Sunday, August 28, 2005
The Historian
So I finally finished The Historian. The key word there is FINALLY. That is one overlong book. I enjoyed it, but with many caveats. Its length isn't necessarily one of them; I certainly have enjoyed other 642-page books. But this one didn't read quickly. Author Elizabeth Kostova attempted to use numerous voices--the unnamed narrator, the narrator's father, mother, and the narrator's father's professor, to name a few--but she didn't distinguish between them.
In a review in The Guardian UK, Jane Stevenson notes that "Kostova is a whiz at storytelling and narrative pace, and she can write atmospheric descriptions of place, but she has no great sense of the location of language within time, and not much talent for impersonation. Unfortunately, the shape of her story commits her to a great deal of it. That there is no distinction between the narrator's voice and exposition is legitimate, since the narrator is recounting the events of 1972 from the standpoint of 2008, but the father's voice is identical, which is bad, and so is the voice of an Oxonian Englishman in 1930, which is ludicrous." Indeed, both the narrator's father and the narrator's professor end up sounding like David Hyde Pierce's Niles Crane--fussy, prolix, and effeminate: to put it bluntly, a wuss who would never have captured the heart of the enigmatic, edgy Helen.
As well, Kostova has said that she wanted the excitement of research to equal criminal forensics. But the research in The Historian is spotty and drawn-out. The protagonists travel from the United States to England, France, Istanbul, Bulgaria, and Romania through all time periods and at each step uncover such infinitesimally small pieces of information that the long treks become just a seemingly endless series of anticlimaxes. The real climax of the book is over in a blink, almost besides the point. (If you want a book where research is exciting, read Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II, Robert Kurson's fast-paced non-fiction account of two divers who identified a mysterious wreck off the coast of New Jersey. Kurson makes going through pages of archives positively thrilling.)
That said, Kostova writes beautifully about place and scene. The book is richly and gorgeously visual, which is no small feat. Her descriptive art carried me most of the way through this multi-generational tale, but would have been better served by judicious editorial cuts.
On deck
Blonde Lightning, by the most-deserving-of-a-best-seller Terrill Lee Lankford; sequel to the very excellent Earthquake Weather
Featured books (if all four book covers don't appear please refresh your screen)
In a review in The Guardian UK, Jane Stevenson notes that "Kostova is a whiz at storytelling and narrative pace, and she can write atmospheric descriptions of place, but she has no great sense of the location of language within time, and not much talent for impersonation. Unfortunately, the shape of her story commits her to a great deal of it. That there is no distinction between the narrator's voice and exposition is legitimate, since the narrator is recounting the events of 1972 from the standpoint of 2008, but the father's voice is identical, which is bad, and so is the voice of an Oxonian Englishman in 1930, which is ludicrous." Indeed, both the narrator's father and the narrator's professor end up sounding like David Hyde Pierce's Niles Crane--fussy, prolix, and effeminate: to put it bluntly, a wuss who would never have captured the heart of the enigmatic, edgy Helen.
As well, Kostova has said that she wanted the excitement of research to equal criminal forensics. But the research in The Historian is spotty and drawn-out. The protagonists travel from the United States to England, France, Istanbul, Bulgaria, and Romania through all time periods and at each step uncover such infinitesimally small pieces of information that the long treks become just a seemingly endless series of anticlimaxes. The real climax of the book is over in a blink, almost besides the point. (If you want a book where research is exciting, read Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II, Robert Kurson's fast-paced non-fiction account of two divers who identified a mysterious wreck off the coast of New Jersey. Kurson makes going through pages of archives positively thrilling.)
That said, Kostova writes beautifully about place and scene. The book is richly and gorgeously visual, which is no small feat. Her descriptive art carried me most of the way through this multi-generational tale, but would have been better served by judicious editorial cuts.
On deck
Blonde Lightning, by the most-deserving-of-a-best-seller Terrill Lee Lankford; sequel to the very excellent Earthquake Weather
Featured books (if all four book covers don't appear please refresh your screen)
# posted by karen : 2:16 PM
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So glad you're blogging about books! I've linked a few of my own reviews/comments over at my own http://cleasimon.blogspot.com but in brief -- you've got to check out Colin Cotterill (Start with "The Coroner's Lunch") and the new James Lee Burke ("The Tin Roof Blowdown," especially as the second anniversary of the Katrina tragedy has just passed).
TAG YOU'RE IT!!
from my own site..
What is tagging? Well, it seems to be a form of blog chain letter. According to the rules, I'm supposed to list 7 random facts/habits about myself, here, on my blog. Then tag 7 other bloggers by emailing them and telling them, "tag, you're it." and then link to their blogs. Annoying, yeah. But Caroline is not only a friend but a brilliant writer, so this gives me a chance to link (again) to her blog. And also to link to some other blogs that I really like a lot.
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from my own site..
What is tagging? Well, it seems to be a form of blog chain letter. According to the rules, I'm supposed to list 7 random facts/habits about myself, here, on my blog. Then tag 7 other bloggers by emailing them and telling them, "tag, you're it." and then link to their blogs. Annoying, yeah. But Caroline is not only a friend but a brilliant writer, so this gives me a chance to link (again) to her blog. And also to link to some other blogs that I really like a lot.
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