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festive_fossil 's review for:
The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Just finished my second read-through of this book, the first having been many years ago when it was first published. I think overall I can appreciate the story more this time around, but I definitely still have some critiques.
As someone with historical training, this book struck some chords with me and I really enjoyed the dark academia ~vibes~ of the story, though it was published years before that starting trending. It is nice to read a story about historians as a historian. And of course, there is an element of Indiana Jones to all this. What is it about dragging stuffy scholars out of their cozy armchairs and into dark adventures that is so satisfying? Kostova's books are also always spectacularly well-researched and this one was no exception.
The overall richness of Kostova's writing is always something I have admired; the details are great if that is your thing, and the story just has a feeling of depth to it that comes from excellent worldbuilding. However, if you struggle with slow reads this may not be for you. It moves at a snail's pace. A beautiful snail, but still literally a snail. Definitely around the page 500 mark I was getting impatient with the constant bouncing back and forth between three different timelines and everything being narrated through letters. I also found the ultimate motivation of the antagonist to be....unconvincing? Like in the extreme. Further villainy is hinted at, but never explored, and the climax of the book was ultimately dissatisfying because paradoxically to the rest of the work it felt rushed.
It is very interesting because despite my experience being the same with each of Kostova's books, I still continue to read them all lol. So clearly she is doing something right.
As someone with historical training, this book struck some chords with me and I really enjoyed the dark academia ~vibes~ of the story, though it was published years before that starting trending. It is nice to read a story about historians as a historian. And of course, there is an element of Indiana Jones to all this. What is it about dragging stuffy scholars out of their cozy armchairs and into dark adventures that is so satisfying? Kostova's books are also always spectacularly well-researched and this one was no exception.
The overall richness of Kostova's writing is always something I have admired; the details are great if that is your thing, and the story just has a feeling of depth to it that comes from excellent worldbuilding. However, if you struggle with slow reads this may not be for you. It moves at a snail's pace. A beautiful snail, but still literally a snail. Definitely around the page 500 mark I was getting impatient with the constant bouncing back and forth between three different timelines and everything being narrated through letters. I also found the ultimate motivation of the antagonist to be....unconvincing? Like in the extreme. Further villainy is hinted at, but never explored, and the climax of the book was ultimately dissatisfying because paradoxically to the rest of the work it felt rushed.
It is very interesting because despite my experience being the same with each of Kostova's books, I still continue to read them all lol. So clearly she is doing something right.