Whooping Llama

Move over Anne Rice, there’s a new vampire novelist in town.

First-timer Elizabeth Kostova has crafted an extraordinary book in The Historian, a retelling of the Dracula myth first popularized by Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel. Just when it seemed there were no stones left unturned and no necks unbitten in this classic tale, Kostova breathes new life into the prince of the undead. Her villain hews closer to the historical Dracula (known to scholars as Vlad Tempes or “Vlad the Impaler”), with bits of Stoker’s blood-sucker thrown in for good measure.

The novel starts out with an unnamed sixteen-year-old narrator living in Amsterdam with her father, Paul (her mother had died when she was young). She has lived a pretty sheltered life but is well traveled and exceptionally bright, especially when it comes to history. One night she discovers some disturbing old letters in her father’s study, along with an ancient book with a woodcut print of a dragon in the center. She confronts her father with these items, and he slowly begins to reveal their history. Apparently, Dracula was still kickin’ after a half-millennium and dear old dad had once been hot on his trail. The ensuing adventure takes readers across Europe: from Oxford to Istanbul, Paris to Budapest, in search of a pasty guy with exceptionally long cuspids.

Kostova has a gift for managing compex plots while maintaining readability. Like Stoker’s original novel, most of The Historian is told through letters and journal entries. Thus, the narrator of the story is constantly changing (although Paul does most of the talking). The plot could have easily been lost in the bustle, but Kostova writes finely-crafted narratives for each character, each with an appropriate voice that keeps the story clear and cohesive. The sheer number of characters contained in these six hundred-some pages is also impressive (actually, make that “astounding”). There are allies and enemies in every locale visited, some appearing in several locations. Under the quill of most writers a cast this size would be overwhelming, but the author handles the task with the grace of a Victorian novelist. Yes, some of the eastern European names begin to run together after a while, but the important characters stand out from the crowd magnificently. Well-planned prose indeed.

Kostova knows her subject well. The history that props up this masterfully-spun yarn is thorough and compelling. Much of what is said about Dracula (aside from the vampirism and undead status) comes directly from Vlad’s life. The military shrewdness, sadist tendencies, and bloody conflicts with the

Ottoman Empire—all unfortunately true. The supernatural aspects of the novel are obviously fabricated, but the rest of the novel is so painstakingly researched that it’s often difficult to tell where history ends and fiction begins. This is one of The Historian’s many charms: the novel is just as convincing when deviating from fact as when wallowing in it.

Personally, I’ve never been one for monster stories, but this one hooked me. The Historian is one of those page-turners that will keep you up all night…not from fright, but from an inability to lay the thing down. Not too convenient if you’ve got an early class, but it’s worth every minute of sleep lost.

The old adage says one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it works. With its shiny gold embellishments and jet-black cover, you just know The Geographer’s Library is going to be cool read—and it is.

The Geographer’s Library, author Jon Fasman’s first novel, is a delightful tale about the death of a crusty old professor with a last name that’s extremely difficult to pronounce. The details of his death are unclear (was it murder? was he just really old?) but nobody pays it much mind…until intrepid reporter Paul Tomm takes the case. What starts out as a simple obituary assignment turns into a full-scale investigation involving alchemy, history professors, a beautiful music teacher (read: token love interest), a cop who lives by his own rules, and a bartender named “Albanian Eddie.” The more Paul digs the darker and more mysterious the dead old guy becomes. Strange things start to happen as his history is revealed until—you go buy the book to find out what happens.

Fasman’s writing style won me over immediately. The narratives he pens for Paul are light-hearted and lilting, bordering on flippancy even as things get terribly serious. This comes in especially handy when characters start to die. The irreverent tone keeps this book out of the realm of depressing noir: it’s dark enough to be cool but not gloomy enough to bring you down. It’s too bad Fasman can’t keep the ball rolling long enough to put his literary prowess on full display.

See, The Geographer’s Library is almost two separate books. It’s set up in alternating chapters that flip between present day Connecticut and various places in the past (the Soviet Union of 1989, 12^th century Sicily, Estonia in 1974, etc.). It would be a cool concept if Fasman pulled it off, but he didn’t and it leaves the book feeling as jerky as rush hour traffic. Aside from ruining the flow of the novel, his prose doesn’t exactly shine when he’s trying to write like a Russian. The back story he tries to build is so fragmented from constant globe hopping the reader is always wondering what’s going on and who’s involved. Maybe that’s the point, but the constant disorientation left me with motion sickness.

The author also has a bad habit of using big, unfamiliar words when smaller and more appropriate words would work just as well or better. For example, “gesticulate” (which is apparently Fasman’s favorite word) is sprinkled liberally throughout the novel, feeling more uncomfortable with each use. The tendency isn’t bad enough to cause serious problems and I admire writers who try to improve their audience’s vocabulary, but conciseness is next to Godliness. Hemingway would agree.

Despite all that, this book’s positive attributes far outweigh its flaws. The Geographer’s Library is a quick and exciting read, the perfect sort of brain-rotting novel that eases textbook fatigue. I just hope Jon Fasman has his literary demons exorcised before he tries to write another book.

Rating: 4 out of 5