Bought the book few weeks ago but I’m really REALLY struggling to keep my attention placed into the story. The first chapters are slow and continues to be so and I am feeling frustrated about it.
It’s not like I can’t swallow the story, I like it but her writing is just not engaging to me at all 😮💨 I can sense the tension pilling up and I want to devour it as much as I can with free time. Somehow there’s too many intricate details that doesn’t seem to have relation to the main revelation. Just putting the tone of the story sure, but Jesus I have not come across this kind of reading before.
It’s like going for a ride in a roller-coaster yet the tracks and it’s wheels aren’t greased. What an uncomfortable activity.
I read it had been in the works for 10 years before it was published. It makes sense if its partly done like a journal, a diary of the authors real experience mushed into fiction that is about Dracula.
In those 10 years the beat of how the story is told got dulled. Who knows how many times it has been edited out. I try to understand those points.
You know, what I feel is like being tricked into buying the story of Dracula which is all in the cover and summary. To note, I have not finished the book yet. I get that it leans more into real history then sparkling little of fiction on it.
70% ‘real’ history ; 15% fiction ; 15% authors ‘personal’ history
I also feel like this is the type of book when you are located in a really cozy and ambient environment where it would be easier to absorb the tone of the story. Not in a chaotic one where reading a book is supposed to be an escape.
It’s hard to escape with The Historian.
Because I strongly sense that I am reading not straightforwardly about Dracula and his menace to the characters but it focused more on the life of the girl. Its like, ughhhh it’s really testing my patience.
Anyways, that’s all I wanted to say. Peace.
by Chariovilts
4 Comments
I read that book when it came out. I bumped into it at B&N. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.
This isn’t a book for someone who is waiting for the punchline—this is very much a “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey that matters” kind of book. It’s one of my favorites and has been for almost 20 years, but it makes you work for the payoff. Don’t give up, but cut yourself some slack. I’ve reread it a lot and I still find passages that I don’t remember reading before.
I loved that book but I get it. It feels more like a long wander with very slowly increasing concerns than it does going through a haunted house. I love slow burns though, I almost disliked when it picked up speed toward the end.
I felt like the end did not justify the means. I enjoyed it so much but that ending. Ugh, what a let down. Although I will say I had an “ohh” moment about the ending after reading Dracula itself. I’m still mad about the end but I guess I get it now.