The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Nicole Krauss' novel The History of Love is a wonderful and mysterious story spanning 60 years, two continents (Europe and North America) and more than a few lonely, confused, even disturbed people. It's also a book in a book. Not surprisingly, the book within the book isn't that good, though only excerpts appear.

Krauss' novel, however, is truly a good read. It leaves the reader wanting more, wondering what lies ahead for certain characters even after the last page. The novel is rather confusing, perhaps intentionally so. After all, the various narrators who tell the story are confused about their own lives, their own history. One seeks proof of his own existence. Another is translating a book for a man who does not really exist. One is unaware that he is a published author. A young boy is building an ark for the next great flood. A young girl, Alma, works to solve the mystery of who everyone is -- including the other Alma for whom she is named.

Leopold Gursky, a Polish immigrant and the novel's main character, is a Holocaust survivor, one who hid in the woods, foraging for food, even eating bugs and rats. Alma, the young woman he loved, pregnant with his child, left Europe amid the Nazi threat. That child grew up to be the acclaimed author Gursky had yearned to be.

The Holocaust is long over, and yet Gurksy is still alone in the woods, a lonely man in a New York apartment with a similar solitary friend, very likely an imaginary friend. Gursky drops things in stores and asks odd questions so that people, at least one person, will notice him each day -- so that he will not die having gone unremembered that day, almost to verify his own existence.

I enjoyed the novel but believe it needs read twice. No doubt a second read would highlight details, names that might go unnoticed in the first read. The novel also is replete with literary allusions, which could be better appreciated on a second read.

The novel is, not a study, but a detailed, mysterious look at human loneliness, human desires, human frailties, human hopes, human memories, humanity's connection. A World War II soldier's oversight, a man's plagiarism, a first name repeated, an old man's curiosity and a young girl's persistence interact in ways no single character ever foresaw and together form The History of Love.

Memorable Lines

From William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying in a chapter narrated by the dying Addie Bundren: "My father said that the reason for living is getting ready to stay dead. I knew at last what he meant and that he could not have known what he meant himself, because a man cannot know anything about cleaning up the house afterward. And so I have cleaned my house."
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From the preface to Jacqueline Winspear's Pardonable Lies appears this quotation from Sophocles' Creusa:
"Truly, to tell lies is not honorable;/
but when the truth entails tremendous ruin,
to speak dishonorably is pardonable."
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From Nicole Krauss' The History of Love, a novel: "Really, there isn't much to say./He was a great writer./He fell in love. It was his life."
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From Audrey Niffenegger's "After Words" in The Night Bookmobile, a graphic novel: "In the same way that perfume captures the essence of a flower, these shelves of books were a distillation of my life."
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From A.L. Kennedy's short-story collection, What Becomes, these lines appear in "Edinburgh" -- "She gave him books. The same words that were in her mind, now in yours, still warm."
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From "Alex & Me" by Irene Pepperberg, a memoir in which the African Grey parrot's last words to owner and scientist Pepperberg include: "You be good. I love you."
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From French writer Muriel Barbery's novel Gourmet Rhapsody about an ailing food critic, his food memories and the last food he craves: "He dies."
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Quickie Reviews And What's Ahead

Books I've read lately:

--Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto. I pulled this one off my bookshelf after probably 20 years and regret I waited that long for such a good read. I highly recommend this interesting book that deals with grief and love and how we express -- or don't express -- those emotions.

--Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery. The novel about a dying food critic should appeal to all lovers of literature, not just food writing. The book's two-word last sentence shows how much a good writer can say in few words.

Upcoming:
I'm reading an oldie, Pride and Prejudice, and a contemporary novel, The Handbook for Lightning Survivors. I'm looking forward to my third Maisie Dobbs mystery, to the novel The Spice Necklace and more. I'm also thinking about reading Annie Proulx's memoir, Bird Cloud. I'd like to read one of the two books on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' career as a book editor.