A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF LOVE <3

Two different lives come together through their intricate quest for each other in this enchanting piece of fiction. Leopold Gursky is a lonely, old, Polish immigrant, living in New York. In his old age, the anticipation of death occupies his days while he reminisces the woman he let slip away, his beloved Alma. Despite his passion for Alma that he conveys so beautifully in his works of literature, he doesn’t consider himself a writer. Instead, convinces himself he is a coward for not connecting with his own son, who has no idea of his existence. He spent the majority of his life in remorse for not running after his love and confronting his son, decisions he regretted every day.

In the same city, Alma Singer (not to be confused with Leo’s one love), clings on to the memory of her dead father through her vague knowledge and a book he gave to her mother. Alma’s mother is bewildered without her husband and spends her days in books to escape the lingering memory of her late husband. Alma’s quirky brother, Bird, is a fascinating creature who is convinced he is the Messiah and builds an arc for their family. In Alma’s quest to get to know her father, whom she idolizes, she delves deep into a book he loved, The History of Love.

The tale of the History of Love (the novel in the story, mind you) has a confusing timeline of how it came to be created and then published. It turns out that Leo Gursky is the actual author of the story, who originally wrote it in Yiddish. He wrote it for his love Alma in Poland and after she left for America, he found no use for it, so he handed it off to his friend Zvi Litvinoff. Zvi figured that his old pal Leo had perished during the Holocaust, so he published the book, only he named himself as the author. Tisk tisk. The reader later learns that Zvi became famous for The History of Love as he lived a lie.

This novel reaches Alma Singer, who is fascinated by the character Alma, who he believed she is named after by her father. Alma does some research in order to find the real Alma which eventually leads her to the author, Leo Gursky. In the final scene of the novel, the two meet in an emotional encounter where they share a moment of remorse, each for someone they loved deeply. Leo for Alma and Alma for her father.

Nicole Kraus’ writing style is like nothing I have ever experienced before. Her unpredictable humor keeps the reader on their toes. Whether it is a scene with Leo, a true attention whore, who would drop his change on the floor, just so people would notice him, or in her description of Bird’s massive pile of cardboard and scrap medal for the ark, Krauss’ quirky intelligence kept me flipping pages. What captured me the most were her excerpts from her fictional novel, The History of Love. She speaks of a time before words, where humans communicated solely through their hands. Her depiction of life without words was truly amazing. (PG 72) Her captivating language and beautiful prose held my attention throughout my enjoying of the novel. Sometimes, when I taking a break from the novel, I would think about it, and I was immediately drawn back into it where I would stay for hours.

It is virtually impossible to summarize the book because there are so many small details that Krauss carefully weaves in that come together in the end. The book leads up to this amazing moment where these two characters, whose brains we have picked and examined for the past two hundred pages, finally come together in a beautiful, emotional scene.