History of Love

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Average customer rating 4.8 (34 comments)

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Totally engaging.

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Nicole Krauss offers readers a journey into the lives of people we want to know. Her writing, her inhabiting of each character, and the interconnected plot and ideas challenge us to both enjoy the story and question our assumptions. This is a beautiful story of an old man, a young girl, a family of choice and of history. The tears on the pages were shed in the full range of feeling elicited by this book.

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The book's title is actually the title of the book featured in this convuluted, yet lovingly written book. It is about a Jewish refugee from Poland who wrote the book years ago for the love of his life after she left for the States just as the war effort was moving in to Poland. She and others thought he was long gone, but indeed he survived as did the book. Three generations fall in love with the book and one way or another manage to have it published. Untimely deaths sadden the story, but love threads its way through to the end. Not an easy read, but for readers it is a good choice.

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This book was surprising, intriguing, poignant and all around lovely. I enjoyed this book so much and felt a little pang in my heart when I finished; I missed the characters! What an artfully crafted book. It's woven together beautifully and is an all-around fabulous read. Enjoy!

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This book quickly went into my "top ten favorite books" list as soon as I finished it. Nicole Krauss's writing is extraordinary. Vivid & insightful. The story line was so wonderfully crafted that I was engaged from the beginning to end. The end of the book was emotional & smart. I look forward to reading her other books

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This is absolutely the best book I have ever read. Krauss fills every page with unconditional love, humor, and eloquence that is breath taking.

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It's crazy how much this book's tone reminded me of Extremely Loud and Incredible Close by Johnathan Safran Foer, so I was amused to find out that the authors are married! (But did they each write the novels before they met?...) I loved the parallel stories of two very different characters that found a way to merge by the end. I also loved the mysterious elements and childlike tones of both the girl and old man's narration. Lovely, simplicity is key because a plot can get complicated on its own. Nicole Krauss makes this book so believable and charming. Bravo!

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This is one of my favourite books of all time. It was wonderful to fall in love with Leo Gursky in the first few pages. When the plot became tangled & turned in on itself, I was forced to let go of trying to follow the threads & just let the book carry me to its profound & understated conclusion. I appreciated that the author never dropped me on this carried journey, but led me brilliantly through plot turns in which I was unable to see very far ahead, if at all. Just like life!

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Let me start by saying I'm not a writer or a huge reader. I like to read a chapter or two before bed at night. Some books I never get through, few books I find hard to put down. This book was somewhere in between. I enjoyed the charters, which is a must. I enjoyed the realness this book offered. Did it make me laugh out loud or cry? No. And though I will not run to grab another Krauss novel, I did finish The History of Love and didn't feel I wasted my time. Best put, it was a fairly easy, it's a sit on the porch on a summer day read.

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I hate to go against the grain here, but I found a History of Love too difficult to follow well and/ or understand at all. I thought I would enjoy this book much more than I did. The writing style was just too much for me. The several person's perspectives, the weird innuendos and surprises, all of it was just too much to follow the story well. I am not sure what exactly was Krauss's goal or hope for this book, so I am not sure if she met it. The story of an old man and his lost love was oddly executed and frustrating to follow, if only his perspective pieces. The only reason I am giving this book two stars is that I thought the premise was interesting and the pieces with the little girl were nice to read. They lent some credibility to the overall story.

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This book had me laughing and crying and staying up all night to read more. When I finished it, I felt gutted and joyful at the same time. The History of Love is a story that lives inside of you long after you've turned the last page.

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beautifully written. tender, funny. just good.

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Adored this novel, celebrating the beauty of language, the endlessness of love and the many unseen links we have to one another... highly recommended.

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Smart, witty, human, sad, funny... these all come together in The History of Love. I relished every page of this wonderful book and felt like I'd lost a good friend when I finished.

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An intricate story requiring a close read. It is beautifully written, heartwarming yet painful. A true celebration of life. Only one question: who took the photograph of the two lovers if they were alone?

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As soon as I finished the book, I wanted to begin again. Leaving Leopold Gursky behind was almost as difficult for me as it was for him to let go of his dear Alma. And her namesake, Alma Singer? A combination of McCuller's Mick Kelly and Lee's Scout Finch. A delicious read!

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Had just viewed 'Shoah' right before reading this book. This book is overlaid on the pain of the Holocaust and it gives the book a depth that was so painful at times, that I had to put the book down and come back later.

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piercing, riveting, remarkable, poignant and filled with magical beauty and wonder

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Krauss brilliantly weaves together several stories and creates characters who are completely believable with completely distinct voices. But beyond the beauty of the prose and the mastery of the craft of writing that she shows, Krauss tells an affirming and redemptive story that reminds the reader of the truth and hope of love. It's a story that lingers long after it ends.

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When asked what this book is about, all I can do is sigh and say, "Everything..." While the novel itself describes everything from displacement to family to longing, the plot follows an old man and a young girl, each trying to become whole. After finishing the last page, I felt utterly knocked over by the beauty of this novel's prose and its ability to solicit my empathy. It is currently my favorite book of all time, and I have a hard time imagining one that could usurp its position.

