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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is gorgeous and so incredibly moving. I found myself lost in Bulgaria and it was incredible. This story is haunting and beautiful.
This book is gorgeous and so incredibly moving. I found myself lost in Bulgaria and it was incredible. This story is haunting and beautiful.
3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.
I have read both of Elizabeth Kostova's previous novels and enjoyed them. The most common criticism's I've read are that they develop too slowly with not enough action. For me, they do develop slowly but, in this case, that's a positive thing. I sometimes can be an inpatient reader. It's not that I need all action. For the most part though, I don't do well with books that describe the side of a mountain for ten pages. (I'm looking at you, Lord of the Flies.) However, give me a book where the character development and descriptions are deep and rich and I will gladly read a book with what one might call a slower building plot. For if I can get attached to the characters, I will stick with them till the end. Fans of Kostova's previous books, "The Historian," and, "The Swan Thieves," will savor this one like I did. She again masterfully blends history and fiction, with characters who will be on my mind for a long time.
I have read both of Elizabeth Kostova's previous novels and enjoyed them. The most common criticism's I've read are that they develop too slowly with not enough action. For me, they do develop slowly but, in this case, that's a positive thing. I sometimes can be an inpatient reader. It's not that I need all action. For the most part though, I don't do well with books that describe the side of a mountain for ten pages. (I'm looking at you, Lord of the Flies.) However, give me a book where the character development and descriptions are deep and rich and I will gladly read a book with what one might call a slower building plot. For if I can get attached to the characters, I will stick with them till the end. Fans of Kostova's previous books, "The Historian," and, "The Swan Thieves," will savor this one like I did. She again masterfully blends history and fiction, with characters who will be on my mind for a long time.
DNF. I can't continue reading this novel. The characters lack personality, there is no plot, the premise is idiotic - who in their right mind will, as soon as they land in a foreign country and after many hours of flight, would go on a country-wide tour to give back something that a complete stranger left behind instead of handing it over to the police or leave it at the hotel next to which it was found? And why would a cab driver collaborate in this search for days and days without getting any pay? I understand that the book is supposed to tell us about cruel and harrowing historical times in Bulgaria (don't want to spoil things so I won't elaborate). So why not just tell this story? Why did Kostova need the boring and unbelievable framework story to lean on, which ended up taking a huge part and focus in the novel? Also, the writing is pretty awful, with too many unnecessary details and descriptions that add nothing to the story, no convincing explanations to characters' choices and behaviors, and so on. Don't want to waste any more of my time on this.
Elizabeth Kostova’s The Shadow Land is another deep dive into history, though not so deep as in The Historian. In this lengthy (possibly too lengthy) novel, an American would-be Samaritan accidentally steals an urn from a trio of Bulgarians. This mishap leads Alexandra Boyd all over Bulgaria in an attempt to return the urn, all while being chases by menacing henchmen of a rising politician and trying to learn why the man in the urn is so important. As Kostova writes in her note at the end of the book, this plot serves as a platform to plunge into the history of Bulgaria’s gulag system...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
After the loss of her beloved brother, Alexandra Boyd is listless and drifting. Having completed her studies and worked some time in a library, she decides to enrol for a teaching programme far away and thus she ends up in Sofia, Bulgaria. After a long and arduous journey across the ocean, she only wants to get to her apartment. Waiting for a taxi, she is helping an elderly couple who struggle with their luggage, but when Alexandra finally sits down in a cab herself, she realized that she has one of these people’s bags with her. She has a look at the bag and finds an urn with the name Stoyan Lazarov in it. Since the police are reluctant to help her, she and her taxi driver decide to find the people and return the remains of Stoyan. What starts as an accidental swapping of bags, leads to a journey across Bulgaria and the dark history of the country.
What I really liked about the novel was the fact that you get an unexpected mixture of a mystery story, a bit of romance, the history and culture of an east European country, the life history of a dedicated musician and notion of Bulgaria which is not very well known by many people. Yet, as a consequence, it is not easy to come to a conclusion about it. What I appreciated most were first of all the fairy tales and myths about Bulgaria. I have never been there and always imagined it as a country deeply rooted in its history and legends. Kostova perfectly managed to integrate these into her novel. Second, having the characters travel around the country gave her the chance of introducing the country’s fascinating landscape to the reader. Not only the larger and old cities of Sofia and Plovdiv, but also small villages in the mountain areas are part of the setting.
