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The Swan Thieves

3.49 of 5 stars 3.49 · rating details · 14,820 ratings · 2,861 reviews

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life--solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to under...more

Hardcover, 565 pages

Published January 15th 2009

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Jun 30, 2010 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, 2010, 2000s

I think the reason that this book seems to polarise opinion is because nothing much happens in it. Psychologist Robert Marlowe acquires the renowned painter Robert Oliver as his patient, and subsequently travels around meeting people who might be able to shed some light on the reasons behind Oliver's breakdown. The majority of the book comprises the memories and insights of these people told in the voice of that particular individual, and so takes place outside the narrative which is really a co...more

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Jan 25, 2010 Greg rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, fiction, girls-girls-girls

I'm sorry Goodreads First Reads program. First I win a book I only entered to win to tear it apart, and then I win this book which I also didn't like. But please believe me that I didn't go into this book hating it, I had an open mind. Please take this into account and send me more books for free please!!

A whole lot of my friends here on Goodreads.com seemed to really like Kostova's first novel, The Historian (with the exception of Kasia, who seemed to feel about the same way that I feel about t...more

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Aug 04, 2010 Katie rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone!!

It has been a long time since I've read a book that made me hungry for the next word, whose 400 pages (or so) flew by in an instant, and that after finishing it, I could scarcely breathe and think about anything else for the next few hours. Even the day after, I find my mind drifting to the complex plot, the inscrutable and complicated characters and mulling over the series of events, to see if there could have been any other way the story could have ended, or even begun. I decided that no, the...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Sarah Ryburn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, mystery-suspense

my goodness, this was engrossing. i heard elizabeth kostova read from the novel at lemuria earlier this month, and i have been happily giving over my lunch breaks and evenings to it ever since. a long novel, but thoroughly engrossing––that's twice i've used this word. fitting.

there were moments in the narrative when i couldn't quite shake the sense of the author's being female, a problem when the protagonist is male. then again, large passages of plot are narrated through letters written by fem...more my goodness, this was engrossing. i heard elizabeth kostova read from the novel at lemuria earlier this month, and i have been happily giving over my lunch breaks and evenings to it ever since. a long novel, but thoroughly engrossing––that's twice i've used this word. fitting.

there were moments in the narrative when i couldn't quite shake the sense of the author's being female, a problem when the protagonist is male. then again, large passages of plot are narrated through letters written by female characters––no such problem in these. overall, the characters, plot, and narrative structure are so successful that i am prepared to forgive the author's shadow over dr. marlow. perhaps my seeing and hearing ms kostova read, watching her sign my book with a distinctly feminine hand, in some way colored the novel's voice for me. i do wonder if male readers have sensed the same shadow, found the voice of dr. marlow, at least at moments, unconvincing as a 52 year old bachelor... it's actually something about the way he notices women that reminds me quite frankly of how i notice other women. it seems somehow not quite sexual enough, to put it baldly; his manner of noting a beautiful woman seems remarkably like how i might notice her, with admiration rather than attraction, or with a faint note of envy, of silently measuring her attractiveness against an internal standard of beauty and personal style.

back to the novel's successes... at the reading the author discussed, among other things, the creative birth pangs of a really long work of fiction (her two novels are 560 and 690 pages respectively). a woman in the audience noted that novels seem to be getting shorter and shorter, although we pay the same price whether for 150 pages or 600, and that readers often excuse this brevity particularly if the writer is considered "really quite literary after all." perhaps even fiction, literary and otherwise, has made its attempted accomodation to the increasingly rapid pace of modern american life. whatever. this is a book to sit with patiently and perhaps with a pillow in one's lap for extra support, and i say well done.

i savored this one, going back into chapters i read three or four days before, lingering over words, phrases, entire paragraphs, and the quintessential delight of letting those words come together as pictures in my mind. the reader's delight and totally unavailable through any other entertainment medium. flashbacks to 19th century characters (subplot) reminded me a good bit of possession, a novel the author referenced at the reading. i do love period pieces (both film and writing), and thanks to the swan thieves i've discovered a burgeoning interest in that period's art, painting particularly. wouldn't it be fun to follow up this lovely fiction piece with a collection of 19th century letters? perhaps the love letters of a famed impressionist painter to his (or her) muse? a romantic novel, indeed, to spark such a romance of ideas. (less)

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Feb 13, 2010 Emily rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. After loving The Historian I was looking forward to reading Ms. Kostova's sophomore effort. I really couldn't have been more thrilled when I won it from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. So the disappointment I felt when The Swan Thieves just didn't live up to my hopes was that much keener.