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I am an avid reader. I usually read classics, anything from Plato to Henry David Thoreau to Fyodor Dostoevsky. I have a rule for myself that I read at least fifty pages of anything I can get my hands on if it looks valid, and at least one-hundred pages if a friend recommends it. Generally, although I fulfill my minimum page requirement, the only thing that leads me to finish a book written in the past ten to twenty years is a strong plot (despite lack of creativity and expertise in the use of verbiage, cliché, and/or colloquialisms). This book, however, literally swept me off of my feet. So much so that I looked up the author immediately and ordered her first book: "Man Walks into a Room," which I am now reading and am equally thrilled by. Her unorthodox use of typography (especially in "The History of Love"), chapter length, imagery, and contemplative voice engages the reader with a vulnerability and awareness that he or she is reading into the mind of the author and hearing her thoughts as logically and disjunct as a thought process might be. She gives glimpses into the struggle of humanity which are at once visceral and yet casual. She allows the reader to place his or her value judgment on the current of events which take place in her books. Nicole Krauss is intellectually stimulating, verbally thrilling, and captivating. I find myself suddenly a loyal consumer of her writing, and encourage others to read at least fifty pages of "The History of Love."

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Unbelievable...how does a human being write something this incredible? I was astounded and moved by this book. I don't think I have ever read a book more than once...this will be my first.

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Started reading it again as soon as I finished it.

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Great story that I could hardly wait to see what would happen next. Simple, sweet, endearing and enjoyable to all who turn its pages.

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This was the most beautiful, well-written book I have read in a very long time (and I read a lot of books).

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Read this book twice. Complex and thought-provoking, I was sorry to reach the end. Plan to read it again in my book group and I look forward to it.

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Nicole Krauss weaves a poignant tale of loss and love and memory and connection. Her scenes of the main character standing in his dead son's shoes is amazing. The language is beautiful. The story and the meta-story whisper to me like my own lost lullaby. Her characters are flawed and human. This is the only book I want to read over and over and over again.

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interwoven narrative style with beautiful prose. a love story like many about time, travel, love and loss.

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When I got to the last page I turned back to the beginning and started reading it all over again, a first for me. Beautifully written, interesting characters that I found myself really caring about, story lines that are woven together to a satisfying conclusion. I LOVE this book.

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The author has personified loneliness in the form of Leo Gursky. Humorous and real, your heart breaks for Gursky even as the plot trucks along at a constant speed. Beautiful prose highlights this story about a man and his longing to make a difference- any difference- without knowing that he already has. A must-read.

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Krauss' characters are lonely and quirky--but never too quirky--and her portrait of love, identity and visibility is so lyrical that I didn't notice how accomplished the plot was until I was almost finished.

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This is a beautiful book, deeply human. All the characters yearn, and we yearn with them. I didn't want it to end.

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What a wonderful, wonderful book! I'm sad that I've finished . . . it was one of those books that you can't wait to finish but don't want the experience to be over. Krauss has woven a complicated tale that captured my attention from the first page, kept me awake at night and has left me with a smile on my face. I adored the characters, the premise and how the author wove the tale together in the most enjoyable way. Books like this come along rarely and I envy those of you who still have not experienced this story. Kudos to Krauss . . . hurry and write another great book!

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Nicole Krauss? The History of Love has received widespread praise for its characters, particularly Leo Gursky, since its publication. After reading the novel, it?s easy to see why. Reading the chapters narrated by Gursky, a lonely Holocaust survivor who fears dying on a day when no one else has seen him, I could hear this old man speaking. With succinct, sentence fragments like ?When they write my obituary,? Gursky narrates exactly the way people talk and think. One or two-word lines ? ?And yet,? ?But,? ?Tomorrow? ? add punch to his commentary. They also embody his abrupt persona, one that makes a scene at Starbuck?s and poses nude for an art class just in case he dies that day. Slightly longer lines ??I?m surprised I haven?t been buried alive? ? also offer great insight into Gursky?s person while inviting us into his eccentric mind. Luring us into his head is, perhaps, what Gursky does best. Never does he permit readers to question his friendship with Bruno, his elderly childhood friend who lives upstairs. Bruno bakes him a cake and leaves flour all over his apartment. He brings Leo a peculiar package. Though Bruno doesn?t hear Gursky when listening to his Walkman, the two develop a knocking routine to make sure the other is alive. Only in the novel?s final pages do we learn that Bruno has been dead since 1941. We, too, have been seduced by Gursky?s uneasy mind. It has become ours. Where The History of Love falls short is its adolescent narratives. Several of the chapters are narrated by Alma, a 15-year-old named after Gursky?s lifelong love. Krauss succeeds in making the two narrators distinctive, never allowing Alma to use one or two-word lines like ?And yet? or ?But.? Still, Alma rarely sounds like an authentic teenager. We?re led to believe she?s intelligent ? her purpose in the novel is to inspire and solve a mystery, and she reads about nature and survival. And though their content often concerns her brother Bird?s strangeness or learning how to kiss from her Russian friend Mischa, her sentences are flawless. Succinct lines like ?Once or twice I passed her door and heard her talking aloud to it? or ?Other times I imagine I?ll never be able to leave at all? lack the ramblings, pauses, likes, ums, and slang that typify adolescent speech. Likewise, Bird?s journal, from which extensive excerpts are read in two of Alma?s chapters, lacks the authenticity of an 11-year-old. Many of his sentences ? like ?I pressed my face right against the window and suddenly everyone turned to look at me so I waved and that?s when I lost my balance? ? are more long-winded than Alma?s. And all reflect pre-adolescent concerns. Yet, they contain no spelling errors or slang. They are even grammatically sound, as his use of ?if I were normal? suggests.