Friday, November 02, 2007

The Historian

I promised a post on my reading of The Historian. It seems not everyone was a fan of the 642 page tome. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself, but I can see why some may not enjoy it as much with the endless passages discussing the smell of old books encased in old libraries. I liked that bit, but I'm a weird bibliophile. I think husband was just wondering when the bloody vampire was going to show up. (No pun intended. Oh alright, it was intentional...) It was clear Ms. Kostova did her research well, and I enjoy getting a mini history lesson wrapped in the shrouds of fiction. I also felt like I was whisked along for a trip down the old cobbled streets of Eastern Europe, and since all I can afford these days is a couch-side visit, I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of old crypts and churches and cities. However, I will say that the ending knocked me sideways. When husband finished the book, he closed it with a snap and was quite peeved he had wasted months (yes, months!) reading the book for it to be wrapped up in a few short pages. I wasn't quite as peeved. I could see the difficulty in wrapping up such a monster, but it was the open ending that threw me. I won't give away the details in case you haven't read it, but it seemed like a cop-out ending, like she couldn't think of some better way to tie the loose ends. But regardless of that, I loved it.

5 comments:

Yvonne said...

Ooh, now you've got me interested.

Lane Mathias said...

Glad you didn't give away the ending! It's on my TBR pile. Poor old hubs though:-(
x

Alix said...

Glad you enjoyed it, I loved it too.

Jenny Beattie said...

Oh. right. It's not a read for me then.

I had an experience like this with The Quincunx by Charles Palliser - it was over a thousand pages; best friend and husband loved it. I waded, Angie, I waded while wondering: why?

Uh uh. I finished feeling why?

Angie said...

Hellojed, go read it! ;)

Lane, I hope you enjoy it. Poor hubs is always subjected to Angie's reading list for him, though he did pick this one out himself...

Alix, yea another person who loved it!

JJ, no? Shall I look up The Quincunx then? ;) Still, it's worth checking out...