Customer Reviews

The Blood Countess: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

As a graduate student in the area of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, I always go into historical novels with a bit of skepticism but also hopeful optimism. Codrescu's account of 17th century Hungary and the historical character of Countess Bathory met my optimistic hopes. The brutality, suspicion and general hardship of the time was obviously well-researched, as was the totalitarian power of the noble class which provoked peasant revolts like the one described in the book. The characters were possibly not developed enough, particularly the modern-day Count Bathory-Kereshtur about whom I would have liked to know more. But the complex psychological motivations of Elizabeth Bathory were developed quite well and in a chilling and descriptive manner. The descriptions of violent acts were perhaps a bit graphic, but relevant within the historical context for the period and place in which they occur. Overall a book definitely worth reading, but not for the squeamish.

Codrescu is a talented and intelligent writer, one who understands that no amount of gore and violence can replace the magic of the true storyteller's art. What Elizabeth Bathory does to the young women who fall prey to her bizzare obsession is clearly secondary to why she does these things. Despite the rather lurid title, this book runs on taut psychological suspense.

Codrescu's dual plot, or tale-within-a-tale, is presented in the frame of a courtroom confession. What propelled this reader through the book was not a tawdry "whodunit" conundrum, but a desire to see when and why the two plotlines would converge. Codrescu evokes character and place so skillfully that the reader experiences the same double vision as the characters themselves.

The only real disappointment comes at the very end. After so much build up, so much allusion, Codrescu's denouement feels somewhat hurried, with a few threads left hanging, a few characters not quite fully utilized.

Nonetheless "The Blood Countess" is a powerful, beautifully written novel steeped in real history and the darkness of the human heart

While Codrescu's prose is clear and elegant, all those showy words can't conceal this novel's true, trashy nature. Countess Bathory is indeed an intriguing personage, but the story of her life is contorted by Codrescu's heavy-handed storyline and his unsuccessful attempts at weaving two disparate stories into one effective drama. The gratuitious sex and violence, while intended to be shocking, comes off as cheap, crude, and rather embarrassing. Those interested in the history of Countess Elizabeth Bathory should look elsewhere.

I'm half Hungarian, and have been to Hungary many times. I'm 13, and I thought that this book was something I shouldn't have read! I feel that some of the sexuality was not necessary, but in a way, it explained some of Countess Bathory's actions. It was hard to finish the book (I read it in 3 days) because I felt disgusted and frustrated that Countess Bathory herself was not tortured as she had done to innocent girls. I threw the book at my wall a couple of times in disgust. This is a very disturbing book, and I don't recommend it to someone my age!

I understand the so-so reviews here, but I think most people are missing the biggest lure of this novel : Giving Bathory a face and motive. Because there is so little written and even know about Elizabeth, no one today can put even possibly begin to understand her or pass judgement. But this book gives her a story. I thought it was well written and interesting. Yes, there is graphic sexual and tortuous material, but to anyone who knows even the slightest bit of information on Elizabeth must realize that these aspects were primary in her life.

The second plot including Elizabeth's ancestor was fascinating as well, Codrescu writes beautifully. This book is impossible to put down and humanizing Elizabeth. A good read all around.

If nothing else, this story will remain imprinted in my memory throughout my life. "The Blood Countess" is absolutely the most graphic book I have ever read (and I've been reading horror/gothic/sci fi for a long time), and yet, through all my disgust and horror, I found myself unable to look away from the scene written before me. This, I finally concluded, was not necessarily because of the innate urge for humans to gawk at car accidents and watch Jerry Springer, but because I was curiously attracted to the mad genius of Elizabeth.

Although the modern-day secondary story annoyed me with its shallowness and (mostly) irrelevance to the "true" plot, I truly admired the author's writing style, and the few moments of insight into Elizabeth's psyche touched me. Please, gentle reader, do not think that I would release a monster from its due blame - but I nearly cried the few times the Countess actually showed her vulnerability. How alone, how lost, how angry she must have felt to do such things! Her vision of reality was so skewed and disjointed that I felt I must mourn for the genius that could have done so much, but instead felt compelled to cause suffering.

The use of sexuality is extremely powerful in this novel. In my darkest dreams and nightmares, I could never have conceived of such horrible torture, and at the same time the sexual naivete of Elizabeth. The fact that so many of her victims were tortured and murdered sexually simply adds to the disturbing image of the Countess. The reader can clearly see each point at which the Countess is faced with a glimpse of her own fragility and humanity - she wavers on the brink of self-understanding, then the madness rips it from her and she resumes her ritualistic pasttimes with a newfound viciousness.

The author's perception of European witchcraft during this time in history is rather interesting - those who are familiar with "The Burning Times" as they are called in the neo-pagan communites may be shocked and horrified at the idea that women during this time had indeed incorporated the Devil into ther rituals and spells. It disgusted me, too, at first. A couple of things saved this plot-device for me: A) this is a work of (mostly) fiction, and B) It makes sense that after a few hundred years of being told that midwifery, herbal lore and women's spirituality was evil and wrong, that the women would come to believe it as well, whether they practiced it or not.

