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Search - The History of Love
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The History of Love Author: |
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Book Information
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Other Versions of this Book: Hardcover, Audio CD
Book Description:
A long-lost book reappears, mysteriously connecting an old man searching for his son and a girl seeking a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.
Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands fullkeeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wildshe undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With consummate, spellbinding skill, Nicole Krauss gradually draws together their stories.
This extraordinary book was inspired by the author's four grandparents and by a pantheon of authors whose work is haunted by lossBruno Schulz, Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, and more. It is truly a history of love: a tale brimming with laughter, irony, passion, and soaring imaginative power.
Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands fullkeeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wildshe undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With consummate, spellbinding skill, Nicole Krauss gradually draws together their stories.
This extraordinary book was inspired by the author's four grandparents and by a pantheon of authors whose work is haunted by lossBruno Schulz, Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, and more. It is truly a history of love: a tale brimming with laughter, irony, passion, and soaring imaginative power.
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Top Member Book Reviews
7 member(s) found this review helpful.
Among my top 10 favorite books of ALL TIME. At first you have no idea how these narratives all relate, but by the end, you're turning the pages so quickly as connection by connection, it's all revealed. I would read it again and again and again ... no surprise it's won dozens and dozens of awards and critical acclaim. Beautiful and unique storytelling.
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to really like this book or really dislike it - and so put it down for almost 2 months. However, I picked it back up a few nights ago and absolutely got drawn in to the story.
Simply, it is a book about two people - elderly Leo Gurksy and teenager Alma Singer - who are lonely and looking for love and answers. Ultimately, those answers come in the form of the book "The History of Love." While the concept is fairly simple, the storytelling is not. It's multi-layered and complex, goes back and forth in time, and leaves the reader little clues along the way that you don't recognize until the end. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed it and was sad to finish it.
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is a beautiful story - one of the best books I've ever read. And it has, hands down, one of the greatest characters ever written in Leo Gursky.
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
One of the finest books I've ever read.
Every element in the books comes together beautifully and intricately at the end.
I have read it twice and will read it again.
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
This was an interesting story about how love and an obscure book affected the lives of a very diverse group of people. It was a little confusing to follow in the beginning, got somewhat better in the middle but brought everything together for the reader in the end.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I found this book to be somewhat confusing. It was difficult to find how the characters related to each other. Most of my book club meeting was spent clarifying things to each other. There is a lot in the book I just came away feeling as if I had missed most of it.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is an amazing story. It has multiple characters and sometimes it was hard to place who was talking and in what decade. The author takes the "Love Story" and intertwines it in MANY peoples lives. The characters are very slowly developed. Hang in there until the end.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This book is truly a love story, but it is also a bit of a history lesson, less about love than about WWII to present day times. However, that in no way makes it historical fiction. This book is Literature with a capital "L." Elegant writing, tender and compassionate character development, unflinching truth and a lyrical voice all made me fall in love with this book and the people within.
My thought is that Nicole Krauss and her husband Jonathan Safran Foehr must live in a cooperative residence in Manhattan filled with grandparent-aged Jewish people who one by one tell them their true stories. Otherwise, these two authors are truly the most imaginative creators of fiction on the planet. Truth is often stranger than fiction, so that's my thought and I'm sticking with it.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Absolutely wonderful book. Very indepth read. About a young girl who is trying to find cure for her mothers lonliness thru a book her mother is translating. She trys to find the author. The authir is a man who is also trying to survive a bit longer and the love of his life is the one who inspired him to write the book. He is also just the man young Alma is looking for. You will love the charecters and the pace of the novel. Heartbreaking but also funny. I liked this book.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I loved the characterization in this book. You can practically hear Leo talking in his New York Jewish accent. The book is full of intrigue, it takes a long time to figure out what's going on, but it's worth the suspense.
Please Rate these Book Reviews
Trish F. (You have to stick with this book for awhile before the puzzle starts to come together, but wow, is it worth it! I was crying in some chapters and laughing in others. Overall a great spin on the classic telling of a love story.
I know this is a good book but I'm giving up--can't finish it.
Interesting story - author is the wife of Jonathan Safran Foer and find her writing style similar to his.
Interesting- need to read at one time vs a little each time to keep track of what is happening.
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