The Blood Countess

by Andrei Codrescu

Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and journalist, has written a fascinating first novel based on the life of his real-life ancestor, Elizabeth Bathory, the legendary Blood Countess. Codrescu expertly weaves together two stories in this neo-gothic work: that of the 16th-century Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a beautiful and terrifying woman who bathes in the blood of virgin girls; and of her distant descendent, a contemporary journalist who must return to his native Hungary and come to terms with his bloody and disturbing past. Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a Hungarian-born journalist who has lived in the United States, returns to his native Hungary, only to be the target for recruitment among a patriotic group that wants to restore the glory--and the horror--of the Hungarian aristocracy. As a descendent of the Countess Elizabeth Bathory, he is heir to all that is wonderful and terrible about his country and his family's past. Codrescu brilliantly explores Drake's anguish, as he realizes the truth behind his gruesome family history. But more importantly, Codrescu also creates a convincing and historically accurate picture of a sadistic woman obsessed with youth, vigor, beauty, and blood--a woman with enough power to order the deaths of 650 virgins so that she could bathe in their blood.

The Blood Countess is a bizarre and compelling book about the horrors of the past, shown so effectively in the monstrous yet attractive personality of Elizabeth, and what pull these horrors have on those who live now.

Genres: Horror, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Vampires, Historical, Gothic, Paranormal

453 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Andrei Codrescu is a poet, novelist, essayist, and NPR commentator. His many books include Whatever Gets You through the Night, The Postmodern Dada Guide, and The Poetry Lesson. He was Mac Curdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University from 1984 until his retirement in 2009.

Reviews

[Tessa Nadir · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Dar frumusetea mea nu va fi niciodata slabiciunea mea. Frumusetea mea va fi rece si nemuritoare, precum cea a unui inger de marmura florentin. Va fi slabiciunea tuturor celorlalti."

Andrei Codrescu este poet, eseist, scriitor, fiind nascut in Romania la Sibiu. In 1966 a emigrat in SUA unde a devenit o foarte cunoscuta voce radio si in prezent este editor al publicatiei online "Exquisite Corpse".
Romanul gotic "Contesa sangeroasa", aparut in 1995 este terifiant si fascinant totodata, erotic si provocator, prezentand viata frumoasei nobile Elisabeta Bathory. Acesta incepe cu o imagine a contesei ordonandu-le slujnicelor sale sa duca in curte toate oglinzile din conac si sa le sparga. Gestul semnifica 'moartea' tineretii si frumusetii ei iar zapada care cade este lintoliul alb care se asterne peste ele. Ea decide sa ridice o 'statuie' pe locul unde oglinzile zac sfaramate - aceasta fiind intruchipata de o fata de 15 ani dezgolita si lasata sa inghete acolo. In urma acestui gest de cruzime oamenii se revolta si incep sa ceara pedepsirea sa. Ea insa nu va fi judecata niciodata in mod oficial.
Apoi romanul revine in zilele noastre si il cunoastem pe Drake Bathory-Keresztur, descendentul ei care se afla in fata judecatorului marturisind o crima pe care a comis-o in Ungaria. El afirma ca terifianta contesa este cea care l-a obligat sa savarseasca fapta. In paralel aflam atat povestea lui Drake cat si cea a Elisabetei Bathory ce se transforma dintr-o fetita cruda si rasfatata intr-o femeie frumoasa si malefica.
Cartea mi-a placut deoarece prezinta destul de fidel tabloul Ungariei din secolul al XVI-lea, desi nu doresc sa comentez acuratetea istorica sau cat de precisa si documentata este. Mi-au placut aerul gotic, detaliile intunecate, descrierile unor instrumente de tortura cum ar fi fecioara de fier, tronul de fier inrosit, colivia cu tepuse sau roata de tortura. Alt lucru care m-a incantat a fost prezentarea unor superstitii si vrajitorii cum ar fi credinta ca in anumite nopti stelele cad de pe cer si se impreuneaza cu lupii dand nastere astfel la niste odrasle infricosatoare. Inca o superstitie de acest gen ar fi cea in care o papusa confectionata din matraguna trebuie inmuiata in cel dintai sange al femeii si uscata la luna plina. Puterea acesteia va fi atat de mare incat ii va aduce tot ce si-ar dori posesoarea ei.
Romanul are unele secvente atat perverse cat si foarte crude iar persoanele care nu suporta asemenea scene ar trebui sa il evite.
In ceea ce priveste parerea mea despre faimoasa acuzatie impotriva Elisabetei, cum ca s-ar fi imbaiat in sangele virginelor tind sa cred ca nu este adevarata. Din motive stiintifice sangele se incheaga foarte repede si devine o substanta lipicioasa, cleioasa si dezgustatoare nefiind deloc potrivit pentru imbaiere. Cat despre purtarea ei criminala, trebuie sa avem in vedere secolul in care traia unde torturile, razboaiele, pedepsele inumane, varsarea de sange erau la ordinea zilei si pe care le-a vazut indeaproape inca de mica.
Referitor la protagonista cartii exista mai multe ecranizari, dintre care una mi-a ramas in minte, "Stay Alive" din 2006, deoarece este conceputa ca un joc video in care cine intra si este omorat ca personaj acolo moare si in realitate.
Ca incheiere atasez cateva citate care mi-au placut foarte mult:
"Femeile, se gandi sa-i scrie, ii transforma in papusi pe cei pe care-i cunosc."
"Andrei ii spusese candva ca ochii ei sunt ca taurile fara fund din padure. Taurile acelea negre ascundeau jivine din alte vremi, care ieseau afara numai in crucea noptii, sa se imbaieze in lumina stelelor."
"Rasul, sustinea Melotus, este cheia posedarii unei femei. Daca nu poti asta, e bun si plansul, pentru ca se stie ca emotia la femei este felul trupului lor de a se preda."
"Frumusetea ta va orbi cerurile. Unele lucruri sunt eterne."
"Si nu mi-a mai dat drumul pana cand nu a strans in pumn sufletul meu lipicios."