The mystery plot was a bit constructed to my liking. I cannot really imagine a young, innocent woman going to a really foreign country of which she hardly knows anything at all and especially of which cannot even speak the language, relying on strangers as Alexandra does. It was necessary for the action to send them from one place to the next, encountering different characters linked to the Lazarov family, but again, this is not really realistic. To be welcomed and accommodated once, ok, this is likely, but not making close friends with everybody within minutes. Much more interesting was the story of the dead man’s life, the oppression by the communists, his time in the work camp and particularly his love for music. He certainly is the most interesting character of the novel, above all in comparison to Alexandra who remains a bit shallow and flat throughout the whole story.
All in all, I believe the author has done a lot of research and gives us a multifaceted picture of Bulgaria now and then. I liked ready much of it, but admittedly, there are some longueurs in it, too.
What I really liked about the novel was the fact that you get an unexpected mixture of a mystery story, a bit of romance, the history and culture of an east European country, the life history of a dedicated musician and notion of Bulgaria which is not very well known by many people. Yet, as a consequence, it is not easy to come to a conclusion about it. What I appreciated most were first of all the fairy tales and myths about Bulgaria. I have never been there and always imagined it as a country deeply rooted in its history and legends. Kostova perfectly managed to integrate these into her novel. Second, having the characters travel around the country gave her the chance of introducing the country’s fascinating landscape to the reader. Not only the larger and old cities of Sofia and Plovdiv, but also small villages in the mountain areas are part of the setting.
The mystery plot was a bit constructed to my liking. I cannot really imagine a young, innocent woman going to a really foreign country of which she hardly knows anything at all and especially of which cannot even speak the language, relying on strangers as Alexandra does. It was necessary for the action to send them from one place to the next, encountering different characters linked to the Lazarov family, but again, this is not really realistic. To be welcomed and accommodated once, ok, this is likely, but not making close friends with everybody within minutes. Much more interesting was the story of the dead man’s life, the oppression by the communists, his time in the work camp and particularly his love for music. He certainly is the most interesting character of the novel, above all in comparison to Alexandra who remains a bit shallow and flat throughout the whole story.
All in all, I believe the author has done a lot of research and gives us a multifaceted picture of Bulgaria now and then. I liked ready much of it, but admittedly, there are some longueurs in it, too.
Somewhat shaky premise for a mystery/thriller. Writing is overwrought at times. The characterization of Alexandria is sometimes juvenile. Flimsy romance thrown in, that doesn’t belong. Disappointing. For nearly 500 pages the payoff should have been so much more!
4.5 stars. This story is wonderfully complex without causing the reader confusion. It isn't a traditional mystery, but mystery infuses the plot. Weaving together the delight of travel and discovery with underlying tragedy and pain, this book is at times delightful, and at others, very difficult to read. Bulgaria and her people come alive for the reader and you will soon feel at home in both the tiny mountain villages and bustling Sofia. Highly recommended.
Beautiful and captivating, with a few of my favorite things: rich descriptions of Eastern Europe, and a story entwined around classical music.
I chose to listen to this book and it was LONG! I felt that it could have been about 1/3rd shorter than it was. While I appreciate attention to detail, the extreme detail at times lost the story line for me. I also felt that the story line of the main character's missing brother was insignificant to the overall book. That being said, I learned a LOT about Bulgaria and I liked that the author rounded out the story well in the end.
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
Three and a half stars. I liked many things but this book, the characters were likable and interesting and the travelogue of Bulgaria made me want to visit. But the plot line was just so hard to believe. As others have said, why would a young American tourist align herself with a stranger taxi driver and go on a chase across Bulgaria to return an urn to people she met in the street for one minute? I loved Bobby, Alexandra and Stoycho, so I kept reading, but never really bought it. And the last quarter of the book is hard to digest. The labor camp sequences. Then how all the plot points just magically align. There is a really good novel somewhere in these 480 pages, but I don't think it quite gets there for me.
Three and a half stars. I liked many things but this book, the characters were likable and interesting and the travelogue of Bulgaria made me want to visit. But the plot line was just so hard to believe. As others have said, why would a young American tourist align herself with a stranger taxi driver and go on a chase across Bulgaria to return an urn to people she met in the street for one minute? I loved Bobby, Alexandra and Stoycho, so I kept reading, but never really bought it. And the last quarter of the book is hard to digest. The labor camp sequences. Then how all the plot points just magically align. There is a really good novel somewhere in these 480 pages, but I don't think it quite gets there for me.