The main character, Dr. Marlow is an amateur painter and a psychiatrist, who throughout the book shows little regard for the ethical standards of that profession. I can't say I disliked him, though, because he...more After loving The Historian I was looking forward to reading Ms. Kostova's sophomore effort. I really couldn't have been more thrilled when I won it from a Goodreads First Reads giveaway. So the disappointment I felt when The Swan Thieves just didn't live up to my hopes was that much keener.

The main character, Dr. Marlow is an amateur painter and a psychiatrist, who throughout the book shows little regard for the ethical standards of that profession. I can't say I disliked him, though, because he simply didn't engender any kind of emotional response from me; I found him very blah and unsympathetic. His patient, Robert Oliver, is a painter who was arrested for trying to damage a painting at the National Gallery, and I didn't find him particularly sympathetic either. I think Ms. Kostova was going for the tortured artist type, but it didn't work for me. Anyway, after a single short conversation with Dr. Marlow, Robert lapses into complete silence. But he draws and paints a single woman over and over and over - he is absolutely obsessed with her. So, logically, in order to solve the mystery of his patient's silence, Dr. Marlow becomes obsessed as well.

Ignoring any other patients he might have had, Dr. Marlow takes weeks off work to track down Robert's acquaintances, poses as a reporter to get information out of Robert's previous co-workers, interviews Robert's ex-wife and ex-girlfriend extensively, steals his patient's property (yes, it was originally stolen by his patient and Marlow returned it to its rightful owner, but still), and flies to both Acapulco and Paris to figure out what's going on. After all of this footwork and research and delving into Impressionist painters' lives, Dr. Marlow puts the pieces together, discovers the firsthand account of what happened to the woman Robert is obsessed with and relays the information to Robert. Who, as it turns out, actually already knows pretty much the whole story, but decides to start talking again because...well, I'm not really sure. So Dr. Marlow tells him he'll need to stay on his medication and give him a call before he does anything rash again, and he's free to go. Interesting treatment plan. Dr. Marlow doesn't mention of course, that he's gotten his patient's ex-girlfriend pregnant (while on that trip to Acapulco) and they're getting married.

The story was lacked credibility, the relationships were unconvincing, the characters uninteresting. A very disappointing second book from Ms. Kostova. Lucky for her, I reserve one-star ratings for the absolute dregs of the literary barrel. But giving it two stars is a stretch.

For more book reviews, come visit my blog, Build Enough Bookshelves.(less)

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Feb 28, 2010 Brooke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, general-fiction

The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova's sophomore effort after The Historian, is altogether a very satisfying experience from beginning to end. It's nearly 600 pages long, and luckily it uses the pages well. It doesn't lag or become dull in places; instead, it moves forward at a slow but steady pace and reveals secrets bit by bit. Kostova lays out the pieces quite clearly so that even a half-attentive reader will figure out the secrets before they're explicitly confirmed. Some reviews have suggest...more

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Nov 03, 2009 Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, 2010_challenge_dianes_atwi_80_books, books_i_hated_so_much_i_sold

About 20 pages in I thought, this is crap, but I kept reading because I loved The Historian. In retrospect, I should have stopped because this book was so badly written and just such a waste of time it made the Da Vinci Code look wonderful by comparison. Every single character was an annoying pompous jackass and I hope they all die horribly.

A better, more thoughtful review as to the multitude of reasons behind my hating this book will be forthcoming. And they are legion! From glaring continuity...more About 20 pages in I thought, this is crap, but I kept reading because I loved The Historian. In retrospect, I should have stopped because this book was so badly written and just such a waste of time it made the Da Vinci Code look wonderful by comparison. Every single character was an annoying pompous jackass and I hope they all die horribly.

A better, more thoughtful review as to the multitude of reasons behind my hating this book will be forthcoming. And they are legion! From glaring continuity errors to just the depiction of artists....blurgh!

