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Review title: Literature This Isn't
Product review: Literature this isn't. (I put it down twice as "unable to finish") No discernable plot. Rather paste board characters. No real action. Part travelogue (Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania in the 1930s-70), part mystery (do vampires still live?), part romance it's simply too long, too convoluted (multiple narrators) and, frankly, somewhat immature. I thought it needed several applications of an editor's red pencil and better judgment and was surprised Little Brown published it; but I guess they knew what they were doing because it has been a big hit. As this is written I note Ms Kostova has a new novel just out and I wish her well. Just hope she's learned to write with greater brevity and better story telling skill.
