The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova
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Book Summary Information
Author: Elizabeth KostovaEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-06-01
ISBN: 0316067946
Number of pages: 909
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of The Historian
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.
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