When the psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe admits the famous painter Robert Oliver to his care at Goldengrove, he doesn't expect that one patient to change everything about his own life, even his ethics and morals. Robert was arrested while trying to attack a painting by Gilbert Thomas based on the myth of Leda in the National Portrait Gallery. Unable to break Robert's imposed vow of silence, he must try to find the impetus for Robert's breakdown and why he felt he had to destroy that painting by conversing with those willing to talk, primarily Robert's ex-wife, Kate, and mysterious Mary. But more importantly, Marlowe needs to find out the identity of the striking woman Robert draws over and over again...is she the woman who wrote the letters that Robert covets and rereads ad infinitum? Is the woman his wife or perhaps Mary? The deeper in he gets the more Marlowe wonders if he is really doing this for his patient or for himself and he begins to unravel a mystery that has haunted many lives for over a century. The narrative temporally flows between Marlow's search, Robert's past and 19th century Paris. All leading to one revelation...the secret that haunts Robert Olliver.

I have long been hoping for a new Elizabeth Kostova book. I adored The Historian and could not wait to see what story she set pen to next. After reading The Swan Thieves my desire for a new book was sated...but not in a good way. I must honestly say that I am surprised I made it through this book, twenty pages in I really thought it was bad but was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. With one hundred pages left I almost gave up because I really hated the book. I finished... there was no great revelation, no fixing of all that I hated, but I was one with my dislike. I had simmered from total hatred to strong dislike. But truly I cannot in good conscious recommend this book to anyone, unless you like badly written prose with stupidly florid dialogue, simplistic plotting disguised and drawn out as a mystery with unlikable and unrealistic characters. There is so much wrong with it, but let me just illuminate a few of the key problems I had so that I don't sound like some bitter harpy just venting against a book that obviously took a long time to write.

The characters. The main character, Robert Olliver, seems rather intriguing, but we never actually hear him speak for himself we only hear about him through those he surrounded himself with. So he's the focal point but almost a non character because he is never a narrator, and these narrators... oh, they got on my nerves. Andrew Marlowe is a self centered self impressed psychiatrist with delusions of being an artist himself. He thinks he's so wonderful that the young women around him must feel his longing gazes and return them in kind. He has dubious skills as a psychiatrist, how could someone be a doctor, an "educated man," and not figure out what was going on in the first five minutes. Plus he breaks all manners of ethical codes in the end. I personally like to call this the Robert Langdon effect. Know it all older men who really couldn't find a door right in front of their noses. Then there's Kate, Robert's ex, who is so weak and is just there for exposition of Robert's past and for Marlowe to fantasize about. Mary though is the worst of the modern narrators. I kept going reading the book because I noticed Marlowe narrated less so the book might get better. Wrong! Mary is a nubile young student who lusts after her own teacher. But really how can she spare time for others when she loves herself so much... Eventually she ensnares Robert just as she later ensnares Marlowe who seems to have no ethical qualms about getting involved in his patients recent ex. The two people in fin-de-siecle France are just as bad, with the young Beatrice lusting after her husband's uncle who is a far older man.

You might have caught one of my problems. All the women are lusting after older men. Some men are twenty years their senior, some more. What is with that? It's like some male fantasy that all young women want them and their "experience." I understand if it's driven by plot or character development, but here it just seemed a given that in this world the author has created all young women want older men. I would say that the author was a middle aged man if I didn't know better.

Onto other character flaws. The artists. I have been around artists my entire life. My parents ran a publishing company which published books as well as fine art prints. My mother was an artist. I am an artist. I went to school for a Bachelor's Degree in art. I am currently back in school getting a degree in Graphic Design. There is one thing I can say with 100% certainty. ARTISTS DON'T BEHAVE LIKE THIS! Yes they can be self impressed, self centered and messed up. But all different in their own quirky way. I think Kostova captured what an artist embodies most with Robert in the miasma of his presence...but all the other artists. I'm sorry but they don't spend every second of every day thinking about how they would capture the light, what brush they would use, what exact tube of paint...on and on about this minutiae that, yes, artists do think about, but not only that. The bizarre hyper real artists that she has created live in a little art bubble where there's only art. That's not how life works. If she was trying to show that little has changed over time, how things repeat themselves and how art has basically not changed, she has failed and also annoyed me in the process. Some people have said that this book inspired them to paint and go out and be an artist. If they think that this is what it's like being an artist they are deluded.

