The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, Paperback: 252 pages, Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 17, 2006), ISBN-10: 0393328627
Source: Can't recall... but I'm sure I picked it up at a used book store somewhere.
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
I loved this book. Loved the story, loved the characters, loved the writing. It's a book about a book and you can't get any better than that, in my book. (Sorry, couldn't help it.)
Source: Can't recall... but I'm sure I picked it up at a used book store somewhere.
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
I loved this book. Loved the story, loved the characters, loved the writing. It's a book about a book and you can't get any better than that, in my book. (Sorry, couldn't help it.)
Krauss takes us from Nazi-occupied Poland to present day New York in lovely, engaging, and unique prose. The two main characters are as opposite as you can imagine, at first glance anyway. Leo Gursky is a Polish immigrant and survivor of WWII. He's a retired locksmith terrified of dying alone in his cluttered apartment.
He's also a writer.
Then there's Alma Singer, a fourteen-year-old girl who misses her dead father and fears for her mother's depression. Oh, and then there's her 10 year-old little brother, Bird, who thinks he's the Messiah.
She's also a writer.
Besides writing they also have this in common: loneliness.
That's all I'm going to tell you, except I highly recommend this one. And I'll give you a couple of excerpts to whet your appetite:
Bruno, my old faithful. I haven't sufficiently described him. Is it enough to say he is indescribable? No. Better to try and fail than not to try at all. The soft down of your white hair lightly playing about your scalp like a half-blown dandelion. Many times, Bruno, I have been tempted to blow on your head and make a wish. Only a last scrap of decorum keeps me from it. (page 6)
There were pens, and a blue glass vase, an ashtray from the Dolder Grand in Zurich, the rusted arrow of a weather vane, a little brass hourglass, sand dollars on the windowsill, a pair of binoculars, an empty wind bottle that served as a candle holder, wax melted down the neck. I touched this thing and that. At the end, all that's left of you are your possessions. Perhaps that's why I've never been able to throw anything away. Perhaps that's why I hoarded the world: with the hope that when I died, the sum total of my things would suggest a life larger than the one I lived. (page 165)
Oh. And here's a short little clip of the author. I find her very interesting. I don't believe she has another book out, but if she writes it, I will read!
He's also a writer.
Then there's Alma Singer, a fourteen-year-old girl who misses her dead father and fears for her mother's depression. Oh, and then there's her 10 year-old little brother, Bird, who thinks he's the Messiah.
She's also a writer.
Besides writing they also have this in common: loneliness.
That's all I'm going to tell you, except I highly recommend this one. And I'll give you a couple of excerpts to whet your appetite:
Bruno, my old faithful. I haven't sufficiently described him. Is it enough to say he is indescribable? No. Better to try and fail than not to try at all. The soft down of your white hair lightly playing about your scalp like a half-blown dandelion. Many times, Bruno, I have been tempted to blow on your head and make a wish. Only a last scrap of decorum keeps me from it. (page 6)
There were pens, and a blue glass vase, an ashtray from the Dolder Grand in Zurich, the rusted arrow of a weather vane, a little brass hourglass, sand dollars on the windowsill, a pair of binoculars, an empty wind bottle that served as a candle holder, wax melted down the neck. I touched this thing and that. At the end, all that's left of you are your possessions. Perhaps that's why I've never been able to throw anything away. Perhaps that's why I hoarded the world: with the hope that when I died, the sum total of my things would suggest a life larger than the one I lived. (page 165)
Oh. And here's a short little clip of the author. I find her very interesting. I don't believe she has another book out, but if she writes it, I will read!
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1 comment:
I picked this book up months ago and didn't read it. Just timing.... other books and life. Your review encouraged me to take a second look and I am so glad I did. Beautifully written and I am enjoying it so much. Thanks!
Kim D in SC
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