On the whole, a great story with a lot of filler. It seemed to me as if the author threw the "real-time" scenes in to fill the story to novel-length. This, I found disappointing. I should have just skipped over these parts, because they seemed unrealistic and flat.

I honestly do not know how much of Elizabeth's story is historically accurate. It may be that this novel is all fabrication and assumptions - but knowing nothing about Hungarian history, I found the intricate details fascinating. The story has a great flavor - although the explicit violence and sex may leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Andre Codrescu's "The Blood Countess: A Novel" first is a description of Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th Century Hungarian countess who ruled a kingdom in her warrior husband's absence. Elizabeth was an able administrator, but she is known instead for her brutal and mechanical fascination with depravity and torture. Elizabeth's obsession with youth caused her to torture and murder 650 indentured maidservants at her castle, often bathing in their blood to restore her own youthfulness.

"The Blood Countess ..." also is the fictional interwoven story of Drake Bathory-Kereshtur, a journalist and direct descendent of Elizabeth who fled to the United States during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. During his return visit to Hungary after the fall of Communism, Drake becomes involved in a coup attempt to reinstate the hereditary Hungarian monarchy, and with his acquaintances Drake becomes entangled in Elizabeth Bathory's depraved heritage.

Andre Codrescu's descriptions of depravity are troubling despite the current popularity of macabre entertainment (of which "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" is the tip of the iceberg). Yet Andre Codrescu is a craftsman and a wordsmith, and his own experiences with (gothic) Romanian culture are reflected throughout this fictional novel. Codrescu's descriptions of depravity create an atmosphere of hopelessness that reminds me of "The Gulag Archipelago" by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn. IMO this wonderful portrayal of hopelessness elevates "The Blood Countess: A Novel" from a good read to a brutal work of art.

This reminds me something of an uncensored Grimm's Fairy Tales, though far more graphic in nature (and without all the bothersome morality). No disgusting, bloody, pornographic detail was spared. More historical facts would have been nice, but let's face it: if Elizabeth Bathory wasn't such a disturbed and sadistic killer, no one would have ever bothered to research her life at all.

The supporting characters (From Countess Bathory's time, at least) are truly fascnating and seem well researched. Her uncle, George Thurzo for instance, the magistrate who invented or improved upon several torture devices, can only be of the line of Thurzos at Emperor Sigmund's court during the mid-1400's. Her mentor, the Friar Silvestri, is equally interesting, though many of his exploits are obviously exagerated from hearsay.

One wonders, though, why the subplot about the 'last of the Bathory line' is needed at all. The reader never finds out how Elizabeth lives beyond the grave or exactly what she wants with the character. It is, so far as I can tell, one big metaphor that never leads anywhere. I found myself skimming through every other chapter just to get to the parts about the real Bathorys.

Nonetheless, while reading the book it is easy for the reader to discern what is fact, what is fiction, and what the author simply takes some artistic licnse with. I must admit that what I expected was more of a historical novel, but I have no regrets about reading it.

If you are anything like me, and were curious to read about the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory; this book is for you. The story is fictional but does contain some historical truth. This story follows not only Elizabeth's life in the 16th century but also her ancestors life in the 20th century. One who has more in common with her then he ever imagined.
The story is vivid in describing scenes of sex and gore and may not be recomended to some readers. It is shocking even for someone who is not easily bothered by such themes. At parts you wonder how accuratly the author is describing Elizabeth's life but once you give the writer some liberty you can become enraptured in the story. Personally, any story involving such a wicked and baffling woman in history is going to have appeal.

I will not say that this was the worst book I ever read, nor will I call it the best. To merely shrug it off as "mediocrre" would be an injustice. So, I must elaborate. On the one hand, Codrescu is clearly gifted in the use of the English language. He brings forth delicate half-tones and nuances as well as straight-forward descriptions in such a way that merely reading this book becomes a pleasure, not for the content, but for the sheer beauty of the work. His talent for description and penetration into the soul of the character (and ergo, by extension, the soul of the reader), is such that the very tone of the book has a dark, burning beauty. However, that is not the whole of the novel, I would that it were. The characters, while beautifully portrayed, are two-dimensional. One gets too small a glimpse of most of them to really determine a relationship between reader and character. The plot suffers a dire fate as well. For all the exquisite language and description Codrescu uses to link the past and present, he does not quite accomplish it, and the two levels of the book stay separated. All in all, this book is worth reading. It is by no means a masterpiece, but the sheer beauty of the narrative, the magnificent descriptive imagery, and the dark, hauntingly hideous and tragic figure of Elizabeth Bathory that permeates the book make it well-worth ones time. I do not place it in the list of nominations for novel of the century, but in its genre, it is decidedly good.