Review 4: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
You can't glean much from the title alone of this fantastic novel, and even the back cover's summary won't tell you much. It will tell you how great the novel is, and how well-reviewed it is - rave reviews that are well deserved.
It turns out that there are actually several historians in the novel. The story of the three generations of history hunters is revealed through letters, personal narratives, and real-time events. Fortunately for us, these historians are not boring text book authors, but are gifted with amazing literary prowess. The entire book is filled with amazing descriptions of Europe's countries and people, so much so that it almost counts as a trip to Europe itself.
Of course,the historians don't spend all their time describing their journeys. As they make their way to and from some of the world's loveliest locations, they are constantly doing what historical researchers do best - researching. Although there are a great many fictional books referenced in The Historian, the way they are found and introduced to us is very real. It is easy to imagine Kostova visiting libraries and poring through ancient books and card drawers to find the historical facts upon which to base her novel, getting first hand experience of her characters' lives.
That's not to say that the novel is all about research and old books. To be sure, there is plenty, and the care and reverence the old documents are shown, the true sense of history, and of a historian's awe at feeling it, touching it truly gives a sense of what some researchers' lives must be like - and it's not boring. But it is not the amazing way in which research is described that makes The Historian an exciting novel. It is the way the research comes to life - the very real reasons that the characters are researching and reading, living the dream (or nightmare) of experiencing history as it happens - the present is always influenced by the past, and only a historian can truly understand what that means.
Unfortunately for the heroes of our novel, that means living a nightmare. The Historian relishes in suspense and creepiness, slowly but surely leading us down a dark path. It is a path that has been tread before, and Kostova continues it, making her story a perfect heir to Bram Stoker's Dracula. The past not only comes alive, it could very well be alive - the truth of which is very much what our good historians aim to find out. In doing so, they take the reader on a cross-continental journey through history and the present day, while the past looms like a specter at the edges of their, and our, vision.
End review: A delightfully creepy take on an old legend - buy it!
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiction. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die
Review 3: Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die edited by: Ryan North, Matthew Bernardo, & David Malki !
I believe I first heard of this book through Dr. McNinja's website, where the authors were announcing that they wanted to make Machine of Death the Amazon number one seller the next Tuesday. They succeeded, no thanks to me, but when I eventually saw this book in the store, I had to get it. But not because it was a number one seller for a day - you see, I am only 90% sure I heard about it from Dr McNinja; I could have read about it in countless other webcomics' news posts, since a large portion of its contributors are from that rich community, and I tend to enjoy their work.
Having been a reader/viewer of that community for some time made the book that much better. It was rather fun to see the name of an artist I knew, and exciting to see an illustration in a style I recognized. Before we go further, I must make it clear that the book is not a comic. It is very much a book of short stories. However, each story is accompanied by an illustration. These illustrations can be everything from literal visualizations of a moment in a story, or an interpretive work of art, only understood after the matching story is read. But no matter what style or route the artist chose to take, they all add to the stories, making the book richer as a whole.
By now you are no doubt wondering what the book is about. It is inspired by a comic written by editor Ryan North. In this comic, a character proposes writing a story about a world where everyone knows how they are going to die. Machine of Death is those stories. But the stories are not simply about knowing how you will die. Everyone goes to the doctor, gets a blood test, and out pops a slip of paper with the nature of their demise. There is, of course, a catch. No matter how obvious a manner of death may be, it can come true in unexpected ways. Do you die of OLD AGE? That can mean you live a long, fulfilling life, or you die because an old man fell asleep at the wheel. BOATING ACCIDENT could mean an event on the ocean, or a truck hauling a boat across a land-locked area swerves, sending the boat into your car. In short, no matter how you try to avoid the death on your piece of paper, it will come true.
Twists of fate like this are mentioned throughout the book, but they are not the heart of the book. Like any good fiction, the stories tell us of their people, the way the world affects them, and how they react to that world. There is one common thread in all the stories: the Machine of Death is everywhere, and everyone knows how they are going to die. Other than that thread, the stories run the gamut from the high school girl who's death test will determine which table she sits at during lunch, to the soldier who's test reads "SHOT BY SNIPER." The stories are funny; they are sad; they are cheerful - in short, they are everything you could ask for. Some stories won't appeal to everyone; this is the nature of a collection. But there will certainly be enough that appeal to any reader that they will enjoy the book as a whole.
Unless that reader enjoys morbidity. Of all the feelings or emotions that could be evoked, one might expect this to be the first one felt in a book called "Machine of Death." Strangely, it is not. There may be one or two morbid stories, but the majority don't focus on death - they focus on the lives people live in the shadow of death. It is this focus that makes the book so entertaining. There are so many different types of people out there, and so many different types of death, that you can create any story from their combination - and this book has the best of those stories.
End review: You'd best buy this book!
I believe I first heard of this book through Dr. McNinja's website, where the authors were announcing that they wanted to make Machine of Death the Amazon number one seller the next Tuesday. They succeeded, no thanks to me, but when I eventually saw this book in the store, I had to get it. But not because it was a number one seller for a day - you see, I am only 90% sure I heard about it from Dr McNinja; I could have read about it in countless other webcomics' news posts, since a large portion of its contributors are from that rich community, and I tend to enjoy their work.
Having been a reader/viewer of that community for some time made the book that much better. It was rather fun to see the name of an artist I knew, and exciting to see an illustration in a style I recognized. Before we go further, I must make it clear that the book is not a comic. It is very much a book of short stories. However, each story is accompanied by an illustration. These illustrations can be everything from literal visualizations of a moment in a story, or an interpretive work of art, only understood after the matching story is read. But no matter what style or route the artist chose to take, they all add to the stories, making the book richer as a whole.
By now you are no doubt wondering what the book is about. It is inspired by a comic written by editor Ryan North. In this comic, a character proposes writing a story about a world where everyone knows how they are going to die. Machine of Death is those stories. But the stories are not simply about knowing how you will die. Everyone goes to the doctor, gets a blood test, and out pops a slip of paper with the nature of their demise. There is, of course, a catch. No matter how obvious a manner of death may be, it can come true in unexpected ways. Do you die of OLD AGE? That can mean you live a long, fulfilling life, or you die because an old man fell asleep at the wheel. BOATING ACCIDENT could mean an event on the ocean, or a truck hauling a boat across a land-locked area swerves, sending the boat into your car. In short, no matter how you try to avoid the death on your piece of paper, it will come true.
Twists of fate like this are mentioned throughout the book, but they are not the heart of the book. Like any good fiction, the stories tell us of their people, the way the world affects them, and how they react to that world. There is one common thread in all the stories: the Machine of Death is everywhere, and everyone knows how they are going to die. Other than that thread, the stories run the gamut from the high school girl who's death test will determine which table she sits at during lunch, to the soldier who's test reads "SHOT BY SNIPER." The stories are funny; they are sad; they are cheerful - in short, they are everything you could ask for. Some stories won't appeal to everyone; this is the nature of a collection. But there will certainly be enough that appeal to any reader that they will enjoy the book as a whole.
Unless that reader enjoys morbidity. Of all the feelings or emotions that could be evoked, one might expect this to be the first one felt in a book called "Machine of Death." Strangely, it is not. There may be one or two morbid stories, but the majority don't focus on death - they focus on the lives people live in the shadow of death. It is this focus that makes the book so entertaining. There are so many different types of people out there, and so many different types of death, that you can create any story from their combination - and this book has the best of those stories.
End review: You'd best buy this book!
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