The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
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Book Reviews of The Historian
Book Review: Period read about Dracula.
Summary: 2 Stars
Two daughters search for their fathers. A man searches for his Professor and his wife, who he believed were dead. Each search happens in a different time and place, but each storyline blends and intertwines to form a cohesive tale involving the very evil Vlad (AKA Dracula, the Conqueror or Vlad the Impaler). As each sets out on their journey to discover the truth, they eventually tell us a little about Vlad lure and history, all revealed thru letters and flashbacks.
I will not say that "The Historian" was the most engrossing vampire read, but it was definitely not the worse. I thought the imagery and attempt at suspense building was ok, but it wasn't "can't put it down good"..instead it was definitely a slow, methodical process to reveal a truth that you always knew or suspected. If you need something historical, with a slight twist on the vamp theme (Dracula wants a library), then you'll enjoy it.
Book Review: This book is losing me...
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm am not an experct literary critic by any means. All I can tell you is that this book is about 300 pages TOO LONG. I'm about 1/2 through the book and I don't think I have the attention span to finish it. I'm disappointed because I love the history of Dracula and vampires. I really want to know what happens in the end, but getting there seems impossible. Don't try this one if you are a slow reader like me :(Book Review: A Book Club Selection that can make your book club take forever to read
Summary: 1 Stars
We read The Historian for our book club. After delays of reading it (mostly my fault), we finally finished it six months after we started it. While parts of the book were enjoyable, this was a chore for me to read. I am currently getting my MA in English, and I wrote a paper on Marie Corelli (a late Victorian author). Corelli was known for lambasting the critics because they either a) had no taste or b) were bought off to publish good reviews. This is an instance were I think a book was more hype and where the critics jumped on the bandwagon. Opening The Historian, one is inundated with wonderful critiques of the text praising it as a rejuvenation of the vampire novel. The reality is quite a different story. In this case, I wonder if the critics actually read the book before writing their reviews. Reading this book, I agree with many of the other postings here: it is drawn out, the dialogue seems forced, too many narratives. I would like to add, if it hasn't been included, that this book seems overly academic (more like a master's thesis for an MFA) than literary. Moreover, I feel that the narrative voices are not distinguished enough one from another; it all seems like it is coming from one narrator. As a first attempt, this is an adequate book, but to call it "an outstanding achievement for a debut" overrates this title tremendously. Yes, Kostova did her homework, but that is not a reason to praise a book. More careful editing and revision would have cleaned up this book and made it a better read. Corelli was right then and is right now: too often the critics are out of touch when it comes to reviewing books.Book Review: If Dracula only wants to read a good book, he should skip this one
Summary: 1 Stars
I finished The Historian last night and wanted to run a stake through the hefty volume. After semi intriguing set-ups concerning secret Muslim societies, mysterious monks and the possibility that the 1970's Communist government was searching for Dracula to learn how to ressurrect Stalin, I was ready for big payoffs. I wanted to know how Dracula sucked blood if his head was in Istanbul and his body in Bulgaria. I wanted to know why Dracula was giving historians mysterious books then trying to turn them into vampires, very slowly. Turns out, as many reviewers have discussed, Dracula spent five hundred years looking for a historian to catalog his collection of ancient books! I never did discover how Dracula could survive without a head. Skip The Historian and watch True Blood if you want to see how "real" vampires interact with humans; they hang out in diners and biker bars and flirt with waitresses. Real vampires wouldn't be caught dead siting in a tomb, surrounded by moldy books and stuffy professors.Book Review: Spoiler Alert!
Summary: 1 Stars
Since 1976, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire has been at the top of my list of the most boring vampire novels ever written. Rice must now move to second place, the top spot being taken by Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian.
Here's the story. Dracula is an angry book collector who tempts academic historians into chasing him all over Europe so that he can turn them into vampires and make them catalog his impressive library. He does this with three generations of related historians. It's not clear why he would have to turn them into vampires, except that then they would be able to work for him longer. Nor is it clear why being a vampire is such a bad thing that these historians don't want to become undead.
There are places where the reader gets a glimpse of something better, but it quickly gets buried under Kostova's turgid prose. Why she would have won any awards for this dreck, or why anyone would encourage someone else to read it is beyond my comprehension