The History of Love

Nicole Krauss' "History Of Love" is one of the most poignant and beautiful novels I have read in many moons - dare I say years? I do not exaggerate. Her prose is pure poetry, and her writing is a wonderful example of literature as an art form. Although this is not a Holocaust novel, per se, the Shoah casts a long shadow over the narrative. I think the book is much more a remembrance of those who died, a memorial of sorts, than a book about death. Actually, the themes here are love, survival and loss. I shed many a tear while reading, sometimes because of the author's exquisite use of language, and others because of a character's terrible sadness, but I found myself bursting into laughter more often than not at the wonderful humor. Some of the dialogue is especially witty. Oddly, I was reminded of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's work. Perhaps the sense of wonder Ms. Krauss conveys, along with elements of fantasy which intertwine with reality, form a kind of magical realism."The first woman may have been Eve, but the first girl will always be Alma." So wrote young, aspiring author Leopold Gursky. He actually wrote three books before he was twenty-one, before WWII invaded his hometown of Slonim, which was located "sometimes in Poland, and others in Russia." Now, years later in Brooklyn, NY, Leo has no idea what happened to his manuscript, "The History Of Love," his most important work. He wrote the novel about the only thing he knew, his love for Alma. "Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." He continued to write their story long after Alma's father sent her to America, where she would be safe from the Nazis. He even wrote after the Germans pushed East, toward his home.At age eighty, Leo feels compelled to make himself seen at least once a day. He fears dying alone in his apartment, on a day when no one sees him at all. And he is capable of doing some pretty outrageous things to garner attention, including posing in the nude for a life drawing class. Ever since the war he has felt invisible. He survived by becoming invisible. And now, he needs to be sure he exists. When he came to America, his cousin, a locksmith took him in and taught him the trade. He did so because he knew Leo could not remain invisible forever. "Show me a Jew that survives and I'll show you a magician," he used to say. Leo finds some solace in his work. "In my loneliness it comforts me to think that the world's doors, however closed, are never truly locked to me." Unbeknownst, to Leopold Gursky, his book has survived also, and has inspired others in many ways, especially to love.Alma Singer is a precocious teenager who lives in New York City. She is named for all the female characters in her father's favorite book, "A History of Love." Singer, an Israeli, bought the only copy in a store in Buenos Aires, while traveling in South America. Alma's mother, Charlotte, is an Englishwoman who met her husband while working on a kibbutz in Israel. He gave her the book, a gift, when he realized how much he cared for her. He died of pancreatic cancer when Alma was seven. Seven years later, his family is still adjusting to their loss. The sensitive girl desperately wants to ease her mother's loneliness. She also wants to learn how to survive in the wilderness, and help her brother, Bird, be a normal boy. Bird believes he may be the Messiah. Charlotte, a translator, receives a request from an anonymous stranger to translate an obscure book by a Polish exile, Zvi Litvinoff, who immigrated to Chile. She accepts the commission. The book, written in Spanish, is titled "The History of Love." Alma reads her mom's English translation and sets out to find her namesake. Her literary detective work is hilarious and her tenacity is admirable.Ms. Krauss is a master at linking her various storylines seamlessly. Her characters are a delight - all vivid and memorable for their humanity, their eccentricity, and their inner strength. The author brings them to life on the page. They have all experienced sorrow and loss, yet there is not a self-pitying voice among them. And it is impossible not to love Leo Gursky. I hear my grandmother's voice, at times, when he speaks. She died years ago, and was probably a generation older than the author's grandparents, to whom the novel is dedicated.I plan to reread "The History of Love" in a few weeks, over a weekend when I won't be disturbed. I made the mistake of taking the book with me to work, and between the train and the office, I felt the numerous interruptions seriously detracted from the glorious flow of the language. This is a novel which is meant to be read more than once, anyway. ENJOY!JANA

