Book Review: The Swan Thieves: A Novel - by Elizabeth Kostova

So I picked up this book because I saw it in a magazine and then it was on the past best-sellers cart at the library. I had doubts because I read Kostova's last book The Historian and thought it was just ok. Ok meaning - slightly boring at times and a bit too long - and I don't really remember it. A good book I can remember. A bad book I can remember. An ok book just sits there in no where land and every now and then I'll be like did I like that or not and the answer is usually not so much. Still I took The Swan Thieves home and started reading because it was on a 2 week loan and the book is long!

The story flip flops between a few characters: Marlow, Mary, Kate and Beatrice (who lives in the late 1800's) and revolves around Marlow trying to figure out why a painter Robert Oliver went crazy on a photo called Leda and tried to stab it. Mary and Kate are his ex-lover and wife respectively and Beatrice is a painter who Oliver is obsessed with. Following me still?

First - the mystery is pretty easy to guess. Kostova gives a pretty big clue in the beginning of the story and Beatrice pretty much confirms it as she goes along.

Second - the story is long and kind of boring (hence why I didn't like The Historian). The book could have been shortened by a good 150 pages at least. Kate and Mary's parts aren't that interesting - they just highlight how Oliver went off the deep end and half of what they say could be summed up - do we really care how they met and the painting classes Mary takes (I didn't). I found myself actually skimming over their parts and the endless descriptions of useless stuff. For example, Marlow visits some painter in Acapulco and Kostova spends forever describing the hotel, the area, the painter's house... skim, skim, and more skimming.

I'm only hoping no one in book club picks either of her books and I'm stuck rereading them because I can guarantee I'm going to read Amazon reviews and random websites for a summary. Three out of five stars at best - I'm actually more inclined to say two but I don't want to be too mean. The story is actually interesting and the mystery if you don't pay attention or maybe with fewer clues is a good one - I just think it could have been better done and in a shorter manner.