The Swan Thieves: A Novel

by Elizabeth Kostova

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe has a perfectly ordered life - solitary, perhaps, but full of devotion to his profession and the painting hobby he loves. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. Desperate to understand the secret that torments this genius, Marlowe embarks on a journey that leads him into the lives of the women closest to Oliver and a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism. Kostova's masterful new novel travels from American cities to the coast of Normandy; from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth, from young love to last love. The Swan Thieves is a story of obsession, history's losses, and the power of art to preserve hope.

• ISBN10: 0316065781
• ISBN13: 9780316065788
• Publish Date: 12 January 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Little Brown and Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 564
• Language: English

Reviews

[Terri M. LeBlanc]

I read Kostova's first book, The Historian, and was thrilled to read her second novel, hoping for something just as engaging. The Swan Thieves is sadly disappointing. There is a lack of connection between the present timeline and the historical timeline in the novel. The writing seemed stilted causing the storyline to stop and start. As a result I was unable to connect with the plot, characters and themes.

Robert Oliver, who seems to be the main character, says almost nothing throughout the entire novel. The other character that is the focus of the novel, Beatrice, only makes an appearance in a handful of chapters and short letters scattered among the 550 or so pages. It's difficult to connect with characters who are driving the plot when they won't speak and make rare appearances.

In the end, the reveal of the mystery of why Oliver attacked the painting was excellent, however, I don't feel Kostova set the plot up to make the reveal as powerful as it could have been.

[Eve1972]

I had such high hopes for this, especially since I loved The Historian, alas this was just an OK read, slow moving and about 200 pages to long...

[empressbrooke]

The Swan Thieves, Elizabeth Kostova's sophomore effort after [b:The Historian|10692|The Historian|Elizabeth Kostova|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51D6T04WTFL._SL75_.jpg|3061272], is altogether a very satisfying experience from beginning to end. It's nearly 600 pages long, and luckily it uses the pages well. It doesn't lag or become dull in places; instead, it moves forward at a slow but steady pace and reveals secrets bit by bit. Kostova lays out the pieces quite clearly so that even a half-attentive reader will figure out the secrets before they're explicitly confirmed. Some reviews have suggested this is a flaw, but I'm not convinced that the author was trying to make any of the revelations shocking. Just from the way she chose to reveal bits here and there, I think that the reader is supposed to make these connections along with the main character. After all, the main character says more than once that he suspected certain truths long before he finds his proof, and so should the reader.

I was genuinely interested in all the characters and their stories, and just like in The Historian, Kostova used her powerful descriptive ability to bring things to life - rather than the Eastern European cities that popped out of The Historian's pages, The Swan Thieves is full of descriptions of paintings and sketches that don't need any visual illustration for me to picture them in my mind.

The author could have fleshed out the ending encounter between the main character and his patient a bit more; endings seem to be Kostova's weakness, but this book's ending was far and away much better than the strange letdown of The Historian's closure.

Definitely recommended, and I already look forward to the author's next book.