Monday, August 16, 2010

Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian

I could not put down The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. A really good summer read. Fun especially in the letters linked to other letters, stories linked to stories, even to the playful frame of the stories having been told to the unnamed narrator . . . and the dedication to Kostova’s father as having told her some of the stories seems to be part of the framing of stories as part of the real world. Very smart layering of letters and stories. Nice play between the vampire tale and the “danger” of being a historian. Shelly would really like this story. Liz did. A good recommendation from her.

Something about The Historian reminds me of Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, another good summer read it was. And both deal with researchers and storytellers.