simplify Islam and Christian, or Asia and Europe, into an imprinted and fixed identities. Morally, I am the one denying the existence or essence of such idea so-called Orientalism which the imperialists, and their ancestors whoever or wherever they were from, which ones called 'Westerners' imposed on the subjects they observing and, then, recognized whom which called 'Easterners' as uncivilisers or people less high in position with 'the West'. The many have accepted the idea that believes in the essence of this concept and treats with 'the East' as an existing entity in spite of the fact that number of them are parts of 'the East'. Without awareness, the existence of concepts East and West is a sequence of Eurocentrism which supposes that Europe is the centre of the world, being similar to the idea every roads direct towards Rome, therefore whatever side of the world is called there Europe is involved. Far East Asia, for example, is located in Eastern side of Europe and far from it, so it is to be Far East. How silly it is! The world is round. It is impossible to label East or West at any world's surface without situating yourself on somewhere. East or West is thereby a relative reality not been able to use as an absolute truth. I don't understand why many people -- especially scholars -- respect those words and confidently use them again and again.

You know why these terms emerged and became influenced in the modern world? I think that is the result of discourse which imperialists produced, first, and, then, of pope's order which, in around 11th or 12th century, I beg your forgiveness I can't remember, he compromised the conflict of interest between Spain and Protugal by dividing world into two parts. West was belonged to Spain. East was possessed of Protugal. Centre is located at Avignon, France, the place pope living at that time. Haha! You can count Germany the East in this sense. ...less

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Stacey rated it:

(review of isbn 0316011770)

05/18/08

bookshelves: scifi-fantasy, so-bad-it-pissed-me-off, time-i-will-never-get-back

It has been some time since I read this, so my recollections may not be that accurate. I tend to make these decisions (do I like or not like a book?) viscerally, rather than by formula. But I figured that any book that merited my little used "pissed me off" category, deserved an explanation.

The Historian:
Kostova sets her book partly in the 70s, partly in history, and she tries to write in a flowery language, like the great masters of novel from the 19th century- but to me, she...more It has been some time since I read this, so my recollections may not be that accurate. I tend to make these decisions (do I like or not like a book?) viscerally, rather than by formula. But I figured that any book that merited my little used "pissed me off" category, deserved an explanation.

The Historian:
Kostova sets her book partly in the 70s, partly in history, and she tries to write in a flowery language, like the great masters of novel from the 19th century- but to me, she really just comes off sounding pretentious, overwrought and juvenile. Yes, her character is supposed to be young, but the writing can be elegant, even with a young and immature subject. In addition, everyone in the whole story speaks with the same voice. Many times I had to backtrack because I'd lost the thread of who was speaking.

Then, she writes about Vlad, Dracula, attempting to add new lore to the story, but never really gives us any surprises. At the most "suspenseful" moments, I often found myself feeling irritatingly amused at the author's attempt to create tension. One moment she is in fear of her life, and the next, she's what? sipping tea? And I don't recall that Kostova mixes her scenes well. She creates tension, but then breaks it too soon, or holds back from stretching it out, or drops into the completely mundane, instead of just pulling back a little. Even her main character doesn't seem to be driven by anything except one-upmanship, the desire to solve this mystery that her father couldn't, not for anyone's sake except proving that she's a better historian?

Lastly, the stories of Dracula are supposed to be horrific, but also reluctantly romantic. She rarely rises above twittering, and it was never at any junction a book that I devoured. Mostly I just got through it, only to discover at the very end, when everything is supposedly wrapped up, with no foreshadowing, she tacks on a "oh by the way, he could still be alive! muahahaha!"

Okay then.

To comment specifically, I'd probably have to reread, or at least review, the book, which I'm not willing to do when there are still so many thousands of brilliantly written stories out there that I haven't discovered yet....less

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Maurean rated it:

(review of isbn 0316011770)

02/20/08

Read in November, 2007

It took me the better part of three weeks to complete this 642-page novel – that, I believe, is the longest it has ever taken me to complete a book that I was reading strictly for pleasure. Not that this is, necessarily, a bad thing, that is just to say it is not a “light” reading.

As a reader, did I enjoy it? Well…yes, I think so, but I’m still debating myself in just how much; either I found it rather mediocre, or utterly brilliant, I just haven’t settled on which..

The story...more