The Blood Countess

Rating:
Summary: Turned off
Review: What begins as compelling and titillating finally wears the reader down with all the overstuffed banality of pornography. While it may be argued that the surfeit of sex and violence is precisely the point in capturing the excesses of so gross a personage as Elizabeth Bathory, I question why the author felt he also had to explore the kinks of the modern day narrator and his companions, all of whom seem to flirt with an obsession for sex and violence reminiscent of their twisted ancestor. The implication that they are all somehow reincarnations of Elizabeth and her victims, or possessed by their evil spirits, seems a contrivance, and the idea that we are supposed to glean some meaningful historical significance out of this, or some revealing message about the current political state of affairs in Hungary and central Europe is a real stretch. Although Mr. Codrescu's style is fluid and precise, ultimately The Blood Countees had the faint odor of authorial self-indulgence about it and it left me feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and turned off. Malcolm Logan [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Sorry I bought the book!
Review: Although I read the book from cover to cover, I never really got into it. Everytime I saw the word "BESTSELLER" on the front cover, I wondered why! Maybe it is an excellent book for some to read ... but I found it boring and long. I kept reading through to the (bitter) end waiting for the part of the story that would make me say, "Finally, we're getting somewhere!" but I never found that part of the story and the only delight I got out of the book was, "Finally, I've finished reading this!"

Rating:
Summary: "Blood Countess" weaves suspense and history.
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: A temptation throughout, but ultimately a bore
Review: This review is for the Dell Publishing paperback edition published in 1996, 453 pages.

Andrei Codrescu is a poet, essayist, screenwriter, commentator on National Public Radio and edits the EXQUISITE CORPSE, a literary journal. He has published five novels. Some editorial reviews cite THE BLOOD COUNTESS, copyrighted in 1995, as his first novel, although he published REPENTANCE OF LORRAINE in 1993. Mr. Codrescu also wrote the words for Erszébet, an opera work in progress about THE BLOOD COUNTESS and the characters in his novel; the website Bathory.org/index.html has extensive information on the opera and the Báthory story.

Erszébet Báthory, The Blood Countess, lived from 1560 to 1613 or 1614. A reasonable account of her life is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Bathory, which notes that, depending on the source, she murdered from 20 to 2000 young women. In his novel, Mr. Codrescu mixes historical facts, medieval urban legends and his own inventions such as the CHRONICLES OF ANDREI DE KERESHTUR and a contemporary character, Drake Bathory-Kereshtur. The novel alternates between alleged events during the life of the countess and Drake's first person narrative before a judge in New York City.

The first thirty pages of the novel suggest a literary fantasy genre, followed by the hopeful narrative of Drake, and then medieval intrigue with placid gore and limp erotica. There are hints of interesting stuff: the judge seems to have the hots for Drake, Susanna Forgach lives openly with her lover, Benezzo Gozzoli searches for his father, but alas, the author does not conclude any of his potential subplots. There are over 130 proper names in this story, and the author tries to parallel two in medieval past and narrative present, but his effort escaped me. At page 313, I commented "pointless drool." When I got to the remarkably dull ending, I decided that THE BLOOD COUNTESS was a temptation throughout, but ultimately a bore.


Rating:
Summary: It is a NOVEL (and not that good of one)
Review: This book is a NOVEL, and as such, isn't that great of one. To me, it reads as merely an elaborated story based on an internet biography of Elizabeth Bathory. It almost seems like a Hollywoodized version of a book, changing details and such to make the story flow better. And a good third of the book doesn't even deal directly with Erzebet Bathory, but of some clunky trial. Is it interesting? Yes. Is it an easy read? Yes. Do you learn more about the Lady Bathory? Some. Is it worth spending money on? NO (unless its really really cheap). It seems difficult to make a bad novel on one of the most intriguing figures in history, but nevertheless, this is a bad novel. I give this two stars. It would be one star, but the simple fact that it is about Erzebet Bathory gives it another. Ugh.

Rating:
Summary: A Total Turnoff
Review: This book has an interesting subject (Countess Bathory) but the author seems to use the entire premise of the countess' life as a classy excuse to write a bunch of fictionalized and -- in my opinion -- badly written pornography. It seems that the author just had a few fantasies he wanted to get out of his system and found the countess and her descendents as a convenient, vicarious outlet for these feelings. Most annoying of all, however, are the "current day" portions of the novel where the main character recounts his adventures to a court judge. The main character's language in these portions seems too contrived, rehearsed, and purple-prose to be the kind of spontaneous things a person would actually say in court. What a turn off.

Rating:
Summary: Bloody Bathory
Review: Countess Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary was one of the most abhorrent characters in history. She was a twisted genius who used her extreme intelligence, great power, and title of nobility to explore deviant sexual behavior and invent sensational methods of torture.

Strangely enough, Codrescu (who claims Bathory as his ancestor) manages to paint a rather sympathetic portrait of this madwoman, introducing her childhood in which she witnessed the horrific rapes and deaths of her two older sisters and their nurses, and a homelife which included an aloof, austere, never available mother and a father who descended rapidly into madness. Elizabeth was left mostly on her own under the care of indulgent servants, and from a young age watched and listened carefully to what went on about her, learning the secrets of those who populated the castles in which she resided and the wider, wilder world around. She questioned incessantly, loved words and stories, and was fascinated with magic. She was thrilled by the respect and fear she instilled in others solely because of the fortune of her noble birth. She was enamored of power and her insatiable curiosity drifted toward the macabre.

Still she remained naive in many ways, vulnerable even, and terribly flawed in character. She viewed herself apart from others, which she was if only because of her nobility, and never connected with anyone meaningfully. She punished randomly and gruesomely because it was her right, but also because it was common practice at the time. However she took it a step further, and then a further step, until she reached a depth of cruelty, depravity and sadism likely unmatched by anyone in history.

The book is based on manuscripts from the Hungarian State Archive and makes for some thoroughly chilling reading. I kept wondering as I read on ~ in turns riveted and repulsed ~ was Elizabeth mad to do what she did, or did what she do drive her mad?

Regarding the secondary storyline concerning the modern-day descendant of Bathory. It jarred rather than juxtaposed and added very little insight into the true antagonist of this novel. If the book had been simply about Bathory I'd have given it a higher rating.

Rating:
Summary: A Brutal Work Of Art
Review: 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.