[A.J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good. God. Agnus.

This may have been the worst book I've ever read (contending even with Warcraft: Day of the Dragon). I don't know quite where to begin. How about the cover?

On the hard-backed edition I have, the front page reads, "Blood Countess: A Novel." Lie #1. This is not a novel. A novel contains a plot. One does not exist here. Nowhere in all 347 pages of Mr. Codrescue's rambling do even the faintest traces of a story appear. Instead a long-winded, overwritten blizzard of exposition crushes anything that dares to capture the reader, like say, any hint of conflict.

Half the story could have been cut. The only mildly interesting facet of this work was the Elizabeth Bathory thread. The other half takes us to the present time where the author self-inserts himself in order to add some intellectual weight to Bathory's brutality. His entire thread is dry, unbelievable, and uninteresting. I can't imagine how he even managed to write this without falling asleep at his computer. Mr. Codrescue is so enamored with adding some historical/philosophical posturing to Elizabeth Bathory that he offers up the basic necessities of a novel as a sacrifice. He strikes me as the type of writer that belongs in nonfiction, and this is a perfect place to start. If you want to craft a dissertation on the murderous countess, great, but don't plaster "NOVEL" on the cover, as now I am neither a) entertained nor b) confident that anything I read is historically accurate. Useless. Utterly useless.

I think the worst thing about this novel was that it promises much and delivers little. Mr. Codrescue isn't a horrible writer. When he strings words together in a sentence, they make sense, and he seems to be well-informed about his subject. Great. Grand. Wonderful. A perfect starting place to get us into the mind of one of history's most infamous serial killers. But instead of taking his talent and crafting some sympathetic characters through which the reader can view the horrendous evil of Elizabeth Bathory, he just rambles on and on. His story dips and dives into historical asides and irrelevant backstory. It's like watching a speech in which the speaker tries to pack in too much information. Nothing is accomplished except confusion and mild irritation.