But all that is secondary to the predictable plot and the bad writing. This book was in desperate need of culling. A couple hundred pages could have been trimmed. All the time wasted setting up reflections and echos of the past in the present just seemed bogged down with all the unnecessary ephemera thrown in. I was able to figure out "the twist" fairly quickly. There was no big surprise. I think this also has to do with how conventions have changed over time. When you read Bleak House by Charles Dickens, or even Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon the Victorian morals make the secrets not that big a deal to us living in the 21st Century. There was so many ways she could have pushed it or tied it together. I kept thinking about how Robert's obsession with the painting could be pushed in a Hitchcockian direction a la Vertigo and Madeline's obsession with the painting at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. But no... just more young women and old men. There was one line that was so bad I laughed out loud because a trashy romance novel would not have even published it. (I would quote it here but reviewers are requested to not quote from the reader copies...one can hope it will be out by then, but I doubt it). But overall what got to me was her sentence structure is often fragmented and contradictory. Like she's stringing together adjectives, often with words that are polar opposites. Oh, and on a final note...continuity errors! If someone is born in 1947 they couldn't be a small child going to the Rockefeller Christmas show that same year! This isn't The Time Traveler's Wife!

This book was a major disappointment and I really wonder how it will do. Maybe the people who liked The Da Vinci Code can pick this up. Simplistic mystery, not well written, with an aging hero who thinks he's hot shit... yeah, it might yet be a best seller, but those who loved The Historian are warned to stay away.(less)

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Jan 19, 2011 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I can’t believe that the average rating on this book is only 3.41! I think because of that lowish average I went in to this book expecting a little less…but I thought this book was amazing. The whole time I was reading it, I thought, if I was to ever write a book, this is what I would want the voice to sound like. I absolutely loved her use of language, her writing style--great detail, but not overdone, beautiful character development with just enough left to the imagination. Robert was for the...more

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Feb 08, 2011 Lori Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

Following this book can be a little hard if you don't pay attention to the chapter headers and know WHO is doing the speaking in each chapter. The chapters not only cover present day but delve into the 1800's via letters and a few brief forays into the eyes of a painter.

In a nutshell, a famous painter loses his grip on reality and becomes completely enamored and in love with a woman who paints in the 1800's. All he can paint is variations of her face. A psychiatrist (who also happens to be a pai...more

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Nov 23, 2010 Robin rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Aug 09, 2011 Turtelina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

Ein Buch mit dem man Geduld haben muss. Die ersten 200 Seiten sind auesserst zaeh und langatmig. Auf Amazon hats ein Leser als langsames anruehren der Farben bezeichnet, mit der Kostova "die Schwanendiebe" zu Papier gebracht hat. Auf den Punkt gebracht. Ist man erst mal an der Einleitung vorbei, hat einen dieses Buch gefesselt und man kanns fast nicht mehr weglegen. Das sage ich als absoluter Kunstbanause die mit Malerei wirklich nichts am Hut hat! Wunderschoen geschrieben, sehr fluessig zu lese...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Adriane rated it 2 of 5 stars

When I started this book I was enjoying it. About half way through, for various reasons, I had to put the book down for almost a week. When I picked it back up I just could not get back into the story. I found I really didn't much care about the characters or what happened to them. And the plot, such as it is, also had me unmoved. Which pretty much sums up my review.

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Oct 27, 2011 Aguess rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was entertaining, and gorgeously written - maybe too gorgeously written. I felt some of the descriptions were so drawn out that they made me loose the thread of the narrative. I also felt that although it was supposed to be written in different voices, they aren't distinct enough to be truly compelling. And Kostova gave too much away at the beginning -the mystery surrounding the painting and Robert and Marlowe 's fates seemed so inevitable. Definitely a good read, but not a great one.

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Mar 29, 2010 Susan rated it 2 of 5 stars

There were things I enjoyed in this novel including some of the writing with its descriptions of art, although, all in all, it was much about nothing. It took too long for the parallel stories to merge and to be connected, and by the time it was done, I was fed up and just wanted to be done with it. I would probably not recommend it to my friends.

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Jul 05, 2010 Jamie added it · review of another edition Recommends it for: Katie McCracken!

While there's undoubtedly a shortage of literary fiction in the world today and I feel compelled to give credit where credit is due--this book paled in comparison to the MASTERPIECE that was The Historian. Those crisp suits, the dark forests, the jet setting and travel by boats. It was so TIMELESS, so elegant and effective, beautifully written by what could only be a thoroughly intelligent woman who LOVES books and thrives on a good story.

The Historian was a modern (ish) Rebecca. A mystery, a ri...more While there's undoubtedly a shortage of literary fiction in the world today and I feel compelled to give credit where credit is due--this book paled in comparison to the MASTERPIECE that was The Historian. Those crisp suits, the dark forests, the jet setting and travel by boats. It was so TIMELESS, so elegant and effective, beautifully written by what could only be a thoroughly intelligent woman who LOVES books and thrives on a good story.