If you are looking for an evocative literary read full of memorable, multi-dimensional characters, this may be the book for you. If you are looking for a simple, straightforward plotline with a clear resolution, this might not be the book for you. The writing is remarkable, particularly in how effectively the author describes the feelings of her characters. There are multiple narrators and storylines that move between countries and time. The bulk of the story is told through the points of view of Leo, an elderly man living in Brooklyn who fled Poland during WWII and Alma, a teenaged girl living in Brooklyn with her mother and younger brother. Many people have commented about how hilarious this book is. I would describe it differently. Much of this book is very sad, filled with loneliness, and loss. Yes, there are comic moments and quirky aspects that are humorous, but it feels tragi-comic more than funny. But, overall, it feels true. I believed these characters and the narrative. That said, there were places where I was confused about exactly who was who. There were places where the author began to build connections that, again, left me wondering what just happened. The connections are fragile and not fully explained. Even at the end, I found myself wondering what had happened and where we ended up. Despite those reservations, this is a beautiful book, and I was very glad that I read it. It was a selection for our book group and it led to an excellent discussion. If I had felt confident about where we ended up, I would have given it 5 stars because it is so beautifully written, but the residual confusion detracted from my rating.

My book club LOVED this book. We are a picky bunch and seem to take pleasure to taking apart one book after another. Not this one. Each of us found something different to like here. That made it the perfect pick for a book club discussion.So what's to like?First and most obvious is the intricate and clever puzzle of the story line. On the surface, it seems completely implausible--how could all these events, all these characters, on four continents, possibly fit together? Not only do they fit together, but each event is intricately motivated; each flows naturally into the next, and careful use of language knits them all together at another layer down. It is a pleasure just to delve into the craft required to do this so fluidly. Frankly, I don't know how Krauss does it, but it is lovely to experience.Next is the pervasive balancing act that so many reviewers have marveled at, between happiness and sadness, between humor and despair. Every mention of happiness is tinged with a sense of potential loss or disappointment; every loss is tempered by hope or at least an unwillingness (sometimes unconscious) to surrender. This subtle balancing act builds a rich, bittersweet sense throughout the novel. It kept me from seeing how funny the novel is during my first reading. A second reading let me relax into some of the silliest, even surreal situations, allowing me to appreciate the warm, human feeling of them in ways that I never did with comparable situations in Kafka or Borges.But enough of that; don't forget the characters, brought to life in the most disarming and unexpected ways. Some of us loved Leo; others found him a whining, tired old man. But all of us could agree that he was very much alive in our imaginations. I personally favored the young wild man, Bird. He is so determined to be something extraordinary as he stumbles forward in the most human ways. And--we disagreed about this, but I firmly believe--he became something extraordinary in the broader story of healing the deep wounds inflicted by the Holocaust.Krauss manages the Holocaust as a hole in a whole community's life--as an obstruction in the middle of the room that everyone must find a way around without admitting it is there. To convey this idea, Krauss talks very little about the Holocaust. Rather, it inhabits the margins of the story at every turn. We argued about this--part of the fun--but I believe Krauss constructed an intricately crafted web of connections that link all the characters in the book through multiple channels. She presents the Holocaust as a mass extinction that sought to sever these links and ultimately failed, but not without transforming the lives of at least three generations of Jews. She shows us the effects on each generation in myriad details in each character's everyday life.I ran into trouble trying to lead our book group toward a conclusion that the book is (among many other things) a parable about how literature and individual lives freely intermingle in the history of the global Jewish community and how sheer love of life, in its simplest, most basic every-day forms, sustained that community through a mass extinction. The book holds open a promise that this community can reconnect to the roots that nurtured and fostered it in the days before so many left their hopes and dreams and loves behind in Europe.So, those who have read the book will understand why I could not describe the closing pages of the book to my wife. Hilarious on one level, devastating on another. I was too emotionally moved even to read to her, much less try to describe, the extraordinary call and response between Leo and the Alma who kept him alive through so much. Maybe it's just me....But wait, there's more! Krauss plays intricate games with literary criticism. She uses four narrators with very distinct voices, two speaking in the first person, one in the second, and a fourth (at least part of the time) in a clever mix of first and second as one character reads the first-person account of a second character. She toys with arguments about the relative importance of author and text by presenting The History of Love in what I experienced as a series of scrims--first, the true life of Alma Mereminski; second, Leo's perception of her as a vehicle to keep himself alive; the third, Zvi's theft or appropriation of Leo's image of Alma to impress his girlfriend, one that combines Zvi's respect for the original Alma (he preserves her name) and Zvi's recognition of Leo's role as author with the disembodied text itself, which Zvi translates into Spanish; fourth, Charlotte's translation into English, framed by an entirely different and complex agenda. Each "translator" brings a new author's perspective to a story, generating a new text. So how exactly do all these perspectives and the contexts that generate them relate to the texts? What does each text embody, in and of itself? And let's not forget Isaac's appropriation of Leo's text after Isaac is dead! Very clever.There is so much here. I could go on, but enough. I expect to reread this novel many times in the future and to find new things with each reading. It is a pleasure, intellectually and emotionally, and a pleasure to share with friends. So. Stop reading these reviews and go read The History of Love for yourself!