From conception to excruciating finish, this novel misses. I picked it wondering how on earth anyone could go as whacko as Elizabeth Bathory did, and I cannot imagine a way in which I could have been more disappointed. This work has no insight, no adventure, no thrills, no horror. Nothing except some bloated intellectualism and six hours of my life. What a mess.

I think I'll treat myself to some King just to get the taste out of my mouth.

[Ashlie Gillis Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I have a morbid fascination to the famous Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory and have read lots of material about her. I would have to say this is defintly up in the top 10 fave books about the Countess. This book is incredibly violent and graphic, so the reader should be advised. But, although certainly fictionalized, it is reasonably accurate to the facts known about one of the most prolific serial murderers of all time. The second plot including Elizabeth's ancestor was fascinating as well, Codrescu writes beautifully. This book is impossible to put down and humanizing Elizabeth. A good read all around.

[Trux · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always want to grumble when a man does a good job writing about women (see also Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All) but this is one of those books where I have to grudgingly admit I couldn't point to a single thing and say, "A WOMAN NEVER WOULD HAVE WRITTEN THAT ABOUT ANOTHER WOMAN!"

Anyway, it was a beautiful, rich, decadent read. Kind of hard to build in any kind of climax, though, when the entire thing is so dramatic (fine with me, but other people might wish for a higher peak towards the end).

The violently kinky sex parts were vivid and rang true without reading like "erotica". Brutally delicious and horrifying without being totally depressing, though it was definitely a drag imagining how hideous it would've been to live in those times. Within E. Bathory's context she didn't seem much worse than anyone else . . . just more . . . prolific, if any of the stories are true.

[Cecily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was way too young to read this when I did. Until this day a part of me is scarred!

[Trina Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told in parallel stories, "The Blood Countess" gives a retelling of the alleged crimes of Elizabeth Bathory, a sixteenth century Hungarian noble said to have tortured and bathed in the blood of 650 virgins and her fictional descendant, Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a Hungarian emigre who has returned to his native land to investigate the Blood Countess and reconnect with his own past. It is told as if Drake Bathory-Kereshtur is giving testimony at a trial. He has turned himself in for the murder of a young girl but insists that it was the Blood Countess who was ultimately responsible for murderous crime. In between his trial transcript, there are graphic and gory descriptions of Elizabeth Bathory's life starting with her abduction at the hands of peasant rebels. She witnesses the rape and murder of her two sisters, which begins her lifelong fascination with sex and violence. The story continues with her strange sexual education at the hands of her aunt but even more interestingly her fascination with being able to make people do things for her, even if they are degrading or painful. As Drake starts to learn more about his ancestor, he becomes more caught up with her story and begins to believe that she is trying to come back to life through a vessel. He is determined not to let this happen but will Elizabeth once again be able to force someone to do her bidding?

I literally could not put this book down and ended up reading it in a day. I was fascinated with the historical descriptions of Hungary (my father is Hungarian) as well as this depiction of a noble serial killer who had so viciously murdered young girls. Like so many books who use the plot device of jumping back and forth through time, I was hurring through the modern portions to get back to the interesting historical chapters. The ending was not as satisfying as I had hoped but I did enjoy this book on the whole.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Open Road Media is a publisher that if I am unsure of a book, I will try it anyway. Usually, I end up loving it. The few times I don't, and this is one, it is more of a case of the author's style not being to my taste.

There is too much telling and not enough showing in the Countess parts of this book for me, and for the more modern setting, I just can't bring myself to care. Partly it is because of the overt sexuality, and not sensuality (at least to my tastes). I know it is about the Blood Countess, so of course it is going to be there, but there is a way to do it that doesn't smack of using breasts to get readers.

The idea is interesting, and I have no doubt that several people will enjoy it this. In some ways, it reminds me of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and since I was lukewarm about that novel, my reaction to this is no surprise.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reasonably good, although I couldn't help but think that the author was a dirty, perverted man. I've read numerous pieces of literature and research about Elizabeth and I know she had a perverse side, but I think some of the accounts were wild infatuations of this male authors mind which just overflowed into his writings.

