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3.67 AVERAGE
3.67 AVERAGE
A powerful, yet lyrical, dare I say masterpiece. The Shadow Land will be in the running as my favorite book of 2017. The characters kept continuing to evolve throughout the intriguing mystery. I knew nothing of Bulgaria or many former communist countries, and this book stared the atrocities right in the face. And the last 30 pages were gripping. I loved the whole story.
This is a richly textured book, with wonderful detail given to the setting, which builds a wonderful sense of place.
I will admit that it was a bit slow to get going, and for the first few chapters, I actually found the main character very annoying - she was immature and self centered. When the plot picked up, she became much less annoying. And Bobby, her taxi driver, provided a good counterpoint to her -- honestly, I would have been happy with reading more about him.
I will admit that it was a bit slow to get going, and for the first few chapters, I actually found the main character very annoying - she was immature and self centered. When the plot picked up, she became much less annoying. And Bobby, her taxi driver, provided a good counterpoint to her -- honestly, I would have been happy with reading more about him.
This book was strange, in that both very little and quite a lot happened. It would be slow and lovely, just describing places, but you felt like so much was happening; and then it would be slow and sad when it went into the past, but again things were going on that weren't action, really, but more mental. The whole story was a slow unfolding discovery in a beautiful place, with some terrible places interspersed.
Magic realism towards the end and a much happier ending than I expected.
Pomalé, bylo dlouho jasné, kam to směřuje, ale na dovolenou v Bulharsku naprosto skvělé. :)
This author really paints the scene with words! Gave me an intense urge to travel! Couldn’t put this book down. Compelling read with characters that seemed so real. Great start to the 2019 reading.
Kostova creates another passion project that drives readers directly into the emotional, cultural, and physical depth of Bulgaria. I found it a fascinating piece creating the history and the changes from the end of WWII to Soviet control, to the rebirth of democracy and the discovery that an entire generation of people have to relearn how to live together with themselves and with each other after everything they experienced. I enjoyed the character development and the intrigue as Bird and Bobby tried to solve the mystery of why they had the cremated remains and how the story of those remains fit into the larger picture of the Bulgarian political landscape. At times it felt a little contrived as they experienced the same thing over and over, moving from one location to the next picking up just enough clues to get them to the next location and next story, but even with that basic trope I still enjoyed reading Kostova's rendition of Bulgaria in transformation. Similar to how the Historian had me pining to visit Hungary, the Shadow Land has me looking forward to my visit to Bulgaria.
I want to like Elizabeth Kostova's books. On the surface level they're everything I like in a book--solid female characters, a bit of mystery and a Slavic setting, and yet her books always miss the mark for me. Although I have a lot of friends that love her first novel The Historian , it just never grabbed me.
I thought that The Shadow Land was a step above her previous works. The story is interesting, particularly the parts set in the 1940s and 1950s, and the characters were interesting enough to keep my attention. However, as others have stated, the plot borders on unbelievable. It's just strange enough that I could never quite buy into what was happening & the ending didn't do anything to cancel that part out. Some of the plot points feel ridiculous or get lost in the denseness of the book (why the focus on her brother, for example? Or the romance angle).
I received an advanced copy of this from Text Publishing through NetGalley.
I thought that The Shadow Land was a step above her previous works. The story is interesting, particularly the parts set in the 1940s and 1950s, and the characters were interesting enough to keep my attention. However, as others have stated, the plot borders on unbelievable. It's just strange enough that I could never quite buy into what was happening & the ending didn't do anything to cancel that part out. Some of the plot points feel ridiculous or get lost in the denseness of the book (why the focus on her brother, for example? Or the romance angle).
I received an advanced copy of this from Text Publishing through NetGalley.
This book is trying to too much. The plot is weak, things just magically happen right. Bulgaria is a cool country but does not contain the oomph of a Mexico or Russia to hold your attention for that long. Could have used some solid editing. Its a long ass book about not a lot of things with a weakass plot.