Book ReviewThe History of Love by Nicole KraussGenre - Romance, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction."He wondered if what he had taken for the richness of silence was really the poverty of never being heard."At a delicate age of fourteen Alma Singer tries to play a matchmaker for her mother. She worries about her mother's loneliness in the most endearing way. In this quest she discovers an old book that her mother is translating with so much love and this further leads her to believe that the author would be the answer to her worries.Leo Gursky an old man who lives in New York is trying to live a little longer. He pines for his long lost love sixty years ago in Poland and his son who never knew him. A love that inspired him to write a book that he believes is lost forever. He is completely unaware that in one corner of the world the book was published as well as touched and changed many lives.I have to start by saying that of all the books I have read on my kindle, this has the most highlighted quotes. A book about longing, love, innocence, survival and relationships. And above all it is filled with so many witty lines. From the very beginning the author carries the story on such strong narratives. Yes, there are multiple narratives, each one handled with such delicacy. The theme never falters once.The characters are sketched out realistic, robust and relatable. Be it the fourteen year old Alma or her brother Bird just nine years old who believes himself to be a messiah. Not once did I feel that the descriptions were too lengthy or the longing too heavy and depressing.Ms. Krauss took me through laughter to finally tears that left my heart warm. Most of all the ending left me on a note that gave me room to fill in my own conclusions. I loved that bit. The author's unique flair to make me ponder, relish and savour every thought kept me coming back to it and wanting more.This is the first book, I read of the author. I look forward to reading more of her books for sure. I would definitely recommend it those who love a good literary fiction.

I bought this ages ago and am only now getting around to reading it - absolutely love so far. The book itself was in good condition when purchased as well! I recommend this product.

Ein wunderbare Buch, das mich – als ich vor zehn Jahren zum ersten Mal danach greifen wollte – wegen seines Bestseller-Charakters abgestoßen hatte, mich nun aber, wegen seiner Erzählkraft, seiner Vielfalt, seiner Reflexionstiefe und seiner Multiperspektivität, die jedoch wunderbar zusammengebunden wird, begeistert. Ein wunderbares Buch. Ein Schatz.Ein junger Mann schreibt ein Buch, in dem er die Liebe zu seiner Freundin beschreibt, es gibt nur dieses eine Exemplar, das in den Wirren des Krieges, der Vertreibung und Tötung der Juden, der Flucht verloren gegangen scheint – während die beiden auf verschiedenen Wegen nach Amerika emigrieren dürfen.Der Text erscheint zuerst in Spanisch und wird dann von der Mutter eines Mädchens übersetzt, das fortan die Fäden in die Hände nimmt, erzählt, Begriffe definiert, Notate macht, während der inzwischen sehr alte Autor in einem Appartment in Manhattan sitzt und erst sehr erfährt, dass das Script gerettet wurde. Großartig.

I just finished the History of love by Nicole Krauss and I am speechless! I want to read it all over again!!! The book arrived a couple of days ago at my doorstep and after a couple of pages I found myself reading it everywhere and at every time of the day! My breaks from work were more welcomed than ever because they were giving me time to spend with this amazing story!I loved every character. Leo and his genius, Alma and her strength, Bird and his heart... An amazing tale that you absolutely MUST read!