The story was interesting, it switched between a modern day story and Elizabeth Bathory's day and it kept you on your toes a bit as at times you were quite easily reading two entirely different books. I have to admit at times I just wanted to fast-forward through the modern day sections, but towards the end of the book both sides really picked up and I ended up enjoying the book very much.

I only gave it two stars because of,

1) The authors nature, it seemed a bit wild and pointless at times.
2) It tended to drag on.

Worth a read though, if you're on an obsession with the Bathorys.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book to get a better sense of some Hungarian legends before traveling to Budapest. Despite being about a purported sado-masochistic lesbian vampire whose spirit continued to live in her descendants and arose again during the fall of communism, this was an extraordinarily boring book.

I had high hopes--it was written by an NPR reporter who actually was related to the Blood Countess--an actual countess who was tried during the 15th century for bathing in the blood of virgins. Unfortunately, it was poorly written and laden with the extra plot about her spirit rising during modern times.

Wouldn't the S&M lesbian vampire be enough? I was also hoping for more critique of the legend--I've heard that the trial was a farce based on tortured confessions, conducted because the throne wanted to collect lands she inherited once her husband died. If he wasn't going to go for that angle, why get so squeemish about the actual violence? He described a fair amount of it at the beginning, but once he made the historical fiction choice that she had killed all those women, he didn't really get into much detail of the initial kills, or how and why they escalated.

Big disappointment.

[Miriam Cihodariu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely and well-documented history of the so-called Blood Countess, even if not entirely faithful to historical truth. I like that it blends empathy for the countess with the grotesque and some sort of morbid fascination in almost equal parts. Reads just like a modern-day gothic.

Pf course, I love the writings of Andrei Codrescu - especially his The Poetry Lesson - so I may be biased, but I really have a thing for well-documented medieval histories and fiction. The era never ceases to fascinate me.

The foray into more recent history is also very welcome, and the descriptions of the state of things in post-communist Hungary echoed my lived experiences of the neighboring post-communist Romania. Felt like home, on this particular topic :)).

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let me start by saying that I've read half of this book multiple times. As a fan of history and political intrigue, this book is very interesting. It's a little odd at times, and can be quite gruesome, but the subject is gruesome. I confess that I have repeatedly skipped the modern-day chapters of this book. In my opinion, they are completely unnecessary. I tried once to read them, but then decided it was a waste of time. So half of this book is pretty good, the story itself lacks conflict and rising action, but it's the story of a girl grown into a woman who is very disturbed. Conclusions: If you're a history buff and want to read a different take on the Elizabeth Bathory tale then this book is worth your time (but I do think you should skip those other chapters).

[Savannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just finished reading this for the second (or third?) time, and it is every bit as interesting and captivating as the first time. Basically the story of a woman in the sixteenth century who is both spoiled and unable to comply with the definitions of Luther's "complacent" woman, she is thirsty for experience and knowledge, which eventually leads her down a dark and doomed path. Weaving in and out of this main tale of Countess Elizabeth Bathory is the tale of her distant descendant, a man unwittingly drawn into a strange and murderous plot to bring her back to life in the modern age. It is a heavy, dark book, and definitely not for the faint of heart, yet so compelling and engaging (despite the occasional didactic digressions that read more like a nonfiction tome) that I can't imagine anyone not being intrigued by the tale. Codrescu, being of Balkan descent himself, shows a deep appreciation for the medieval heart and mind of a strong-willed and strange woman. Despite the occasional odd sexual scenes, I couldn't help wondering if this novel wouldn't make a very intriguing movie. Here, the modern character sums up his emotions about Bathory:

"I found it difficult to imagine the absolute power that my ancestress had over the lives of others. Common people were mere dirt to her. Their lives could be snuffed out with the twitch of her aristocratic nostril. Her carriage never stopped for peasants or for their children. Sex, like other appetites, was there to be satisfied by whatever means necessary. The place of morality was taken by an elaborate code of manners. Protocol was infinitely more important than kindness or the Ten Commandments."