The Historian was a modern (ish) Rebecca. A mystery, a rich, opulent setting so perfectly described you could smell, hear, and touch it. The Swan Thief, on the other hand, embodied some similar aspects--beautiful settings, intense character development but still that veil of secrecy Kostova is so keen on--and this time she swapped Dracula and Bulgaria for France and Impressionism. It MIGHT have been ideal.

Instead the story lost steam. The characters didn't matter as much, the mystery was so illusive and singularly affecting just one person (Robert, perhaps his family, too a bit), that I didn't care if he got "well." And I certainly didn't understand how he was so compulsively drawn to this character in the first place. This woman who was, certainly remarkable, but seemed to have gained his interest as nothing more than a small painting in the MET. It was hard, as a woman, to identify with his "obsession," when it clearly began with nothing more than looks. Even for a male painter, I wanted more, if he was going to ruin so many lives with the lust.

And so I followed it, and lovingly, too. Who doesn't love Paris and painters? Raw emotions and broken families? But ultimately it wasn't there to follow. It ended, leaving me with many unanswered questions, and for a writer as clearly capable of writing fantastical fiction with guts as Kostova is--I was disappointed. France and all. In the end it seems Robert’s obsession wasn’t worthy of the lives he destroyed, most notably his own. And his mental illness felt strangely…convenient. Cognitive when he needed to be to propel the plot, catatonic when the plot needed a little time to stir. No good.
(less)

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Mar 26, 2010 Drew rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished reading "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova, whose debut novel, "The Historian" was a runaway bestseller. In fact, "The Historian" was the first debut novel to hit #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. While "The Swan Thieves" will undoubtedly finds its way to this and other bestseller lists, my feeling is that it will quickly find its way off those same lists.[return][return]"The Swan Thieves" is primarily the story of two men, Dr. Andrew Marlow and Robert Oliver, as we...more I just finished reading "The Swan Thieves" by Elizabeth Kostova, whose debut novel, "The Historian" was a runaway bestseller. In fact, "The Historian" was the first debut novel to hit #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. While "The Swan Thieves" will undoubtedly finds its way to this and other bestseller lists, my feeling is that it will quickly find its way off those same lists.[return][return]"The Swan Thieves" is primarily the story of two men, Dr. Andrew Marlow and Robert Oliver, as well as love, art and obsession.[return][return]Robert Oliver is a brilliant artist who is remanded to psychiatric care after attempting to slash a painting with a pocketknife at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.. Andrew Marlow is the doctor who attempts to treat Oliver, but runs into a major problem- shortly after his commitment to the hospital, Oliver gives Marlow permission to speak with anyone about him, then refuses to speak anymore.[return][return]Day after day, Oliver draws and paints pictures of the same beautiful woman whom Marlow is convinced holds the key to helping Oliver. As Marlow tracks down and speaks with Robert's former wife and girlfriend, he becomes nearly as obsessed with the mystery woman in the paintings, causing him to straddle the lines of professional ethics. His search for answers, ostensibly in his patients behalf, lead him to travel up and down the east coast, to Mexico and then to Europe.[return][return]"The Swan Thieves" is an impressive story that has alternating chapters with historical elements, discusses art, particularly Impressionism, contains a mystery at its core, and deals with love- love realized, love lost and love that was never meant to be. Having said this, "The Swan Thieves" also contains some near-fatal flaws.[return][return]Kostova is a wordsmith who has an love of description, which, much like her character Robert Oliver, who was sidetracked from a bright career by his obsession, her story is often sidetracked by obsessively over-descriptive prose. The story arc is interesting, but could have benefited from an editor unafraid to assert some editorial control, allowing the same story to be told in three to four hundred pages rather than the nearly six-hundred page tome that it is. I often got bored and distracted, having to put the book down, as the story seemed to be progressing to nowhere (while reading the first 200 pages of "The Swan Thieves", I started and finished two other books).[return][return]The other problem that continues to stalk Kostova, as it did in "The Historian," is the inability to provide a satisfying ending. The climax of the story comes very late, wrapping up the story in an weak and insubstantial denouement. I already understood why Robert Oliver attacked the painting by about page 300 and all the final pages did was confirm what I already knew. As in "The Historian," the story overpowers and supplants the ending, making the book worth the read even with a disappointing ending.[return][return]Just be warned, a casual read this is not. "A" for effort, "B" for the story, but a "D" for the long-winded telling.(less)

