From the Bookshelf of Bookmarks Subscribers …

As almost every review of Kostova's debut novel points out, The Historian was ten years in the making__ten years and a $2 million advance. There's already a movie deal, and sales of translation rights into almost every imaginable language. But reviewers disagree about whether Kostova deserves all the hoopla. While some critics are clearly riveted and can't put the book down, others insist that the book is too long by half and that the shifting narration__from the unnamed daughter, to epistles, t

As almost every review of Kostova's debut novel points out, The Historian was ten years in the making__ten years and a $2 million advance. There's already a movie deal, and sales of translation rights into almost every imaginable language. But reviewers disagree about whether Kostova deserves all the hoopla. While some critics are clearly riveted and can't put the book down, others insist that the book is too long by half and that the shifting narration__from the unnamed daughter, to epistles, to snatches of memoir, and back again__is ham-handed. The bottom line? The book has been slightly over-hyped; it's too long, too convoluted, but is full of adventures (and books) in beautiful places.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.