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Title: An editor, please!
Review: Somewhere in this novel's 676 pages is a marvelous 300 page thriller. Alas, Kostova's editors did not even attempt to find it. Through the premise of the novel is an intriguing one, the tale, like Stoker's Dracula, wanders quite a bit as the book proceeds. At times, I resorted to reading the first sentence of every paragraph until I found some actual movement in the plot. This strategy proved necessary over dozens of pages. The minute detail accompanying nonessential events becomes quite frustrating after the first hundred pages or so. Another problem with the book is the lack of distinctive characterization. Just about all of the characters have similar and prolix narrative voices. There is a real absence of gender difference in the characters' voices as well. In all, a disappointing book.