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Mar 09, 2013 Ricki Treleaven rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have heard many mixed reviews about The Swan Thieves from my friends. It seems that my artist friends tend to like it better than my non-artist friends, which I imagine is due to the subject matter. The book is about a nationally-recognized artist named Robert Oliver who goes nuts in the National Gallery of Art and tries to attack a priceless painting with a knife. He is hospitalized for mental illness, and psychiatrist Andrew Marlow, an exceptional artist himself, takes on Robert's compelling...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It is rare that I enjoy a book less as I get into it, but in this long quasi story about a doctor investigating his silent psychiatric patient's artistic obsession, I found the characters less compelling as the narrative proceeded.

The writing itself is perfectly clear, predictable but and annoyingly even in tone throughout. The many plot threads and characters' lives (from two different eras and too many sources) were all kept, but some of the threads seemed improbable or downright uninterestin...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Kelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

See this review on 1776books.net...
http://1776books.blogspot.com/2009/11...

Elizabeth Kostova...does the author's name ring a bell? Unless you picked up her bestselling novel, "The Historian", it probably won't. "The Swan Thieves", to be published in January, is Kostova's only other published work. Unlike...oh, shall we say...James Patterson, she takes her time in crafting marvelously ingenious tales. It will probably take you awhile to get to the end of "The Swan Thieves". It should. The short c...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars

Psychiatrist treats non-talking artist arrested for slashing painting in national gallery. This one has soooo many layers. Characters are all complete, in that we learn more and more about them tho they are not any more predictable than the rest of us folks. There are ex-wives, lovers, artists, other docs, and the story happens "now" and during late 1800's, when Impressionism began to emerge as an art form. This was also a time when women were not yet "allowed" to present their work as artists....more

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Nov 28, 2012 Kayla West rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book in a span of about two months, starting in around September and just now finishing it yesterday. I read it in between writing my own stories, work, family matters,etc., and was amazed at how easy a read it was to get back into after each dry spell of not reading. I love how the perspectives and personal stories of each character mesh into one another to bring out the whole story, and I especially love that the past is completely intertwined with the present. The artistic element...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Matt Schiariti rated it 3 of 5 stars

I loved The Historian...absolutely loved it. I found myself recommending it to just about anybody who is remotely even into books. Needless to say, when I got wind of Kostova's next novel I was waiting with baited breath to get my hands on it. Having just finished the Swan Thieves I can honestly say I'm disappointed.

The premise was very interesting. Genius painter, Robert Oliver walks into an art museum single minded of purpose. That purpose is to take a knife to a masterful work of art called t...more I loved The Historian...absolutely loved it. I found myself recommending it to just about anybody who is remotely even into books. Needless to say, when I got wind of Kostova's next novel I was waiting with baited breath to get my hands on it. Having just finished the Swan Thieves I can honestly say I'm disappointed.

The premise was very interesting. Genius painter, Robert Oliver walks into an art museum single minded of purpose. That purpose is to take a knife to a masterful work of art called the Leda. Obviously not in his right mind, this action gets him arrested and committed to a mental hospital where he meets the main protagonist, Dr. Andrew Marlow. Over the course of the book, Marlow will discover the depths of Robert's obsession with a female painter from the 19th century, Beatrice Clarval, as well as walking the lines of his own obsession, questioning his professionalism in the process.

Sounds interesting, but the book doesn't quite live up to what the plot could have been. As with the historian, a series of letters from Beatrice to a family member appear between many of the book's chapters. These letters are one of the few things Robert has in his possession upon entering Dr. Marlow's hospital and treats them like a priceless treasure. Robert won't speak or interact with Dr. Marlow during his sessions, but it's clear the letters mean much to him.

I felt that one of the things keeping the enjoyment out of the book was the emphasis on heavy narration. Each chapter calls out which character is speaking, as the novel is told in the first person a good portion of the time. the chapters where Marlow is speaking are entitled 'Marlow', so on and so forth. What this essentially did was take me OUT of the book. Rather than being involved in the story, I almost felt as if it was being told to me and I was a passive listener. More importantly, it cut down on one of the things I most enjoy in a book. Character interaction and how each character plays off the other. There really wasn't much dialogue in the book as a whole and it made it feel a little bit slow and cumbersome.

