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Loading... The Historian (original 2005; edition 2009)by Elizabeth Kostova (Author)
Work InformationThe Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (2005)
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Uuuuuugh…..this was likely the single most drawn out book I’ve ever read. The most scary-exciting thing to me in this book happens on a train with the main character’s daughter. Helen is truly the saving element of this book. The most interesting exchange is when a scholar speaks to a profound character in the 70s chapters regarding his carefully chosen extensive prized library. This was definitely not for me, and next time I’m picking the buddy read….. This is an attempt to produce a novel about the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, in the structure of Bram Stoker's novel which means a lot of it is told through letters and postcards. Unlike Stoker's novel however which was up to the minute in terms of technology - accounts produced on typewriter, early recording machine or in shorthand - this is set in various time periods starting around 1930 with the researches into the whereabouts of Dracula's tomb by a historian Professor Rossi and goes up to an undisclosed period sometime after the 1970s when the story opens. The seventeen year old daughter of Rossi's student finds a strange book and some letters in her father's study and he gradually discloses to her the truth behind her mother's disappearance, which he does over a series of visits to historical sites around Europe. The book started off intriguingly but for me the early promise was not realised. It is a long novel which is not only disjointed with the frequent switching back and forward between time periods and narratives, but all the voices in those narratives are indistinguishable. There were some good minor characters but a lot of things - one character's amnesia for example - are obvious plot contrivances. The climax is muddled - I couldn't work out why a certain minor character suddenly turns up to distract Dracula - and the postscript is just odd. So I would only award this 2 stars.
Vlad Lit: don't flirt with it, just sink your teeth right in When, after many other allusions to historians and historicism, Kostova introduced a character whose last name is Hristova, I was tempted to run out to a pharmacy for some antihristomine. What's unfortunate about this overload is that the book -- which seems to want to do for historians what ''Possession'' did for literary scholars -- is otherwise the kind of wonderfully paced yarn that would make a suitable companion to a deck chair, a patch of sun and some socklessness. In a ponderous, many-layered book that is exquisitely versed in the art of stalling, Ms. Kostova steeps her readers in Dracula lore. She visits many libraries, monasteries, relics of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, crypts, restaurants, scholars and folk-song-singing peasants. Every now and then a mysterious pale, sinister figure will materialize, only to vanish bewilderingly. The book's characters find this a lot more baffling than readers will. Stuffed with rich, incense-laden cultural history and travelogue, The Historian is a smart, bibliophilic mystery in the same vein (sorry) as A.S. Byatt's Possession--but without all that poetry. Belongs to Publisher SeriesContainsIs abridged inWas inspired byHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Fiction.
Historical Fiction.
Late one night, exploring her father's library, a young woman finds an ancient book and a cache of yellowing letters. The letters are all addressed to "My dear and unfortunate successor," and they plunge her into a world she never dreamed ofâ??a labyrinth where the secrets of her father's past and her mother's mysterious fate connect to an inconceivable evil hidden in the depths of history.The letters provide links to one of the darkest powers that humanity has ever known-and to a centuries-long quest to find the source of that darkness and wipe it out. It is a quest for the truth about Vlad the Impaler, the medieval ruler whose barbarous reign formed the basis of the legend of Dracula. Generations of historians have risked their reputations, their sanity, and even their lives to learn the truth about Vlad the Impaler and Dracula. Now one young woman must decide whether to take up this quest herself-to follow her father in a hunt that nearly brought him to ruin years ago, when he was a vibrant young scholar and her mother was still alive. What does the legend of Vlad the Impaler have to do with the modern world? Is it possible that the Dracula of myth truly existed-and that he has lived on, century after century, pursuing his own unknowable ends? The answers to these questions cross time and borders, as first the father and then the daughter search for clues, from dusty Ivy League libraries to Istanbul, Budapest, and the depths of Eastern Europe. In city after city, in monasteries and archives, in letters and in secret conversations, the horrible truth emerges about Vlad the Impaler's dark reign-and about a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive down through the ages.Parsing obscure signs and hidden texts, reading codes worked into the fabric of medieval monastic traditions-and evading the unknown adversaries who will go to any lengths to conceal and protect Vlad's ancient powers-one woman comes ever closer to the secret of her own past and a confrontation with the very definition of evil. Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel is an adventure of monumental proportions, a relentless tale that blends fact and fantasy, history and the present, with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful-and utterly unforgettab No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. Hachette Book Group6 editions of this book were published by Hachette Book Group. Editions: 0316011770, 0316154547, 0316067946, 1600242782, 0316070637, 1600248616 |
Elizabeth Kostova
Publicado: 2005 | 676 páginas
Novela Intriga
«Su nombre despierta terror en el corazón de los hombres. A lo largo de siglos, se le ha considerado un mito. Ahora, alguien se atreve a buscarlo a través de los rincones más oscuros de Europa y Asia y buceando en lo más remotos pasajes de la Historia».
Durante años, Paul fue incapaz de contarle a su hija la verdad sobre la obsesiĂłn que ha guiado su vida. Ahora, entre sus papeles, ella descubre una historia que comenzĂł con la extraña desapariciĂłn del mentor de Paul, el profesor Rossi. Tras las huellas de su querido maestro, Paul recorriĂł antiguas bibliotecas de Estambul, monasterios en ruinas en RumanĂa, remotas aldeas en Bulgaria… Cuanto más se acercaba a Rossi, más se aproximaba tambiĂ©n a un misterio que habĂa aterrorizado incluso a los poderosos sultanes otomanos, y que aĂşn hace temblar a los campesinos de Europa del Este. Un misterio que ha dejado un rastro sangriento en manuscritos, viejos libros y canciones susurradas al oĂdo. Para Paul y su hija llegar al final de la bĂşsqueda puede significar un destino mucho peor que la muerte. Porque a cada paso que dan, se convencen más de que Ă©l les está esperando. Y en sus corazones, retumba una pregunta angustiosa… ÂżEs posible que la tumba de Vlad el Empalador esconda algo más que el cuerpo de un asesino legendario?