It is easy to see how a woman, losing years of her youth and married life in empty waiting, could become corrupt in the backwoods and dark stones of medieval Balkan Europe.

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being Hungarian I enjoyed the familiar history (my father being a buff) and naturally had heard about Countess Elizabeth Bathory, in remembering the jokes made about her with my cousins during my teenage years reminded me of the figurine some company made. Bathory being such a gruesome historical figure, even for those depraved barbaric times, this novel can turn the stomach. It is dark, bloody and disturbing but you should expect as much! Bathory was one hell of a disturbed soul! With that said, it's fascinating but if you can't stomach bloody literature then beware. This novel is bizarre, and the blending of Bathory's descendant having murdered a woman added an interesting twist. I was much more interested in Bathory from her childhood on. One had to wonder how much of her bent mind and sickening desires were birthed during horrific events in her early life. We'll never know... Not a sweet, light read at all- if you can't handle gore then this isn't for you. The Blood Countess was disturbing but I guiltily admit I enjoyed the history- it was fascinating.

[Linda (Miss Greedybooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fiction. Told by Countess Elizabeth Bathory's direct descendant, Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a Hungarian, living in New York. Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary (1560-1613) was beautiful, and wealthy beyond measure at the age of sixteen. Worried of losing her looks the Countess took the advice of Darvulia her spiritual advisor, to take baths in the blood of virgins to regenerate her body. Six hundred and fifty young women are said to have died in the Countess's castles.

[Serena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Addictive read.

[Yomna Asar · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Blood Countess: Andrei Codrescu
The other day I was listening to “Cruelty brought thee orchids’ by Cradle of filth which tells the story of the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth (or Erzebeth) Bathory.


Her likeness hung in the black gallery
Commanding unease
Demanding of death to breathe
..
Midst the whirl and daylight fauna of society at court
Elizabeth bedazzled
Her presence sought applause
Though her torch lit shadow thrown on the damp cellar walls
Greeted nothing but despair from slaves her nights enthralled

Listen to the song on Soundclod
https://soundcloud.com/kevlloyddavey/...

I had first discovered Countess Bathory when I was much younger and
somehow fascinated but the slew of serial killer information freely available over the internet.

On wikipedia no less.

The gruesome story held my attention and I couldn’t stop reading about her.

So after I’d exhausted all the non-fiction (and short) accounts I could find about her over the internet, I looked for books.

A Goodreads search will show you that the world is absolutely mesmerized by serial killers. I looked and looked for any of these novels but couldn’t find any. It wasn’t until earlier this year when I found “The blood Countess" by Andrei Codrescu in a traveling book fare that was in town for a week.

The copy was sadly battered and abused. But it was quite the find!
Whatever floats your boat, right?
The book tells the story of Elizabeth from her early years side by sidewith the account of a Hungarian man descended from her line. Derek Bathory-Kereshtur escaped from his country during the fall of the communist regime. He escaped to America and lived in anonymity, finally freed from the burden of his aristocratic heritage.

But heaven is never forever

The story has some fascinating political commentary on the state of unrest within a European country going through revolution. This kind of in-depth knowledge could only come from someone intimately acquainted with the country’s turmoil. The author, Andrei Codrescu is Romanian-American.

Whether you disagree or not with the accounts that suggest that Bathory bathed in the blood of virgins. That she killed over a hundred young girls in the dungeons of her castle seems a valid fact of history.

Elizabeth, a countess, was eventually tried for her crimes. But while those murders would have certainly got her executed in an age when even petty theft was punishable by death. Her punishment was to be confined to her quarters for the remainder of her life.

The novel is particularly gruesome. In fact, there are enough torture scenes in the first seventy pages to give you nightmares for a few weeks.

