Thursday, June 10, 2010

Kostova's The Swan Thieves

I thought that Elizabeth Kostova had done an outstanding job with her novel The Historian until I read her second novel, The Swan Thieves.  Without even going into the plot, I can tell you that her descriptions of artists and their paintings and their feelings have caused me to wonder where my sketch book is and if I have any charcoal (and I am not an artist by any means). This novel deals with several kinds of obsession: an artist's with his subject, women with their lovers, a psychiatrist who must help his patient.
          Do not attempt to read this novel unless  you want to spend time thinking and lightly analyzing behaviors, thoughts, and new ideas. Kostova employs the flashback device of intermingling more than one time period and story, but unlike most, the flashbacks are not distracting, are fascinating, and are easily followed. I now am anxiously awaiting her next novel...

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