Bookreview

The Historian

I have recently read a book called The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. It is a 642 page fictional book comprised of three different point of views on the history and supernaturalism of Vlad Tepes; the original Dracula.
I have to say a great deal of the book is textbook history and that a lot of people would have a very hard time getting through it. The plotline is brilliant and obviously thought out over a period of time.

The main character is the daughter and granddaughter of the other two accounts in the book. And she is never given a name. I suppose Elizabeth Kostova places herself here.
She finds a late medieval book on her father’s shelf with blank pages apart from a simple woodcut of the name “Drakulya” with a dragon etched with a looping tale. This book takes her through the horrifying tales of her Father’s experience with the book; the life before her mother disappeared, and then the tale of her Father’s professor/father-in-law and his most horrific story and actual encounter with the vampire lord.
The beginning of her father’s tale starts with the sudden disappearance of Bartholomew Rossi, the narrator’s grandfather. In his quest to find his most beloved professor Paul (the father) finds out an entire history kept from him from his professor, and in fact finds Rossi’s unknown and long lost daughter; Helen, the narrator’s mother.
The couple go on a hunt to find Rossi, who has been kidnapped by Drakulya for his own dark work, and leads them all over eastern Europe and to the corners of history.
By the end of the father’s account, the narrator finishes the story. It is a fascinating plot, hard to understand I suppose by a readers explanation, but was vividly finished without much confusion for the reader.

The information of history is great in the book, and sometimes I had to set it down to organize all the information in my head. There were even times it left me so brain fuddled with information that I had to set the book down for a day or two before picking it up and carrying on again.
I am not sure on if I fully enjoyed the book as well as I could, but it is very interesting and I recommend it to anyone who loves History, Antiquity, or Anthropology.
Perhaps I didn’t enjoy the story so much cause it half made me feel like I was grueling through a large textbook and sometimes all the history mind-bottled me. The romance in the book was magical and I absolutely loved those parts. What’s more to say is there are no awkward sex scenes some books like to add in for “spice” –rolls my eyes-
But everything is simply pure love. That alone gives it thumbs up.
So if you find yourself in a bookstore, and just so happen to pass by the large book “The Historian”, Go ahead and pick it up. You can always find a good debate with me about it.