Book Review: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Book: The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating:★★★★★
For: Book Club
From: personal copy that I've had for so long I have no idea where it came from

Yay that I've FINALLY read this book! I loved it. It's an awesome story with some awesome characters and a confusing plot that makes you think... in a good way!

It's told from three even sometimes four points of view. The "main" one is an old guy who has lived a lonely life and he's afraid he's going to die soon and no one will have noticed him at all. As he narrates, we learn that his past includes escaping the Holocaust, (but his family did not) and how he then spent years hiding. And that he loved a girl all through childhood but she was sent to America just before the war, that he wrote a book about her, that he wrote another book recently after suffering a heart attack, and that he has spent his  later life being a locksmith in New York and hanging out with his friend Bruno.

The second narrator is a young girl whose father died several years prior and whose mother is still not doing well. She has determined to find someone to make her happy, and she thinks that maybe the guy who has recently requested a translation of a particular book, just might be the answer.

Then we have the author of the book mentioned above and his story and the book's story, and how that connects to the two people mentioned above.

And now and again we also hear from the girl's strange little brother, because he sees some things that have impact on the story also.

In the end, all the stories come together in a very clever and profound way. Getting there was a little confusing though, and often I was wondering how this could happen and what was going on, but I knew it would work and it was awesome.

I loved the voice of the old guy. He was funny and down to earth and so sad. The girl reminded me a lot of Fanny from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. She was smart and a thinker and a plotter.

I really enjoyed the style of this one! And I hope to search out this author's other books! And maybe even her husband's (Jonathan Safran Foer) too!

Bottom line: I loved it.

Other Reviews:

Permeated in this literary novel is an affecting sense of loss and love, and disappointment in life........This book just takes my breath away. From A Guy's Moleskine Notebook

Such a beautiful book that just invites you in so easily From Sarah Reads Too Much

But bottom line is this is a beautiful and moving book that I think you should all go read right now. From Love, Laughter and a Touch of Insanity

Altogether, I found the story haunting, revealing, thought-provoking, and beautiful. From One Literature Nut