A lost book reappears, drawing together the lives of the irrepressible Leo Gursky who has arrived at the end of his life, a locksmith searching for the son who’s never known him, and young Alma Singer, desperate to find her namesake and a cure for her mother’s loneliness. Gradually their stories merge into a single triumph of the imagination over loss.
The History of Love: A Novel
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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The last words of this haunting novel resonate like a pealing bell. "He fell in love. It was his life." This is the unofficial obituary of octogenarian Leo Gursky, a character whose mordant wit, gallows humor and searching heart create an unforgettable portrait. Born in Poland and a WWII refugee in New York, Leo has become invisible to the world. When he leaves his tiny apartment, he deliberately draws attention to himself to be sure he exists. What's really missing in his life is the woman he has always loved, the son who doesn't know that Leo is his father, and his lost novel, called The History of Love, which, unbeknownst to Leo, was published years ago in Chile under a different man's name. Another family in New York has also been truncated by loss. Teenager Alma Singer, who was named after the heroine of The History of Love, is trying to ease the loneliness of her widowed mother, Charlotte. When a stranger asks Charlotte to translate The History of Love from Spanish for an exorbitant sum, the mysteries deepen. Krauss (Man Walks into a Room) ties these and other plot strands together with surprising twists and turns, chronicling the survival of the human spirit against all odds. Writing with tenderness about eccentric characters, she uses earthy humor to mask pain and to question the universe. Her distinctive voice is both plangent and wry, and her imagination encompasses many worlds.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
If one were to judge from Krauss' characters, the history of love is a story of loss and survival. Budding writer Leo Gursky flees the Nazis unharmed but arrives in New York too late to marry his sweetheart. Brokenhearted, he becomes a locksmith (the source of lovely metaphors) and puts down his pen for 57 years. Just as he starts to write again, teenage Alma loses her father. She copes with her grief by reading up on how to live in the wild but worries about her bookish, increasingly isolated mother and Messiah-obsessed younger brother. Krauss, as so many have before her, including Steve Stern in The Angel of Forgetfulness [BKL F 1 05], constructs an intriguing books-within-a-book narrative. Leo turns out to be secretly connected to a famous writer. Another Holocaust survivor woos his beloved with an unusual manuscript, and Alma turns sleuth in her quest for the real-life inspiration for her namesake, a character in a novel titled The History of Love. Venturing into Paul Auster territory in her graceful inquiry into the interplay between life and literature, Krauss is winsome, funny, and affecting. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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When they write my obituary. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
When they write my obituary. Read the first page
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Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
By hlb
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was one of the most beautiful works I have ever read - it is definitely a modern classic. My feelings were really stirred up on this one - from an aching sadness on behalf of the players to laughing out loud. I recommend this to anyone who is seeking an easy but high quality read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Road King
Format:Paperback
It's a rare book that puts the reader at a loss for adjectives: astonishing, brilliant, ground-breaking, are a few that come to mind. This book is not to be missed. You will read it more than once. It is simply a gem.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Such a profound work of genius. It takes a brilliant author to write a book like this and Krauss does with grace and heart. Wonderful read - definitely a book for everyone to check out.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Talented wrier!!
This book is a book every aspiring writer should read. It is extremely well written and hard to put down. It made me cry and laugh all in a few paragraphs. Read more
Published on Sep 25 2009 by Wayne E. Stilling
2.0 out of 5 stars
History of Love
I found this book to be confusing to read. I am in a book club and 3 out of the 5 present gave the book a 3 or 4 on 10, but the other two gave it a 7.5 - 8. Read more
Published on May 18 2009 by M. Burke
3.0 out of 5 stars
When love flies off the pages of a book...
That's the case with "The History of Love". Its author thought that the book he wrote decades earlier was irretrievably lost. Read more
Published on Jan 15 2008 by I LOVE BOOKS
4.0 out of 5 stars
absorbing characters
I loved this novel. I especially enjoyed Leo Gursky, the main character, and all of the ways that he ensures that someone notices him each day. Read more
Published on July 2 2007 by Marsha Skrypuch
5.0 out of 5 stars
Through time
"He was a great writer. He fell in love. It was his life." While those are the final words of Nicole Krauss's illuminating second novel, "The History of Love," those three short... Read more
Published on Mar 22 2007 by E. A Solinas
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful
Not sure how I got interested in a book with this title, but it it such an amazing story and it kept me wanting to read more and more. Read more
Published on Oct 18 2006 by Dani
4.0 out of 5 stars
VERY GOOD BOOK
I liked this book very much. Another book I would love to tell everyone about is a book called The Circle of Death by Robert Rohloff. Read more
Published on Aug 13 2005 by BOOKLOVER
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book full of surprises
Very good book. It's one of these rare cases, when I agree with all the professional reviewers. Everything works together - storyline, language. Read more
Published on July 6 2005 by Lena
5.0 out of 5 stars
Buy it and keep it
Somehow over the last few years (working in a bookstore will do it) I've learned to place relatively less credence in professional reviews and relatively more in reader reviews. Read more
Published on May 7 2005
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