The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Elizabeth Kostova's first book, The Historian (a story about the infamous Dracula), met public acclaim quickly and hit right before the Twilight vampire craze began. This, Kostova's second work of fiction, is a story of obsession, mental illness, the power of art, and the human ability to hope and love.

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe is a psychiatrist who lives by himself, paints on the evenings and weekends, and likes his solitary, simple life. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to understand the secret that torments this genius, a journey that will lead him into the lives of the women closest to Robert Oliver and toward a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

I am going to get my gripe out right off the bat. I've got to say it but I don't want to dwell; this book was really long. I listened to it and it was 17 audio discs. The book is 564 pages. Aside from the Bible, I think this might be the longest book I have ever read. I should have know that the book was going to be so long because The Historian was so long. At times, the book felt slow (when too much information was dispursed) and then at times it flew by (when Kostova didn't tell you everything and you HAD TO FIND OUT. I am of the mind that less is more!). It wasn't until the last disc (about the last 50 pages) when it is revealed the reason behind the title, which was kind of frustrating.

Ok. That aside, Kostova does an excellent job of creating believable characters and characters with whom the reader would want to be friends. As the reader, I was able to listen to the characters grow. Creating realistic characters is quite a feat and one that I apprecaite.

Another excellent aspect is the amount of research I know it took to write this book. The acknowledgements at the end of the book are mammouth. Kostova did research on psyciatry, 19th century authors, art school, being a professor, modern day psch wards, the medical profession, being an artist...There are so many things to discuss with this book and it would make a great book club book if the book club members can get past how long the book is.

There were great plot twists and the ending was a surprise to me. Good book. Very good listen.