What I found most interesting were the descriptions of life in 16th century Hunagry. The life of nobility and castles is portrayed in exquisite detail. Unfortunately I have no way of judging the accuracy of Codrescu’s account as I haven’t read anything about that particular part of history.

There are a couple of different views explained throughout the books about Elizabeth’s crimes. Was she the victim of a thorough defamation? Or was she the bloodthirsty, disturbed and very prolific murderer we think she was?

The novel does drag on a bit towards the end. And I expected a detailed history of her crimes not the witchy spin the author put on things. If anything that made her less of a an actual person who lived and committed crimes for which she never received just punishment and more of a folk tale or an old myth.

There is plenty of graphic content in here; both sexual and violent so beware!

I recommend you give this a try if only for the shock value and the political commentary which, in my opinion, is the better part of this book. But only if you have a strong stomach!

RATING: 3/5
http://thebookpile1.tumblr.com/

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an extremely hard book to rate.

I really enjoyed it to start off with, although the scenes with Drake were rather dull. I kept reading his parts faster so I could get back to Elizabeth. Ah, the infamous Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess. There isn't a lot of fiction out there about her, and no wonder - most people wouldn't have the stomach to write about her evil deeds.

This book was extremely gory and perverse, but it didn't take away from the story at all. Given the time period and the circumstances, how could the story NOT be perverse?

Drake's story got a lot more interesting once it began intertwining with Elizabeth's, but I still wanted to fast forward through his parts and get back to her. By the end though, I was extremely disappointed.

Elizabeth goes from 16 to 35 in about two sentences, and her trial is told from Drake's point of view, referencing the past. We don't get to hear about the 650 virgin girls that Elizabeth killed to bathe in their blood at all - it keeps getting referenced, but it's never told through Elizabeth's point of view.

It seems as if the author's intent was to make you understand how Elizabeth might have turned out the way she did, by using her childhood and adolescent life as a guide. Which is fine - but don't market the book as her adult life, which is what I thought I was going to be reading.

So again, it's hard to know how to rate this book. It kept me hooked, because I kept wanting to read more about Elizabeth. But the ending was awful, and extremely anti-climactic.

So, I am going with 3 stars - though I don't think the book quite deserves that. But because it kept me itching to run home from work and read more about her life, I have to give it that credit.

[Christine Whittington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bloody Magical Realism in the Balkans

Andrei Codrescu has created a savory paprikash, served with Tokaji and the occasional bloody sausage. His story not only encompasses the anguish of a contemporary journalist, who bears a physical and professional resemblance to Codrescu, but the brutal history of Inquisition-era Europe, revolving around the Blood Countess, Erzebet (Elizabeth) Bathory. Both Codrescu and his protagonists are relatives of the Countess.

Journalist Drake Bathory asks a judge to convict and sentence him to death for a murder he has committed. Anchored by his story, the narrative jumps from the courtroom to Drake's misadventures among contemporary neo-Fascist Hungarians, to the mazes of towers, passageways, dungeons, and stairways of not one, but several, including the Čachtice Castle, the exemplary creepy castle, where Elizabeth Bathory murdered an unknown number of virgins and spent her last days imprisoned in a walled chamber.

It is possible that Blood Countess would be less compelling to a reader who did not already have some knowledge of the Countess's reputation and Carpathian geography and politics. I do wish maps of the region and castles had been included, but they are easy enough to find elsewhere.

Codrescu's prose is exquisite and his book is a lush and bloody delight.

[Mirella · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this dark book, the author delved deep into the inner thoughts and motivations of Elizaveth Bathory, and in this he excelled. I much preferred to stay with Elizabeth's point of view rather than switching back to a modern day descendent. But that's because I'm a purist when it comes to historical fiction and I tend not to be fond of books set in both present and past times. Codrescue does not shy away from the brutality, superstitions, terror, and beliefs of the time including the animosity of the people towards the wealthy nobles. There is much violence in this book, and that must be expected. The murderous acts are chilling and graphic, so brace yourselves. Not for the feint of heart, that's for sure, but Elizabeth's story is all about the murders, and cannot be writtenw without it. The author did a ton of research and this is definitely one of the strengths of this book. The world continues to be fascinated with this notorious woman and this is one book that definitely portrays her accurately, giving readers a glimpse as to what evil lurcked in her mind and heart.

