From the Bookshelf of 2015 Reading Challenge [Closed]…

The Historian

Elizabeth Kostova

Discussion: . Week 1: More Than 500 Pages

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. Week 1: More Than 500 Pages

* Week 1: Introduction
By Jessica · 102 posts · 1093 views

last updated Aug 11, 2015 02:06PM

* Week 1: Progress Post
By Jessica · 100 posts · 421 views

last updated Nov 06, 2015 06:29AM

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What Members Thought

Oct 22, 2015 Judie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015

WOW. This was a long, fun adventure. I would have given it 5 stars, but at times, it felt TOO long. Like the author could have edited out some things without compromising the story. I can easily see how some readers would give up on this story well before it ended... readers who find the ending to be the point of the story, instead of enjoying the JOURNEY to get there. There were several times when it felt like that HAD to be it, the answer HAD to be forthcoming, and yet I had hundreds of pages ...more

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Feb 07, 2015 Megan rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 0x16, 2015-reading-challenge

Every single comment that says reading this book isn't about reading it at all, but about conquering it is 100% accurate in that description.

I have never been so enchanted by a novel and want to shoot myself in the face as desperately as I did with this book. As a result, this book is so hard to rate. When the book was upbeat and things were happening I was interested. I could read and read and read. When Kostova decides that for whatever reason, we the reader need to know every word from an anc Every single comment that says reading this book isn't about reading it at all, but about conquering it is 100% accurate in that description.

I have never been so enchanted by a novel and want to shoot myself in the face as desperately as I did with this book. As a result, this book is so hard to rate. When the book was upbeat and things were happening I was interested. I could read and read and read. When Kostova decides that for whatever reason, we the reader need to know every word from an ancient text- she has no issue writing out every word of it even if there's really no reason for it. As a result, this book at times seems to have the dryness of a textbook and the enchantment of a great mystery and a brilliant adventure novel smashed together into one massive tome.

The story telling style was a little strange and honestly, unrealistic. The 'letters' that a good portion of this story is told through are so detailed that I can't imagine anyone actually writing them. That being said, this novel could have easily dropped at least 200 pages by simply cutting unnecessary material from it. Every place, person, meal, light and gesture is described meticulously. At times it's beautiful, at times I'm going 'why do I need to know that he ate exactly three pieces of toast, with the preserves that Helen handed him, while sipping on her own coffee and reading the newspaper.'? Please, why does this need to be in such detail? This resulted in my great agitation and frustration by the end of this book.

Unfortunately, I really feel that it is this descriptiveness that is the downfall of this book. There was a really great, interesting, and exciting story that just got so bogged down by unnecessary detail that I wanted to cry. I wanted to know the conclusion, but I had to fight so hard to get through this that I almost quit multiple times. There were sessions where I sat down to read and found myself reading ten pages and feeling like I had to have read 100. This coming from someone who read a book a day for two weeks.

If I ever read this book again, there will be sections I skip for my own sanity. This novel could be compared to the titanic: it could have been great, it could have stood tall in it's massive beauty but instead it sunk - a memory of what could have been at the bottom of the ocean floor. ...more

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