Friday, March 25, 2011

Review: The Historian


The HistorianThe Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


This book was so not my cup of tea, and, as a student of the Gothic and fan of Stoker's Dracula, that's saying something.

As I listened to the narration of this abridged audibook, I came to several conclusions. First, I was happy with the abridgment, although I occasionally found myself asking "and why did they have to go here again?" Second, it was nice to hear the Eastern European locations and names pronounced properly. That's the extent of the good things I have to say about the audiobook. It was narrated by several people, and while their voices were pleasant to listen to, I found myself having a hard time emotionally engaging in the reading. For a relatively dramatic text, their readings were rather flat.

As for the book itself, I was not all that impressed. It started rather strong, but by the end, I found myself thinking that this was the Da Vinci Code of vampire novels. Our two main protagonists spend most of the novel shuttling around Europe, traveling from location to location, always searching for a rare text or work of art that would help them locate Dracula's tomb. I do understand what they hoped to find at the tomb, but the search itself is based on several assumptions that just didn't make that much sense in the audiobook (I will recognize that the explanatory passages may have been abridged and not present in my copy). Their entire search seemed contingent on one scrap of paper--and a refusal to consider that a nearly thirty year old scribble might not have been the clue they sought.

I was incredibly frustrated with the narrative structure. Normally, I would appreciate the intertwined narratives, but I got annoyed when Paul and Helen kept having to explain their recent history to every scholar they met--while at the same time making certain that no communists overheard . . . If this were a movie, that repetition alone could be used as a drinking game. How many times must they share these dangerous facts . . . and why does everyone believe them?

Of course, it would be remiss of me to neglect a mention of the Keystone Kops, sorry, the communists. While some of them did appear dangerous, for the most part, they were ineffectual and merely irritating. Rather than add danger to the plot, the communists seemed to exist only to make travel through Eastern Europe more difficult.

Finally, I must talk about Dracula. This was the most toothless portrayal of the vampire that I have ever read. <spoiler>I was angry, really angry, when all it took was one bullet (in all probabilities, silver) to kill this ancient evil. The final confrontation is no more than three pages long. After all the build-up and mounting suspense of the novel, the confrontation failed to deliver an emotional payoff. Also, this whole mess took place because Dracula wanted a personal librarian? Lame.</spoiler>

I did think that the end of the book worked well, but it was simply too little, too late.

This book was not my cup of tea. Based on its rating and sales numbers, I know that I am one of the few to dislike it so intensely.



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