For the full review and a brief bio and videos about Elizabeth Bathory visit: http://historicalnovelreview.blogspot...

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

2003- You might have heard of Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary. She's quite infamous. You see, the Countess allegedly murdered over 650 young girls. She was said to bathe in their blood. This novel tells two stories, side by side. We have the tale of Elizabeth's life, filled richly with background history so maybe we can understand this woman's ways. The other story is of Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a fictional descendant of Bathory who believes his last name will forever haunt him. The novel, rich with detail, moves back and forth between the past and the present. However, there is never really a SOLID connection made between the two. Yet, the author writes so well, it almost doesn't matter, for it's as if the stories could almost stand alone. It's a shocking read, but you can't put it down.

[S.A. Parham · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since the book was supposed to be about Elizabeth Bathory, I nabbed it as well at the flea market. Unfortunately, it was a waste even of that cheap price. Whereas the story had a lot of potential, it seemed far more that Codrescu was revelling in the gorey, sadistic scenes with Elizabeth (and later with Drake) than actually telling her story. Everything revolved around some sort of sexual perversion, and I highly doubt something as complex as Bathory's wish for youth was solely sexual. If I could give it negative stars, I would. This makes Letters to Penthouse look like pristinely innocent literary masterpieces. I had originally meant to release it as a Bookcrossing.com book, but I wouldn't be bothered to register it. Into the junk pile it goes.

[Andrew]

The raft of one-star reviews tells me so, so much about typical historical fiction readership... lots of complaints about overt sexuality and being "too intellectual." So if you complain about that, well, you are trapped in an impoverished reality.

Now, is this a masterpiece of modern literature? No. Is it terribly entertaining? Yes. Does it need a better cover than that airport-bookshop crap? Hell yes. Do you get the feels for Elizabeth Bathory? Yes, much better than you did for Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was the benchmark for vampire feels in my childhood. Are the bits about post-Soviet life funny? Incredibly so. Would this be called "pulp"? Depends how you define it. Who would you recommend it to? You, on the subway or on the beach.

[Robbi Leah Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of a descendent of Elizabeth Bathory and how the blood still flows through him. Story switches from descendant telling her story to Elizabeth's story from childhood until death. A page turner! Very graphic of violence and sexual.. I loved reading this book. History is always interesting and The Blood Countess doesn't let you down. It is not light hearted. Her life was full of seeing sex, abuse, violence and no parental influence. This novel goes into and gives you a sense of why she could have did these horrible deeds. Is Elizabeth back?

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a three stars and a half. I sort of worry about myself that I liked this book. It's very well-written, but well-written and detailed about extreme, deviant, and psychopathic violence and sex, and sex as violence, and violence as sex. Although Codrescu indulges in some sophomoric historical errors (ius primae noctis, witchcraft), the general historical feel is well-done. I think it was a bit weak at the end, but it was certainly a gripping read.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably one of the goriest books I have ever read about one of history's most egocentric people. As if there weren't a lot of those. However, demanding to bathe in mare's milk and virgin's blood goes a long way to make the list. I did not know what an "iron maiden" was until I read this book some ten years ago. Not for the faint hearted!

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly written incest torture porn. It was so bad that I didn't even bother trying to give it away after I read it - I actually put it in the garbage.
I expected more from Codrescu because I enjoy his essays and commentary on NPR.

[Caitlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not great literautre but some creepy sex scenes are worth the read.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a book for everyone as it is quite sexually violent and a bit macabre- but I found it quite interesting in both story and history.

[Leif Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheesy but entertaining. The sex bits were over the top. Think Ann Rice with an education.

[Raul Popescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.litero-mania.com/elisabeta...