More than one story takes place in this long novel, but for me, only one story felt genuine--that of Stoyan Lazarov.
Two narratives involve Alexandra, a young American woman who comes to Bulgaria to teach English. One narrative involves her childhood in the Appalachians and the disappearance of her brother Jack on a family hike. This story, told through occasional flashbacks, involves Alexandra's guilt at her last words to Jack. The contemporary narrative follows Alexandria in Bulgaria.
In 2008, Alexandra arrives in Sofia. She helps three people into a taxi and inadvertently keeps one of their bags. After they've left, Alexandra gets into another taxi and discovers her mistake. She is dismayed to realize that she has an urn with the ashes of someone called Stoyan Lazarov. Her attempts to return the remains will have her and her intrepid taxi driver traveling from one site to another throughout the book. She doesn't speak Bulgarian, but remarkably, her driver Bobby is willing to take her from village to village despite increasing danger. Yep, that sounds reasonable.
Obviously, Elizabeth Kostova loves Bulgaria, but the amount of detail that does not advance the story becomes an encumbrance and the journey itself becomes repetitive--this village, that village, into the mountains, back down again. Most of this week long adventure would have been spent in travel.
But about half-way through the book, we begin to get the story of Stoyan Lazarov, a gifted musician. Communist occupation forces took over Bulgaria after the war, and postwar Bulgaria was a dangerous place. Stoyan happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and became a political prisoner without trial. Sent to a labor camp with hundreds of others who often did not even know what they had done wrong, Stoyan endures the horrific conditions by retreating into his mind and his music.
Stoyan's story is the important part of The Shadow Land. The plotting on the journey portions made the book slow going, the back story about Jack did not contribute to the plot.
Stoyan's story, however, has a vitality and coherence that the rest of the book lacks. The Shadow Land looks behind the Iron Curtain in the years after the conclusion of WWII and provides a reminder of the kinds of abuse society can inflict on its citizens.
It takes half the book to get to Stoyan's story, and many will abandon the book before they get there, but Stoyan made the experience worth it for me.
From a Kirkus Review: "Kostova’s passion and tragic sense of history, along with jewellike character studies, almost make up for the overplotting and repetitiveness as she drums her points home."
Read in January; blog review scheduled for March 27.
NetGalley/Random House/Ballentine
Literary fiction. April 11, 2017. Print length: 496 pages.
I almost didn't want to read your review. Haha. I have this one to read. I loved The Historian and am hopeful but cautious about this one. I really like the premise. I look forward to getting to Stoyan's story.
ReplyDeleteI loved The Historian! This one not as much, but still a book I'm glad I read. The parts about Bulgaria after the war revealed so much about what the world ignored about what went on behind the Iron Curtain. Stoyan Lazarov is an unforgettable character.
DeleteSometimes an author tries to put too much into a book; it sounds like that happened with this one. I'll probably still give it a try because I liked Kostova's first novel so much, but I'm glad for the warning that the first half might be a little slow and to keep reading 'til I get to the good parts. :)
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Kostova is an American who did her post graduate work in Slavonic music and met her husband in Bulgaria. Her love for the country and its people shines through the novel. I did find the first of it slow, but once she got to the history of the country in the aftermath of WWII and began Stoyan's story, I was hooked. You are right, some authors do try to include too much, and the story in the present didn't appeal to me nearly as much as the story in the past, but it was worth it. :)
DeleteThis sounds like it has a good premise but the slow pace kinds of put me on the fence. We shall see. ;)
ReplyDeleteOthers may like the pace better than I did, but the woman can certainly write. I found the story in the past fascinating and informative. I mean--I knew nothing about Bulgaria before reading the book and my curiosity was aroused. :)
DeleteToo bad this one was a bit disappointing especially since you liked The Historian. This one is a chunky one too. Would better editing to make it shorter have helped it do you think?
ReplyDeleteYes, for me it would have improved the book. I don't know about for everyone, but the story that took up the most time dragged. It wasn't the length, really;The Historian was longer, but kept my interest the entire time. The chase around the country in the present started strong, but lost steam as the moved back in forth from village to village.
DeleteThe portions about Stoyan and Bugaria after the war were riveting.