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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A traditional gothic novel for the 21st century., 24 Aug 2006
This book was a gift from a friend and I wasn't sure if it would live up to the great reviews. However it is a very intelligently written book and had a good blend of action, beautiful description which could come from a travel writer as well, as well as many classic story telling techniques and a lot of informative historical info. The story unfolds through a series of letters, written and spoken accounts. This is in the best tradition of the Gothic Novel and the stories within stories are easy to keep track of - so I didn't find this technique difficult to follow or understand the chronology of. I know some reviewers rubbished this way of writing but as it is a particular structural technique used in many classics I think it would appeal to people who have enjoyed the original Bram Stoker Classic Dracula as well as people who have studied a little literature or horror. If you like a straight chonological / 100% action read, then you might struggle with enjoyment of this structure. The content of the book is extremely varied and has something for everyone - there are scary vampires ( as well as a great Dracula) and vampire law, there is action, a surprisingly well written love story, there are amazing, atmospheric descriptions of places in Eastern and Southern Europe complete with really detailed and accurate historical referencing. I learned a lot about the history of medaeival as well as twentieth century Europe from reading this. In other places you can actually smell the food and hear the sounds described. For Dracular fans, his character is explored both as a historical figure and as the scary hollywood style vampire we've all come to know. Anyone who loves books, literature, travelling, libraries, history, gothic novels and vampire legends through the ages should really like this book. I found it a page turner because it contained a lot of interesting facts and the story was woven cleverly to keep you guessing. It loses pace a little at the end but luckily not enough to ruin the book. I really reccommend this because I felt it was a rewarding book to read rather than an easy vampire paperback which wouldn't really reflect the true depth of horror anyway.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Too long by half - SPOILERS, 15 Dec 2008
It took me two attempts to finish this book...which has only happened to me once before with the Lord of the Rings, and I was 10 at the time.
I first picked it up shortly after returning from travelling around Romania and Eastern Europe after someone I met out there mentioned that he was reading it and found it quite fun reading about the places he had actually been to only days ago. I was in university so I wasn't exactly short of free time but even then I only managed to get halfway before losing interest and shelving it for a couple of years. I picked it up again about a month ago after I made a vow to not buy any new books until I'd read the ones I already owned and this time I finally managed to finish it...and I was more than a little disappointed.
I agree with the majority of the critical reviews on here in the sense that if you read the first 200 pages, then the last 100 and just found a synopsis for the drawn out middle section then you'd enjoy this book a whole lot more. It starts promisingly and moves at a relatively quick pace with some genuinely creepy moments, however as soon as Paul and Helen start travelling together it just loses all of its pace and pazzazz and reads as nothing more than an incredibly detailed travel diary of two rather cliched academic types. The librarian who follows them around seems to me like it was a late addition in an attempt to add some action and drama to the stilted and overly descriptive plot of two people basically travelling around and discovering things about Dracula V E R Y S L O W L Y. I'm no Hercule Poirot but I worked out the bit with the head about a chapter before it was revealed and we're supposed to believe that everyone in this story is an accomplished academic! And everything they do discover, no matter how trivial is treated as if it's an earth shattering revelation that promises to change history and the world FOREVER!!! (See anything by Dan Brown to see what I mean).
The ending, when it finally comes, is simply awful. It strikes me as offensive that Kostova spends 700 pages describing a not-so-jolly-jaunt around Communist Europe (which is accomlished with unrealistic ease by an American during the Cold War...another gripe of mine) and then devotes about 5 pages to the ending. The final confrontation lasts about a paragraph and relies on a ridiculous appearance by a completely random character in an attempt to inject some drama into it. It is hackneyed, rushed and reads like it was written for a soap. And as for the reunion of Helen and Paul...don't get me started! We're supposed to believe that she can survive for 15 years by withdrawing money from their shared account and he wouldn't be able to trace her!
The style of writing is another aspect that irritates me as the majority of the book is made up of letters, either from Paul to his daughter or from Rossi to Paul or Hedges or Helen to her daughter and so on...However the language throughout is Hardy-esque in its descriptive nature and each letter stretches out over many pages describing in ridiculous detail something as inane as a journey up a mountain. Moreover the author of each letter seems to have a photographic memory for events, facial expressions and conversations that is ridiculously unbelievable. If Kostova wanted to use the concept of telling a story through letters she could have made them more letter-like and less essay-like in my opinion...
Overall then reading this book is a bit like jogging in the rain...you start and think 'Oh, this isn't that bad actually'. Then after a short while you realise you may have made a mistake and it becomes a tiresome and rather thankless slog. Then as you approach the end you start to gather speed and rush towards home and the satisfaction that you will soon be finished...only to find that when you reach home you don't feel anything but relief and exhaustion...and then you vow to go for a shorter jog next time.
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44 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Historical puzzle, 5 Jan 2006
Vampire fiction has definitely been on a downslide for many years. Most vamps are now either goofy, ugly bloodsuckers or sultry lace-and-velvet sophisticates. But in "The Historian," Elizabeth Kostova creates the smartest vampire novel in many years. It may drag at times, but it has a wealth of historical detail and creepy atmosphere.
It begins in 1972, with a young girl exploring her father's library. On a high shelf, she finds a strange book with a dragon on it, and a packet of old letters from 1930, that begin with, "My dear and unfortunate successor, it is with regret that I imagine you, whoever you are, reading this account I must put down here...". When she asks her father about it, he reluctantly tells her a strange story from decades before.
In his youth, her dad was an enthusiastic scholar. But all that changed when he learned from a mysteriously vanished teacher that an ancient tyrant was mysteriously still alive -- Vlad Tepes, the basis for the vampire Dracula. Now in the rational 20th century, gruesome deaths and ancient clues lead the young woman across the world. She must figure out whether Vlad Drakula is dead, or undead.
In a sense, "The Historian" really doesn't belong in the twenty-first (or even the twentieth) century. It's all set in the early 1970s, but it feels more like Kostova is writing in a 19th century setting, with the slow pace, verbal formality and intense detail typical of older books. In other words, don't expect fountains of gore or plenty of vampire cameos.
"The Historian" does have a tendency to drag, with Kostova focusing on some of the more mundane details of the heroine's life. There's much wandering from monasteries to mosques, dusty libraries to campuses. Some of it adds to the plot, and some of it doesn't. However, she does make up for this with some genuinely creepy atmosphere, and an understated sense of horror. The climactic encounter is a scene that could have been kitschy or goofy, but Kostova manages to make it into pure, quiet horror.
Moreover, "The Historian" balances out modern rationality with ancient superstition. Kostova has done her research; she includes various historical accounts of Vlad Tepes and his atrocities, as well as the Ottoman Empire and the rich cultures of the medieval Middle East. Rather than inventing a "vampire mythology," a la Anne Rice, she uses actual history as backstory. And to be honest, the real-life atrocities Vlad committed make Stoker's vampire seem almost tame.
With dusty books, yellowed letters, ancient hideaways and dark secrets, "The Historian" manages to be the smartest and most original vampire novel in years. Though the book has a tendency to ramble, Elizabeth Kostova melds history and myth in rare style.
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