| Book Review | Jennifer Hairfield |
The
Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova
I have just finished reading The Historian by Elizabeth
Kostova and it is truly a gothic style novel. In the styling
of Bram Stoker's Dracula, The Historian takes us on a scenic
journey throughout Europe both in ancient and modern time.
The author makes it so that we, the reader, are able to
actually see, smell, and hear what's going on at each
location as we cross and crisscross across Europe. Once the
reader actually realizes that this novel is written like
Dracula then it becomes easier to figure out what's going on
and who's talking. Even though it has been done many many
times before our author makes the assumption that Vlad Tepes
is the same person as the mythical vampire that we all know
as Dracula.
Most of the book is told from the father, Paul's, point
of view. Every so often we get an interjected chapter, be it
short or long, from the daughter in present time instead of
the past like with the father. There's even parts from
Rossi, Paul's mentoring professor, scattered within the
novel through mostly letters.
The ironic part to the whole book is that even though the
main subject of the book is to locate Dracula's true
'resting place' or to even find out if he's really a vampire
or just a myth that has lived on throughout the centuries
problems go on of missing people and conspiracies throughout
Europe, be it in the past or present time frame.
At the beginning of each of the three sections we get a certain quote from Bram Stoker's Dracula that by the end of the section the reader will realize that it summarized the section beautifully. Plus, there's a three-generation love relations between all the main characters. Rossi falls in love with Helen's mom, Paul is love with Helen and he has great respect for her father/his mentor Rossi. While his daughter falls for a college student from Oxford who follows her around Europe in search of her father. The whole story is interwoven and connected to all the characters.
Personally, I really enjoyed the book and the ending was
indeed decent for it considering we don't really know what
has happened to Dracula. Is he still alive? Is he truly a
vampire or has he figured out another way to cheat death?
What happed to Helen during the time her daughter grew up?
Why does Dracula hold such a fascination to both the reader
of this book and to the characters within it? Do we ever
even see Dracula in person throughout this thick novel? But,
to me, the biggest question is this, where is his final
‘resting place'?
If you have a short attention span or don't appreciate history then don't pick up this book. But, if you enjoy a good mystery with tons of suspense that is worth it in the end even though at times you wish to throw it across the room because of the thickness from that said suspense then this is the novel for you.
It's a rare gem to find a book written in a truly Gothic form like this one and has need to be appreciated for all the research that went into it. I would have to say that this book is the modern Dracula.