I am giving up. The only fascinating thing about this book was the story of its publication. "The Historian" was supposed to be the next "The Da Vinci Code," hence a purchasing price of 2 million dollars. "The Da Vinci Code" it was not. The book was very slow and overly descriptive. The only reason I was able to read as much of it as I have (130 pages) was because I was listening to it on audio, thus I guess I checked out during endless descriptions and historical background, and was engaged only during conversations. When I actually started reading the book myself, I couldn't get through even 10 pages. Can't recommend it to anyone I know, but it is a bestseller, so I guess some people find something in it to be enjoyed...

I picked this book up when I first bought it and just couldn't read it. Wasn't the least bit interesting. I re-started it when it was nominated for the monthly read at COL and I'm so glad I did. I truely enjoyed being swept up in history with this book. I do admit the normal bumps outside and creaks inside my house had me a bit wary. :P

I've read Bram Stoker's book ‘Dracula’ many many times simply because I adore the style. Elizabeth Kostova has captured the tone of ‘Dracula’ to perfection in her book, ‘The Historian’. If a book could have progeny, then ‘The Historian’ is Stoker's book’s grandchild. ‘The Historian’ is very long, and I loved every word of it. I am aware of the haters, and I concede most of their complaints. I don't care. I liked it. It is a wonderful book, true to the spirit of Stoker's Dracula, with embellishments.

The Stoker's book ‘Dracula’ was all about Victorian middle-class society with intense secret dreads and fears, dark folk tales, wolves in the night, respectable and repressed deep emotions with strict social mores and above all epistles. It was formal and 'correct', and very late 19th century atmosphere - fog, creepy cities and lonely villages, full of quasi-scientific and academic quality reasoning and research into vague, barely understood new discoveries.

While ‘The Historian’ is obviously a copy of Stoker's style (in my opinion, a virtuoso performance by Kostova), it veers into the world of university professors, specifically history scholars, who use librarian research methods and scientific doctrines in order to discover and solve mysteries from centuries in the past. This particular search is given horror-driven impetus due to Dracula being its subject, and as the story progresses, severe danger to our heroes. The horrors of living under Communism, which is clearly a noir existence even when benign, is touched upon in passing. The horrors of the Ottoman Empire in warfare as well as of the eastern European autocrat leadership are equally exposed, too. Eastern European Communism had a rather horrific parentage too.

Even though the action of 'The Historian' passes through many countries, many types of letters and manuscripts, several point-of-view narrators and many time-lines, I was always enthralled and eager to follow the paper trail these brave civilian academic characters set into epistles in true historian/librarian professional research methodology. They heroically seek the most dastardly evil monster that ever walked for 500 years! (sound of heart beating slowly and darkly, which come to think of it, actually should be the short description of this book)

: )

I gave this 4 stars for the extensive research and planning this book must have taken. However, man was it long winded. It was fascinating and wonderfully interesting, but I think it could have been condensed a bit. I occasionally got confused with characters and times. I've always loved the legends of Dracula, and this book meticulously followed everything correctly. I'm glad I read it, but I confess I'm a little glad I'm done too!

I got to page 150 and threw the book away. When you find yourself choosing to watch WWE with the kids instead of turning another page of a book then you know it is time to throw in the towel. And incidentally, just when did WWE turn into Duck Dynasty?

At first I really liked the descriptive elements, the author really brings the castles and fortresses of eastern Europe to life with her exquisitely minute detail. But, after a while it gets very samey. Seen one castle, seen ‘em all.

The story is told from two points of view, our unnamed female narrator and that of her father. The problem is, both voices are identical and it gets a little confusing at times working out who is speaking. We know also that the father is called Paul, but not the name of his daughter which had the effect of dehumanising her, and I found I couldn’t care less about her.

The story unfolds very slowly and the author tries to build up a sense of suspense and impending horror, but after a few more pages and we are back on yet another castle visit, I found I had forgotten about the horror element and lost that suspense. I just wanted to scream at her to get on with the story. Maybe if it ends up on an A level syllabus I will try and read an abridged version, but only if I have forgotten just how incredibly dull, plodding and tedious this read is.

Історія є історія, а часом історія в історії, що знаходиться в історії. Роман об’ємний, роман атмосферний, роман пропрацьований - я мушу віддати належне. Але. Водночас це було малозахопливе, повільне читання, яким був для мене колись і роман Стокера.

З плюсів і мінусів водночас, в книзі забагато подорожей. Якщо це місця, в яких я особисто бувала і де чимало описів мені знайомі, як Стамбул чи Будапешт, то це плюс, якщо ж ні, то мінус. Саме читаючи цей роман, я усвідомила, що часи, коли я з захопленням читала тревелоги інших людей, що мати змогу хоча б їхніми очима подивитися на далекі країни, минули. Тепер мені значно цікавіше скласти спочатку своє враження.

