The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova
Who doesn’t enjoy a good vampire novel, especially in the fall? Kostova was an impressive story teller with wonderfully interesting characters. I’m not even sure I can provide a sufficient summary of The Historian. The tale is long and complicated with three distinct narrators telling bits and pieces of different stories from the 1400’s to the present day about Vlad Tepes the Impaler, also known as Dracula. The documentation of historical facts mingled with pure imagination is thoroughly entertaining and left me wishing I knew more history.
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova is a rather in-depth commitment but well worth your time.
Historical Value- 5
Emotional Value- 3
Entertainment Value- 4
Personal character value- 3
Age recommendation- Young Adult – Adult
“It was good to walk into a library again; it smelled like home.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian
“When you handle books all day long, every new one is a friend and a temptation.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian
“Never before had I known the sudden quiver of understanding that travels from word to brain to heart, the way a new language can move, coil, swim into life under the eyes, the almost savage leap of comprehension, the instantaneous, joyful release of meaning, the way the words shed their printed bodies in a flash of heat and light. ”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian
“It was not the brutality of what occurred next that changed my mind and brought home to me the full meaning of fear. It was the brilliance of it.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian
“I’ve always been interested in foreign relations. It’s my belief that study of history should be our preparation for understanding the present rather than an escape from it.”
― Elizabeth Kostova, The Historian
