The Historian

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - contents, reviews, and summary of the book click here.

"To you, perceptive reader, I bequeath my history...."

I borrowed it from the library because my friend Eunice kept on tweeting about it. So I decided to give it a try. Since it was literally a rent, I had to finish it in a specific amount of time. And what amazing two weeks that was.

It was about Vlad Tepes the Impaler or Vlad Drakulya as we know him now. My history is so poor that I didn't know that there's a certain Prince Dracula that actually existed and cruelly ruled over Romania in the past. It was narrated by a nameless daughter who found out about a book which had a dragon symbol in her father's library and the quest started from there.

The story traveled through ancient europe which took me to a ride with them. When they were traveling through a train from country to country, it seemed like you were sitting beside them enjoying the views. They went to a lot a lot of places and Kostova certainly has a knack for storytelling. Monasteries, hidden manuscripts, churches, festivals, libraries, countryside. Even folk songs seemed relevant and entertaining the way she described it.

It didn't have the cinematic effect of a Dan Brown suspenseful scenes, but it surpassed Angels and Demons or The Lost Symbol for that matter in giving literary fill-in-the-blanks-ambot-indi ko-madescribe-sa-kanami-on. I was scanning through it for the first few pages but the part that got me was the part where the nameless she wrote that Drakula was still alive.

In her foreword in the beginning she seemed to tell its readers that her story was true and that somehow she gave a hint that she experienced it herself. The way she wrote it was such a masterpiece, I wanted to believe its content. LOL But I guess my faith is just too strong that I'm reading it all as fictional except for the fact that Vlad Tepes and the countries do exist.

For some reason it also made me realize how fortunate and blessed we are to be living independently with freedom nowadays. I mean, just reading the word impalement for the first time sent shivers down my spine. The set of tortures they used to do was just horrible, and again, di ko mahanap ang word na mas horrible pa sa horrible.

And eventhough I want to see this on film, I don't want to ruin its mere essence by comparing it to the era of sparkly and cute vampires they're showing on TV and the big screen. The Historian is much more better than that in my opinion. It's concept of the vampires that they're afraid of the the sun, cloves of garlic and crucifix was probably the one that made it more believable.

The letters featured in this book were written with meticulous hands so beautifully. You could dive into literary masterpiece and it's okay to be drowned in it.

I just hope I get to read a story as entertaining as this that features the hidden history and secret of Southeast Asia.. haha, so I could somehow relate man.

but anyways, so much for my pretentious review. LOL

basta, if you guys have time, read it.