Elizabeth Kostova - The Shadow Land

A young American woman, Alexandra Boyd, has traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria, hoping that life abroad will salve the wounds left by the loss of her beloved brother. Soon after arriving in this elegant East European city, however, she helps an elderly couple into a taxi--and realizes too late that she has accidentally kept one of their bags. Inside she finds an ornately carved wooden box engraved with a name: Stoyan Lazarov. Raising the hinged lid, she discovers that she is holding an urn filled with human ashes.
As Alexandra sets out to locate the family and return this precious item, she will first have to uncover the secrets of a talented musician who was shattered by political oppression--and she will find out all too quickly that this knowledge is fraught with its own danger.
Elizabeth Kostova's new novel is a tale of immense scope that delves into the horrors of a century and traverses the culture and landscape of this mysterious country. Suspenseful and beautifully written, it explores the power of stories, the pull of the past, and the hope and meaning that can sometimes be found in the aftermath of loss.

Comment: This is the third book written and published by author Elizabeth Kostova, whose name got very famous after the release of the successful first book, The Historian. I did read and like that first book a lot but since several years have passed, I wasn't paying attention to her other work and, by reading some comments, if seems her second book didn't follow the good steps of the first. 

This third book was both liked and disliked (by those on goodreads for instance) but the blurb seemed promising enough and I got quite eager to read it.

In this book we meet Alexandra Boyd, a young woman who travels to Bulgaria to teach English but her hidden motivation to have chosen this country in specific is because her deceased brother talked about visiting it one day and Alexandra hopes to honor him somehow. Her experience in a new country starts a little off because her taxi driver takes her to the wrong place and while Alexandra is at the entrance of a much fancier hotel than her booked hostel, she sees three people trying to get a cab and ends up helping them. Only after they leave and Alexandra tries to get her own cab, does she realize she kept one of their bags among her things and discovers human ashes. 

This is followed by a travel adventure with the helpful driver of the taxi she gets next, in the hopes she can find those people again and return them what is theirs. However, as Alexandra keeps going and meeting new people, secrets come undone and danger follows her and those she is close to...

The idea of reading a story about an apparent lonely woman who is still living with the ghosts of her guilt and loss and need to cope with what she cannot undo seemed moody enough to be the base for a great story and, perhaps, a romance. At least this is what I imagined by reading the blurb but now that I have finished the book I can't help but thinking that is very sad this story wasn't more objective or edited because there's a lot of content that was not very appealing in how it was presented.

Overall, this was a good story and it had all the elements to be a solid one: the adventurous but still mourning heroine, a sudden meeting and a flash of attraction to the youngest man of the three people she helps, a friendly and instructed taxi driver to go along and help her in her journey, a good enough cast of secondary characters that offer the clues needed when it's necessary, a sort of villain hidden in the shadows but slowly following what happens, a very rich and also instructive piece of the History of Bulgaria and a twist in the end that is supposed to justify everything the reader has gone through along with the protagonists.

The problem for me was very simple. This is a very detailed story, there are many things going on and I must say the writing is beautiful. The biggest problem is that all this happens through too many pages! There was no need to extend the plot to the point it went, there is way too much repetition, there are too many scenes that don't add anything and it takes too long for the characters to get at certain places, to discover certain information and despite the great prose I confess I was bored many times and that did remove some enjoyment from what mattered most.

I can't tell if the author wanted to add as much details as she could but this is the problem of too much at the same time, one loses focus and things start losing importance. A heavier edition process wouldn't have ruined the prose or the atmosphere the author intended but perhaps it could have helped with maintaining things easier to follow.

Besides, there are two stories in one: we have Alexandra and her pursuits and we have the story of the man whose ashes she carries with her. Both were well mashed but, again, not enough focus on anything.

Part of the story of the man is told by other characters, so things are quite patchy and divided. I found this to not create the suitable mood (which is of suspense and thrill) the author aimed for but instead made me loose interest. When we finally get to the end, I was more eager to finish than to know the secrets and I think I didn't appreciate it as much as it really deserved.

The end was ok, all things considered but I admit I wasn't as moved as I would have hoped for, had the story touched me more or grabbed me strongly instead of me being bored with a good part of it.

The writing, like I said, was beautiful, evocative, the descriptions of Bulgaria were fascinating and do make one feel interested in going there or, at least to google some places mentioned. For me personally is just so sad I couldn't feel more emotional about the plot.

Grade: 6/10