The Swan Thieves (original 2010; edition 2010)

This book is about painting, an artist’s obsession, and love. For those of you who know me, you’ll understand that I’m more interested in the third part. I just really don’t care enough about painting and artistic protagonists. But because this book was a gift, I opened it up and started it. And, I loved it.

Kostova is both an excellent storyteller and writer. I also loved her first book, "The Historian." When I read her books, I settle into them easily and lose time. There is something in the quality of her writing that quiets my mind in a way that allows me to become engrossed in her books. Not all writers can accomplish this. I couldn’t care less about painting, but I cared about the narrator of this story as he works to solve the mystery surrounding an obsessed artist.

The story begins when Robert Oliver, an accomplished artist, attacks a painting at the National Gallery in Washington, DC. Robert is found to be mentally ill, but he prevents treatment by not speaking. The main character, the psychiatrist (also a painter), must then help Robert by meeting and getting to know the women who love him including an elusive woman that he obsesses over in his painting.

The plot may be slow for some readers but that’s where the quality of Kostova’s storytelling and writing take over. ( )

Multi-layered, complex & mysterious novel about art, history, love.
I didn't realize it was nearly 600 pages long - guess I was savoring it too much to even look at the count.
It's worth the reading.
Read in 2011.
h
( )

The only way to get through this book is to really care about Robert Oliver, to care why he obsessively paints a seemingly imagined woman, and to care about how Andrew Marlow will "cure" Robert. Unfortunately, I didn't really care about Robert Oliver (for some reason everyone refers to this guy by his full name, even his ex-girlfriend; it's annoying). The guy is not very likeable even if you can excuse his bad behaviour with a mental illness diagnosis. He's very ego-centric. Marlow becomes obsessed with his patient, though, and the "imaginary woman" in the painting (almost to the point of taking on Robert's obsession with her for himself) and flies around the world looking for answers. Oh, and of course Marlow solves his own life problems (including falling in love with a woman and marrying her -- hence entry to the chicklit shelf, because the romance is peripheral to the plot and seems to just fill people's need for a romantic story).

A long meandering book that quickly comes to an end once the mystery has been solved, without really exploring the conclusion/reasons with the same depth that accompanied the rest of the story.
Read this book if you must, but I'd forgo the audio version so that you can speed read the irrelevant parts (who cares that Mary buried her father's underwear in the garden? does not contribute to character development in any way!) and reread the parts where important information is quickly dropped in. But unless you love art and painting, you can skip this one. ( )

Opening: "Outside the village there is a fire ring, blackening the thawing snow. Next to the fire ring is a basket that has sat there for months and is beginning to weather to the color of ash."

Back in 2009, I read The Historian, Kostova's first novel. I found it generally interesting, a fast read despite its length, and genuinely eerie.

So I was interested to see what the The Swan Thieves would do. Unfortunately, I wound up feeling that it was a much weaker book.

Our narrator here is Andrew Marlow, an eminent psychologist, who takes on a difficult case--Robert Oliver, a well-known painter who attacked a painting in the National Gallery (the D.C. one, not the London one). As he struggles to understand what happened and why, he finds himself drawn into Oliver's world.

Part of the problem with The Swan Thieves is simply how much it's trying to do. It wants to be a mystery novel and a psychological portrait, and a picture of Impressionism, as well as make arguments about love and watching your parents grow old and so on. And yet there are also places that seem oddly repetitive--phrases that reappear and images that apparently are common to all of the narrators.

The other main problem is the fact that we have multiple narrators here--Marlow*, Mary, Kate. Then we have Beatrice de Clerval's letters, and in other places, either Marlow's imaginings of her life, or apparently a jump straight back to a 3rd person narrative of her life. Now, I've admitted many times that I'm often not a fan of multiple narratives, but my usual complaint (that they break up the story too much) is not the case here, because every single one of these narrators sounds like the same person. Kate's narrative, in particular, bothered me, as it's supposed to be her spoken account of her life with Robert Oliver, but it has no sense of spoken-ness. It reads like a written narrative. I do realize that Marlow is supposed to have compiled all of these pieces and therefore it could be that his voice is the predominant one. I don't buy it, though. If multiple narrators are going to be used, they must have some distinguishing characteristics and here they simply don't.

I don't want to imply that this book is all bad. The central mystery was engaging enough to keep me reading, and Kostova has a deft hand with descriptions. I have relatives in Connecticut and I lived in Maine a bit when I was younger, so those sections were fun and it was nice to see them portrayed beautifully. It's also true that I'm the wrong age to enter fully into Marlow's middle-aged dilemmas. However, in the end I was left unsatisfied.

Book source: public library
Book information: Little, Brown and Company, 2010; adult

* If you're thinking of Joseph Conrad here, well, you should. He's apparently one of Kostova's influences, and he admits that he's changed all the names, including his own. ( )

I alternately loved and got impatient with The Swan Thieves. Mostly, I loved it. Mostly I wanted someone around to talk with about it, to ask "did you notice the two mentions of the hat? Was it deliberate" or "I don't know, do you think that ending is too pat?" I love the dense prose, the silky imagery, the seduction of rhythm and sensuous detail. I quibble at the construction: do people talk like this, without taking a breath for a whole chapter? I quibble, as I did with Kostova's The Historian, with the role of the happy (or unhappy) coincidence.
I love the novels, the great novels of the 19th century and early 20th century. Kostova, to my mind, is writing those now, but with quirks, just as her silent painter paints painting that are of the Impressionist era..but with twists. And the delicate theme of age and love, of aging and love...Well done, poignant, heartbreaking. It's a sentimental book, at heart, trying not to be.
I will certainly look for further books from this author. ( )