ARTFUL READERS CLUB
THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova
April 28, 2016
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Dracula, has been the focus of innumerable books and movies, capturing the interest, imagination, fear and horror of generations. THE HISTORIAN by Elizabeth Kostova, though about Dracula, is not a horror novel. It reads more like a travel diary and a love story, with the horror of Dracula's legend and a race to save loved ones as the binding elements of the story.
Kostova weaves her story alternating time, place and narrative voice... Amsterdam, France, Eastern Bloc countries, the Soviet Empire... all part of the journey to find a dear friend and the grave of Vlad Tepes...Vlad, the Impaler...Dracula. In addition, there are vast stores of knowledge on 15th century monasteries, the cultural divide between the Romanians and the Transylvanians, medieval church politics, Central European folk songs, pagan traditions, research methodology, the overlapping of history Central Europe with its rulers of Ottomans, the Orthodox Church and the Soviet Union... all eras that the "undead Dracula" would have lived through... from an HISTORIANs perspective. And, there's always the underlying question... "does he still walk this earth today?"
If you're prepared to begin an eerie, haunted, hypnotic adventure saturated in ancient history and exotic, old European churches, monasteries and libraries brimming with ancient parchment and long forgotten maps and books, Kostova's tracking of the real Vlad Drakuyla is flawless ... and she's able to describe with a chilling, atmospheric eye for detail, the variety of climates in which the story unfolds. A historical/academic thriller with gothic images, cultural folklore, ancient crypts and creaking stairs... all make for a wonderfully different take on an age old tale. It's definitely NOT a quick read, but worth the effort!
