thislemonreads's review
4.0
A really interesting glimpse of modern day Bulgaria, as well as darker moments from its past. Kostova should get a kick back from Bulgaria’s tourism ministry because...I kind of want to go to Bulgaria now?!
cnelson3's review
3.0
I did enjoy the book but the pacing was very slow and the middle became very boring despite being moving.
laurenrnuhn's review
3.0
loved the story but felt it could have been wrapped up in a lot less pages.
kdferrin's review
I loved the little vignettes of the people and villages of Bulgaria but the modern story made NO sense.
Spoiler
My book group agreed that if we had been writing this book she would have left the urn with the concierge at the hotel and instead this would have been a story about her teaching English.margaret_j_c's review
5.0
This book has officially established Elizabeth Kostova as one of my favorite authors. Her ability to describe a setting is unparalleled; for people who love history and culture as I do, every line is a treat.
mcipher's review
4.0
This book was strange, in that both very little and quite a lot happened. It would be slow and lovely, just describing places, but you felt like so much was happening; and then it would be slow and sad when it went into the past, but again things were going on that weren't action, really, but more mental. The whole story was a slow unfolding discovery in a beautiful place, with some terrible places interspersed.
dannb's review
3.0
LOVED The Historian. This one would have been and easy 4 for me IF! Alexandra wasn't so self-absorbedly (yeah, made up word) obnoxious a character.. And WHAT IS THE POINT OF JACK?!
Alexandra aside, a very lovely dip into Bulgaria and its history.
Alexandra aside, a very lovely dip into Bulgaria and its history.
erica_reads_everything's review against another edition
1.0
All I remember about this book was that I wanted something else like The Historian, which I loved. This was NOT it. I honestly am not sure I even finished it.
wildflowerz76's review
3.0
I REALLY loved The Historian. I gave it 5 stars. So, I was very much looking forward to another book by this author.
And, to be fair, it did start out well. Kostova writes beautifully. I normally get bogged down by too very much description, but the language here is beautiful.
However. Somewhere around a 1/3 of the way through this one, I just got bored. It felt like we kept rehashing the same things over and over again. Odd little details stood out like they were supposed to mean something in the end when they didn't really many anything at all. Each stop on the journey just felt like a repeat of what we'd already heard before. The only one with any real depth was the dead guy and I even got bored with him along the way also.
In the end, I was pretty dissatisfied with this one. The story was interesting, but it just drug on for entirely too long and I found myself just wanting to be done with it already.
And, to be fair, it did start out well. Kostova writes beautifully. I normally get bogged down by too very much description, but the language here is beautiful.
However. Somewhere around a 1/3 of the way through this one, I just got bored. It felt like we kept rehashing the same things over and over again. Odd little details stood out like they were supposed to mean something in the end when they didn't really many anything at all. Each stop on the journey just felt like a repeat of what we'd already heard before. The only one with any real depth was the dead guy and I even got bored with him along the way also.
In the end, I was pretty dissatisfied with this one. The story was interesting, but it just drug on for entirely too long and I found myself just wanting to be done with it already.