Having just read the last page of The Historian (I wanted to finish what I started, despite the agony), I felt like, in a sense, I was being gaslit. I mean, do the avid readers out there actually esteem this book as something worthwhile and recommendable? I had read SO many glowing reviews before I started reading it and was really anticipating a juicy, historically dense thriller. All I kept thinking as I got further into the story was this: how on earth did this book even get published?! I could not believe HOW MANY PAGES of absolutely zero consequence could be written. At least 600 of the 900 pages could have easily been omitted. It’s my own fault - I should have returned the book to the library when I started questioning the editing (or complete lack thereof). I was happy to find other readers with a similar experience of this story - guess I’m not that crazy after all.