The Historian

What a ride this was.

A daughter finally persuades her father to take her with on his trips throughout Europe for his work. One day, she asks him to tell her a story, so he begins to tell her of an incredible adventure of his college days where he meets the mother she never knew.

I have never read a historical fiction where it was letter based. I heard from the book recommendation group I am a part of on Facebook that apparently this is very common right now [??], so I guess I am late to the game, ha-ha. From the experience I had I do not have any real complaints, but I can see where this could get very old when it is done over and over. I did not see the point of even having a current plot where the daughter follows her father and having to read so many letters that he writes to her continuing on with where he left off with his storytelling. At least 90% of the book is flashback and letters, so, again, what was the point of even putting in a present time plot?? Despite this, the language of it was actually captivating.

When I gave my husband the short version of what I was reading, I thought to myself how much this reminds me of The DaVinci Code with all of the intellectual scavenger hunting with someone being a descendant to someone famous.

The thing that I got caught up on was how step-by-step the storyline was; it was getting to a point where it started to sound very repetitive. They find something, gotta go somewhere, huge amount of doubt in success, they succeed, meet someone else who just happens to be just as obsessed as they are with Dracula, find another clue, travel somewhere else. Of course they have to keep going, or else that would be a waste of a good storyline. So this point and the point above really gets me thinking, is it even a good book because it literally just rides on the coattails of engaging writing?? I do not think I have read a book of 642 pages that quick in a great, long while, so there had to be something good about it.

I apologize that this review may not give you much to go off of for recommendation. When reading it I enjoyed it, but once it was over I guess it leaves a little… grime [??] in your mouth. I know I am not planning on keeping this, or rereading it; the one time adventure was enough for me. If you want to inquire about The Historian, you can find it here.

7/10