Swan Thieves Audiobook - A Review

Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova (review from Hachette) Audiobook

Product Details

• Pub. Date: January 2010
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Format: Compact Disc

• ISBN-13: 9781600247453
• ISBN: 1600247458
• Edition Description: Unabridged

Synopsis

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. 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.

Ranging from American museums 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, the losses of history, and the power of art to preserve human hope.

My Thoughts:

There's something to be said when you hear an audiobook with great narrator's. When you're listening to a book, the narrator's have such an important role. They can either kill or bring the book to life. The narrator's of this book were nothing short of extraordinary. Treat, Anne, Erin, Sarah and John, were amazing in the parts they had to play.

I loved hearing about all the art and the art processes. It made me want to go to Paris even more than I wanted to, and see all the museums full of art. To wander the halls and feel the history deep within.

The characters were fascinating. I found myself wanting to know how Robert ticked, how he had fallen into such a pit of mental instability. Andrew is an interesting sort of doctor, who at first went beyond his duty to help Robert, but in time found himself just as drawn into Roberts life. I think figuring out why Robert attacked the painting, became more of a necessity for even him.

The french sections of this book were amazing. I loved these interludes of letters from Beatrice to Olivier. I felt myself being drawn back into time into a world so very different from ours. Their story was fascinating and I found it interesting how all the characters in the book fell along similar paths in their lifetimes.

This is not the sort of story where you fall right in and follow the story to the final explosive outcome. This book slowly wraps itself around you like vines and immerses you completely into the story. I found myself completely involved in the book. I would even go so far as to say it's a mystery of sorts but not in the standard of terms. There were a few confusing moments but that's to be expected when you're trying to unravel a story of this magnitude.

If your the sort of reader who has the patience to sit back and slowly work your way through a book, I would highly recommend this audiobook.