Kraus, Nichole The History of LoveThis novel engages immediately with the story of Leo Gursky – a lonely, old refugee from Nazi Europe, with a sad life of devotion, self-sacrifice and fearful self-negation. The tale is enlivened by classic Jewish humour and particularly the theme that he deliberately makes a fool of himself in public so that when he dies alone at home, others will remember when they saw him last. He copes with his fear and sorrow through making himself small, keeping to himself, avoiding bad memories, but most of all, living in fantasy, writing about himself or these fantasies and longing for what was lost. He is a hero, sacrificing his one connection - a son being brought up by another - for the stability of mother and son. He is relentless in his depiction of himself, his old-man deterioration, but kind to others. The secondary story is of a young girl who lived with her deeply grieving mother and her younger brother. Both children are affected – the boy acts strangely and the girl writes of her obsession with finding out about her father, and also getting her mother to re-marry. Each uses unique methods to make sense of life and live in reality.Leo is the thread throughout that links a series of stories, often fantastical, around the book ‘The History of Love’ and ultimately, at the last moment, explains the confusion and apparent discrepancies, particularly as to who wrote what, when; it also solves one loss for Leo.The conditions of Leo’s life are described with humour and poignancy. There is much humour of the Jewish-style vernacular, body failures, personal shame, rough affection for people's failings."I sat. I stood. I rotated so that those who hadn't gotten my rectal side now got it."..a wet spot bloomed in my crotch and that made me laugh even harder. I was banging the table and fighting for air, I thought: Maybe this is how I’ll go, in a fit of laughter, what could be better, laughing and crying, laughing and singing, …I wanted to describe the world because to live in an undescribed world was too lonely.I’m at the bus stop and some kids come up behind me and say, Who smells s***? – small daily humiliations – these I take, generally speaking in the liver. Other damage I take in other places. The pancreas I reserve for being struck by all that’s been lost. It’s true that there’s so much, and the organ is so small. But. You would be surprised how much it can take, all I feel is a quick sharp pain and then it’s over… Disappointment in myself: right kidney. Disappointment of others in me: left kidney. Personal failures: kishkes… The pain of forgetting: spine. The pain of remembering: spine… Loneliness: there is no organ that can take it all.Wood smoke rises from the chimney, and through the window I can almost see my mother leaning over a table. I run toward the house. I can feel the cold wind against my cheeks. I reach out my hand. And because my head is full of dreams, for a moment I believe I can open the door and go right through it.Some stories are hard to follow, such as the man who believed his butt was made of glass, but the perceptive writing of his vulnerability and fears reveals their universality. Similarly, the mock scientific history of man’s development, while very strange, is revealing of human relationships:Holding hands, for example, is a way to remember how it feels to say nothing together. And at night, when it’s too dark to see, we find it necessary to gesture on each other’s bodies to make ourselves understood.When his friend saw dappled light, the felicity of flight, the sadness of gravity, he saw the solid form of a common sparrow. Litvinoff’s life was defined by a delight in the weight of the real; his friend’s by a rejection of reality, with its army of flat-footed facts.Krause has developed a distinctive style of writing that not only is a marvellous evocation of this old Jewish man's mind, but shows a perceptive and descriptive genius.“In the years that followed, this boy became a man who became invisible. In this way he escaped death.""... It stubbornly leans to the left, choosing against physical need in an act of creativity." This plant is also a metaphor for himself."Her kiss was a question I wanted to spend my whole life answering".The anecdote of his face not appearing in a photo emphasises his invisibility and struggle to exist alone."The moment had passed, the door between the lives we could have lived and the lives we did lead had shut in our faces. Or, better to say, in my face. Grammar of my life: as a rule of thumb, wherever there appears a plural, correct for singular. Should I ever let slip a royal We, put me out of my misery with a swift blow to the head." The vivid poignancy of his loneliness!What is the role of fantasy and gross humour in the book? For example, the angel who wonders about his purpose as he deteriorates, and the coarse neighbour Grossman. Sometimes a seemingly pointless and silly anecdote is inserted, such as the blind photographer and the chopped liver sandwich.There are passages of mock archeological philosophy that will also reveal themselves, I think, as wise comments on life and relationships, possibly."...loudmouths had no less need for it, for those used to being overheard by everyone for often at a loss for how to make themselves heard by someone."I found it necessary to read this book twice in order to fully understand the narrative threads and to appreciate the perceptive force and originality of the writing. Possibly next time I read this book the questions about the humour and apparently unconnected anecdotes will be revealed. Or is the complexity and mystery of the writing and narrative a con, a cunning marketing tool?I was left with feelings of sadness at the loneliness of loss, redeemed somewhat by people’s drive to make things right and their concern for others.