п.с. Я не готова приймати слово «мітелка» в свій вокабуляр.

I am not enamored by the story of Dracula. I haven't ever even read Bram Stoker's version. So as I approached page 340 or so, I questioned my decision to read this book. But it's more about the story of a line of people who have been researching the historical Dracula and become obsessed with their research. The story was put together in an interesting way. You go back and forth between three main characters spanning about 60 years, and also read many "historical" documents that the people find in various hidden archives and libraries and collections all over the world. As a future librarian, I think that was my favorite part, reading about the process of putting the research together. Also the idea of Dracula's personal collection? Priceless.

Where I got the book: purchased on Kindle. A book club read.

I first encountered this book as an audiobook around the time of its release in 2005, and can honestly say I didn't remember a thing about it. I think I simply lost track, because this account of the search for Dracula has three timelines in different time periods, and sometimes you lose sight of one timeline for a considerable chunk of the book. Extremely confusing in an audiobook, a bit less so in print.

This is one of those incredibly atmospheric novels - the monastery on a cliff in France was the setting that really got to me, but in general I loved the sweeping panorama of European countries and cultures, particularly when some of the protagonists were in Cold War Eastern Europe. Not the book for you if you don't like extensive infodumps of history--this novel's not called The Historian for nothing--but if you're a patient reader, it's pretty entertaining.

I think I tended to like The Historian more than most of my book club fellows did, but then I'm European and read a lot of classics. Not a prerequisite, but it helps.

One thing's for sure: this book will have you curious about Bram Stoker's Dracula. That is, if you're like me, possibly one of a few who hasn't read the book, seen the movie, or even been a bit interested in the story. This is not the first thing that will reel you into this book though. For me, it was the young bookish girl being raised by her diplomat-father, the distinct voice of the fifty-something-year-old woman looking back to her younger years.

Though I must admit, there is something about the power of the words that Kostova weaves, that had me interested in the mystery of the vrykolakas; something really intriguing about the ambitions of a book that pulls several genres into one: mystery, historical fiction, fantasy, travel writing. The book traverses Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, the city of Istanbul, and so on, reminding me of why I find historical fiction appealing: in most cases you know that the authors have spent a considerable amount of time researching parts of the world and serving them to you. This is certainly apparent in this book. Even the city descriptions seem authentic to the writer's travel experience and historical research:

My first impression of Bulgaria--and my memory of it ever after--was of mountains seen from the air, mountains high and deep, darkly verdant and mainly untouched by roads, although here and there a brown ribbon ran among some villages or along sudden sheer cliffs.

Most of the book happens through backstory and letters, though I kid you not when I say the backstory is really the most appealing in this case. The story follows the Eastern European myth or legend of Vlad Dracula who was supposedly a lord or voivodain the western Carpathians in the fifteenth century. Everyone who researches the Count in this story, finds himself on some different path.

The story follows the estrangement of two people in love. The mystery here is both amusing and alluring, fast-paced at most stages, and annoyingly slow in some instances (like the Zacharias Chronicles for instance). But I won't dwell on the mystery.

The mystery wasn't what held my attention, for the historical aspect of the novel seemed to drown that part. What kept me interested was the surreal storytelling and history. Stories strewn together magically around history. This was when Kostova was at her best, I think. If you don't like reading about the Byzantines or Ottomans, chances are this book could be off-putting.

There is a moment for example, when the visitors enter a town and a character, Baba Yanka, is dancing barefoot in the fire, "through embers to that mysterious rhythm of drum and bagpipe." She leaves the fire, unharmed, and again I was reminded of the several instances in the novel where the storytelling takes these stylistic paths to add light to the dark mystery and heavy history, and of course, the arresting love story.

Meandering, slogging, hair-pulling, mess of a read. The Da Vinci code on crack-cocaine. This book needs to lose some weight. The book started off paced really well but quickly lost steam. The SLLLOOOWWW build up dies in the arms of the final pages, thankfully. By the end of this novel? historical fiction? university dissertation on the Ottoman invasion of the Byzantine empire as seen through the eyes of Dracula enthusiasts? I was ready to be staked through the heart. The one good point was that if you are a fan of the vampire genre then you will be taught (thoroughly) on the legend of the man that started it all.

Fascinating book! What I loved about this was the historical aspect, definitely a mix of mystery with historical fiction, and here I am Googling Vlad the Impaler. Bad dude! A book that does that certainly made an impression, and here I am looking into Dracula lore. It's truly fascinating to see all the legends, websites, etc. This book was slow to start though; I almost wanted to give up around page 40 or so, and I was kind of ready to end it around page 700, but there was enough to keep me interested throughout and turning page after page. Wonderful writing - great description, wonderful development of characters - ones I became invested in throughout. Description well-done to make me feel I could develop the scenes in my head. Just a wonderful escape read, a little creepy, and yet educational. Loved it!

Audio # 46