In order to help Robert out, he seeks out two women in his life. Robert's ex wife, Kate and his former lover, Mary. Their chapters are also self narrated and are essentially flashbacks. The book also has chapters that flash back to Beatrice's time and act as a means to flesh out her life's experience in addition to the letters Robert has in his possession.

Honestly, if the chapters weren't titled according to who was speaking, it would have been hard to keep track of who was doing the narrative because each character didn't strike me as having their own unique voice. I found the characters thoughts, both in narrative form as well as in the dialogue, was a bit stuffy and stiff. After a while, they almost all sounded so formal as to be from the 19the century along with Beatrice.

In the end, I thought the 'mystery' portion of the book was interesting. Beatrice's work and how it lead to Robert's obsession and what REALLY happened back at the end of the 19th century as it turned into the 20th was quite interesting. The ending was also satisfying, but the book was really slow going. It didn't feel as if anything was actually *happening* while reading the long and overly formal narratives.

Great premise, but fell a little bit short on the actual story telling. That being said, I still look forward to Kostova's next novel because after reading the Historian and seeing how diverse she can be with a release like The Swan Thieves, I'm highly interested in what she'll write about next. (less)

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Aug 10, 2012 Caryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book. It made me think. It made me research. I learned from it. I felt smarter after reading it.

The nice thing about a Kostova story is that she doesn't rush her readers to an ending. In this book there are a number of elements we've seen before in storytelling: simultaneous storylines in different centuries running parallel; late, surprising twists in the tales creating a hazardous intersection; and obsession.

What makes this story so fascinating is that the action unfolds as it is...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction, audio, historical

This was, in a word, disappointing. The attempted narrative structure just really didn't work for me. The story is told from the perspective of three different narrators, along with letters from the past interspersed throughout. I think the structure was problematic simply because the main character - Robert Oliver - was less than interesting. Each of the narrators was telling a story about Robert's life as it related to them, but I never really felt like I knew him. I knew the other characters,...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book right after it came out. I'm a huge fan of Kostova's debut novel, The Historian, so I was eager to see what her sophomore novel would do.

It's not as good as her debut. I'll just get that over with. Because of that, I liked it less the first time around. I kept thinking of Marlon Brando's character from Don Juan de Marco as I read the narrator, which was distracting. I didn't find particularly compelling as a character. I also ended the book frustrated, feeling as if Kostova led...more

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Jul 12, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars

Passion faded, love lost. The question rises, is there anything more real than this moment? Has everything reported before this second disappeared into fiction, and if not, how can something that you've never seen be as real as the hands you hold out before you, the color of your skin, the moisture of your lips? All the hundreds of millions of lives that began and ended before you were a single cell don't make sense to you, with all their myriads of emotions swirling, pulsing, and disappearing w...more Passion faded, love lost. The question rises, is there anything more real than this moment? Has everything reported before this second disappeared into fiction, and if not, how can something that you've never seen be as real as the hands you hold out before you, the color of your skin, the moisture of your lips? All the hundreds of millions of lives that began and ended before you were a single cell don't make sense to you, with all their myriads of emotions swirling, pulsing, and disappearing without any more trace than a wind that ripples your hair.

With the quiet grace of Kazuo Ishiguro and the dark strength of Philip Pullman, Elizabeth Kostova's second novel The Swan Thieves ponders the impact of history on the present. Subtle and sweeping, the novel of painters and their lives quivers with the life that Kostova says painters strive to evoke in their works. Kostova has vastly outdone herself from The Historian, although her style remains her own, vague and moving.

The book is largely told from the perspective of a middle-aged psychologist, Dr. Andrew Marlow, who receives a patient by the name of Robert Oliver who attempted to attack a painting in the National Gallery. Marlow is stymied in his treatment of Robert by the patient's refusal to speak at all, and is mystified as to why Robert will only paint portraits of a dark-eyed woman. Marlow's quest to cure this one patient leads him from DC to North Carolina, New York City, and Paris, all the while wondering if this man is insane or simply misunderstood.

Along the way, we slowly discover the seemingly disconnected story of Beatrice de Clerval and Olivier Vignot, two rather unknown painters from nineteenth-century France, linked by invisible ties to the present and the madness of the man who paints endless portraits.

Kostova is one of the finest novelists of our time. Although we are aware vaguely that Robert Oliver is one of the main characters of the book, we are introduced to him only through the memoirs of those who knew him, as if we are discovering him for ourselves after the fact. Robert Oliver is like an event in the lives of those he has touched; they remember him vividly, all of his actions, his mannerisms, his faults and wonders. By the end of the novel, although we only hear him actually say about a paragraph's worth of words, Robert Oliver is as familiar as Marlow, the man we've known from the first.

