What the staff is reading:

No two persons ever read the same book.
--Edmund Wilson, critic (1895-1972)

ADULT (12TH GRADE & OLDER)

The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova

In honor of Halloween, I picked up Elizabeth Kostova’s The Historian, a novel that is part travelogue and part vampire hunting. It would behoove anyone who wants to read this to start with a refresher course on Vlad the Impaler. Set in modern times, Kostova tells the story of an ancient manuscript that reveals the true “burial” place of Prince Vlad – that is if he died at all – and the tragic consequences coming to those who dare examine the manuscript too closely. The reason I suggest the refresher course is Kostova’s unrelenting details in every aspect of her novel. She offers vivid descriptions of countries, towns, and famous landmarks
(which I often find myself skimming), finer points of ancient manuscripts, and of course scattered minutiae of Vlad and his similarities to the infamous Count Dracula.

What makes this novel interesting to me is the author’s attempt to create a Dracula not from legends but from true history. References to Vlad the Impaler as Dracula are nothing new, but this is the first time I have seen someone treat the myth as something genuine. It isn’t so much about what if vampires exist, but what would a person do if he or she truly knew that vampires were real? It is a fine line, I know, but a line that is quite fascinating thanks to Kostova.

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