The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I bet no book will be spun out more than The Historian, a novel written by Elizabeth Kostova. After a long year of laziness-which later I regretted-, the book finally came to me. Better than my expectation.
  This one is a faction, partly romantic and adventureful, but in good part, murky and dismal like an gothic depository.

When a girl found up old scripts in the father's library, her long time search for the sinister vampire finally started. Having lost his beloved ones by the vampire, the father steered clear of daughter's queries, which were too painful for him. From the mournful face of father, the daughter sensed the tragedy falling on the family concerning the lord of the undead, but keeps tracing the untold history, just as her father and professor Rossi once did.
  Obviously, main characters are Paul, a historian and his daughter. As I shortly wrote above, the story is about a shuddering trace over three generations. Having set in Rossi's old east-heading in 1930s, the dreadful disclosure took place even in the time of our storyteller. A long way, isn't it?

To fully follow this ever-lasting track, the book takes the various forms: storytelling, letters, books and archives, which all in all fabricate the facticity. As a result, The Historian is like a real memoir written in a very convincing, composed tone. What is more amazing, is that Kostova made the concrete, realistic eastern-european world without forgetting to shed light on the major unreal figure.
  Plus, Kostova's depiction of Vlad Ţepeş, or Dracula was somewhat new, different, and interesting. This gothic undead appears to be a noble, polished gentleman; at the same time, he is with a supernatural force, something like the fiendish agency given by B. Stoker in the famous novel Dracula. With all these motifs, Dracula is like history itself; more than all, he is the horrifying one long before turned into legend, being a real enchanter.
  Not only the Dracula, each character was peculiar; I mean, unique. I did like the way of the daughter, especially her unremitting study on vampire. I liked Barley for his kindness and trustworthiness, and Helen for her strong will and astuteness; they were loyal, and courageous enough to lead their epic to a good end. Also, the librarian-not Paul but the undead one- was really horrifying, making me concentrate on the book whenever he appeared.
  With these superiorities, The Historian makes a great faction among the books worth-reading. The novel is pleasant to read, deep and mature, and good to spend your summer time on.

Despite all those great features, I regret to say that this novel is not fully satisfactory. For one thing, stilleness overwhelmed few-if exist- movements. Of course, I am not saying every action novel is better than less dynamic one. The problem is that the book failed to control the pace. In a sense, stories were prolix; and without enough tensions and relaxations, scenes became boring, though minute descriptions themselves are attractive.
  Also, Kostova put too many accidents during the main plot-development. If there weren't all the tedious coincidences-including Paul's encounter with Professor Bora-, how the story would have gone? Since the author had been painstaking for the minute details, I was just puzzled about it.
  Finally, the denouement of the story made me flustered. The book ended in a way I never expected, and I really want someone to explain the true meaning of this ending. I know, it is a good way to end all things. But I think in this case that it is out of harmony with the whole theme.

Sum up- a chilling, shuddering faction about vampire. Especially historical and very detailed, the book is more like a history book than a fictional story. an epic tale rather hideous and horrible.

Total Evaluation- ★★★★☆(particularly good)

Recommendation- would be perfect for someone who like history, especially of Eastern Europe and all gothic stuffs. For those who are fond of faction novels and do not mind to look through a much more poised one.

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