|
Editorial Review Product Description
Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, THE HISTORIAN is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family's past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe-in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled listeners around the world.Amazon.com Review
If your pulse flutters at the thought of castle ruins and descents into crypts bymoonlight, you will savor every creepy page of Elizabeth Kostova's long butbeautifully structured thriller The Historian.The story opens inAmsterdam in 1972, when a teenage girl discovers a medieval book and a cacheof yellowed letters in her diplomat father's library. The pages of thebook are empty except for a woodcut of a dragon. The letters are addressedto: "My dear and unfortunate successor." When the girl confronts herfather, he reluctantly confesses an unsettling story: his involvement,twenty years earlier, in a search for his graduate school mentor, whodisappeared from his office only moments after confiding to Paul hiscertainty that Dracula--Vlad the Impaler, an inventively cruel ruler ofWallachia in the mid-15th century--was still alive. The story turns out toconcern our narrator directly because Paul's collaborator in the search wasa fellow student named Helen Rossi (the unacknowledged daughter of hismentor) and our narrator's long-dead mother, about whom she knows almostnothing. And then her father, leaving just a note, disappears also.As well as numerous settings, both in and out of the East Bloc, Kostovahas three basic story lines to keep straight--one from 1930, when ProfessorBartolomew Rossi begins his dangerous research into Dracula, one from 1950,when Professor Rossi's student Paul takes up the scent, and the mainnarrative from 1972. The criss-crossing story lines mirror the politicaladvances, retreats, triumphs, and losses that shaped Dracula's beleagueredhomeland--sometimes with the Byzantines on top, sometimes the Ottomans,sometimes the rag-tag local tribes, or the Orthodox church, and sometimes afresh conqueror like the Soviet Union. Although the book is appropriately suspenseful and a delight toread--even the minor characters are distinctive and vividly seen--its mostpowerful moments are those that describe real horrors. Our narrator recallsthat after reading descriptions of Vlad burning young boys or impaling "alarge family," she tried to forget the words: "For all his attention to myhistorical education, my father had neglected to tell me this: history'sterrible moments were real. I understand now, decades later, that he couldnever have told me. Only history itself can convince you of such a truth."The reader, although given a satisfying ending, gets a strong enough dose ofEuropean history to temper the usual comforts of the closing words. --Regina Marler ... Read more Customer Reviews (1551) 
the historian
Read as an audio book. Fun combination of history, mystery, and fiction. Kept me hooked until the end.
The Historian
It's a great story. I purchased this, becasue the one I own is just paper version. But the condition of the book wasn't that good. Actually, the main backbond was tearing out and book was collapsing. But I cherish the story and love to own the first edition of it.
Not your usual vampire fiction
As a Romanian-American writer, I'm somewhat allergic to books about vampires. The association between Romania and Dracula is a bit too close for comfort. In Romania, people don't really care about the Dracula legend. Romanians take far more pride in the country's rich tradition of art, poetry and literature (not to speak of gymnastics...). However, I make a notable exception for Elizabeth Kostova's psychological thriller, The Historian, which will soon be released as a movie as well. This is not your usual vampire genre fiction. If you haven't read this international best-seller because, like many of us, you're getting tired of the saturation of vampire movies and fiction in our culture, then you'll be in for a pleasant surprise with The Historian.
Written in exquisite literary prose, the novel excels at creating suspense from the craft of the narration itself and the strength of its characterizations. Step by step, readers become immersed in a labyrinthine historical investigation for the elusive, mythical figure of Dracula. Kostova transforms the classic literary theme of the vampire-one which is usually immersed in seedy seduction scenes and blood and gore in contemporary fiction-into what Bram Stoker's original actually was: a suspenseful historical novel that traces a remote country's mysterious past, where truth becomes inseparable from legend and fiction is richer than reality.
Claudia Moscovici, Notablewriters.com
another vampire story
'Tis the season for ghost and goblins--and vampires. Actually, vampires seem to be in vogue year-round these days. The title applies to almost everyone in the book, including Dracula, who doesn't just delve into ancient archives but has witnessed five hundred years of history firsthand, since his decapitation in the 1400s. Three other historians, not of the undead variety, have embarked on a sort of treasure hunt to locate Dracula's tomb and drive a stake through his heart. These three quests take place in sequential time periods. The first is that of Bartholomew Rossi, an academic who has stumbled onto manuscripts that would indicate that Dracula, a medieval Romanian tyrant, is still alive and tormenting anyone who happens upon his trail. Then Rossi suddenly vanishes, and his protégé, Paul, sets out to find him and guesses correctly that Dracula has something to do with Rossi's disappearance. Before Paul sets out for Eastern Europe, he meets a young woman, Helen, who claims to be Rossi's daughter. Then around 18 years later, Paul abandons his teenage daughter at a conference at Oxford University, because something has suddenly come up. A handsome student named Barley suspends his studies at Oxford to go to France with the daughter to find her father. Yes, everyone is dashing off to parts unknown, and it's a little confusing, especially since voluminous letters comprise most of the book. As with many lengthy adventure tales, the culmination of the quest(s) is somewhat anti-climactic. Despite painstakingly detailed itineraries and descriptions of translated parchment documents, there's a lot here that defies reality, besides the obvious vampire lore. Paul and Helen miraculously weasel their way into communist bloc countries and somehow avoid spending the rest of their lives in a dark prison for grave-robbing. Then there are numerous convenient coincidences, where various vampire hunters cross paths serendipitously. Plus, the fact that everyone the world over believes vampires exist puts this book solidly in the realm of fantasy. And, coming in at over 600 pages, it needs to be really good fantasy in order to keep me entertained, and it falls short. Anne Rice still reigns in the vampire department.
good condition
best book I've read in years....cannot put it down..bought a second copy for my husband so he could enjoy it too..
... Read more |