A master of the first person, Kostova has clearly thought out each character to the ends of their souls. The clear shifts in voice from person to person display an understanding of her own work rarely shown, and a strong reason for each word. Nothing that occurs in The Swan Thieves is arbitrary or by accident; a clear sense of purpose permeates the air of the story. Even the minor characters have a defined role to play, and once this is complete, they gracefully turn away to their own lives. That is perhaps the most beautiful thing about this novel: each character is a person, full of a life beyond the pages written.

That is certainly not the only beautiful thing, though. Some of the words that would apply best to this novel are marvelous, spectacular, and aesthetic. With the knowledge of an experienced author, Kostova describes dozens of masterworks of the painting world to us, but the most exhilarating aspect is the pure pleasure of the writing. Some of the passages, especially those of Beatrice, are moving enough to take the reader's breath away; others are so deep and thoughtful that the reader is compelled to stop and think about the questions raised for a moment before continuing.

To say this novel is intricate would be an understatement. From specifying the year and artist of vague paintings to the dates of birth of the fictional Beatrice de Clerval (she is a synthesis of Berthe Morisot and some of the other Impressionists), Kostova has provided us a net of facts, times, and little details that make the novel into an impressive reality for the readers as well as the characters. Her presumptions on the museums of Paris impress the thought that is really is okay for novelists to add their own facts to real places and events-- it is only fiction, after all.

The Swan Thieves is not only a better novel but is a step forward for the author from The Historian. More complete and rife with emotion, the dark elements so characteristic to the story of Dracula take on a softer, more human edge in the tale of Robert Oliver. The whole story itself feels more complete, with matching segments on both ends, and the connected elements of foreshadowing and prediction that her previous novel lacked. But perhaps most importantly, she has understood her readers as well as her fictions: we are all just people, seeking to understand ourselves in relation to history and the world around us.(less)

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Jun 15, 2012 Kelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this on my spring break. It's not exactly a beach book, but I had a nice time with it. I read the book because I loved The Historian, by the same author. This book is not as good as The Historian, but it's okay.

What I liked most about the book is the way the characters make you look at the world differently. Most of the characters in this book are painters, who describe the way they see light and color in a variety of settings. Since reading the book, I find myself taking the time to noti...more

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May 12, 2012 Sidna Bookout rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It is 561 pages long and for most of the book, I LOVED it and would have given it 5 stars. The last chapter was such a disappointment, I just couldn't give it 5 stars.

I said to someone not long ago that I wondered why all mysteries were murder mysteries. This is a great mystery, but not a murder. Robert Oliver is an artist. One day he tries to attack a painting at the National Gallery in Washington, DC with a pocket knife. He is arrested, then placed in a...more

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Apr 19, 2012 JoLee rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, audio

Elizabeth Kostova's second novel The Swan Thieves gets the record for being the novel that took me the longest to finish. You guys, I started this book when I was living in Kansas. And I've been in Maryland for seven months now. And I had already listened to four cds before we moved.

I was hesitant to pick up Kostova's second novel because I only felt meh about The Historian. However, the premise, an artist who attacks a work of art in the National Gallery, was one that I couldn't resist. I real...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Gee-Gee rated it 5 of 5 stars

I was totally captivated by this book. It is a mystery, but not a murder mystery, as I often read.
Marlow is the main character, a psychiatrist, who becomes compelled to find out why his most recent patient, Robert, won't talk. Robert had recently been arrested for trying to slash a painting.
I won't share more of the plot because I don't want to ruin it foranyone else who may want to read it.
I have thought about my strong attachment to this story. Initially, I identified with Marlow, as a therap...more

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Left Hanging?	6	42	Jun 03, 2013 10:59am
Is the poet Mary mentions real?	4	12	May 06, 2013 05:30pm
who is the artist?	2	43	Jan 19, 2013 10:28am
Real v. fictional artists	7	80	Aug 03, 2011 08:26am

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About Elizabeth Kostova

Elizabeth Johnson Kostova is an American author. She a graduate of Yale University and holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won the Hopwood Award for the Novel-in-Progress.

Her first novel, The Historian, was published in 2005, and it has become a best-seller.

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“The problem is simply finding the right person. Ask Plato. Just make sure she finishes your thoughts and you finish hers. That's all you need.” — 46 people liked it

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