The
History Of Love by Nicole
Krauss tells the stories of Leo Gurskey and Alma Singer, whose fates coincide
due to a book Leo wrote, “The History Of Love”. Alma Singer is a fourteen year old girl searching to find a new
love for her mother in order to raise her from the depression she has retreated to after Alma’s father died of cancer a few years ago. Alma decides
to recruit one of her mother's clients, and while doing so decides to uncover
the author of the book her mother’s client is having her translate.
This
author happens to be Leo Gurskey, an Israeli immigrant living in New York with
his childhood friend, Bruno. Leo constantly thinks about Alma Singer's
namesake, and his own love who he left upon her request many years ago. Alma
Singer is living proof of one of the themes in the book; that words, stories,
and books keep people alive. However, a smaller theme contrived from this is
that stories not only keep people alive, but in doing so bring them together to
recover from losses. This is a less notable theme in the book and relates more
to the idea of starting anew, with a fresh start, than dwelling in the past on
loved ones already lost.
When Leo's son dies at age sixty, Leo is shocked with Isaac's death after
a lifetime of no direct contact with his son. When he attends the public
funeral, he is forced into contact with many old memories of Isaac's mother.
"Only at the very end did I see her again. I snuck into her room in the
hospital and sat with her every day," writes Klauss. This not only shows how devoted Leo
was to Alma, but also how Isaac's death forces him to remember his capability
to love both Isaac and Alma. By forcing Leo to relive these memories, Isaac’s
funeral also forces Leo to move on with his life. After the funeral, Leo becomes
vividly aware of how Alma is dead and gone- but the author doesn’t portray this
in a negative way, going back to the theme of not dwelling in the past or
mourning for too long.
Leo
often considers his own death, and Krauss describes him making an effort to be seen
in public and noticed every day. "All I want is not to die on a day when I
went unseen." This shows how dependent Leo is on his relationships with
other people, and how although the author focuses on starting fresh and moving
on, there still is incredible loss in death. Leo often also uses the phrase
"And yet" as its own sentence, as a transition between thoughts and
ideas. This symbolizes all of the thin lines drawn in the book- how there are
always thin lines between mourning and living in the past, and the differences
between starting over and pushing away old feelings that are still there.
Alma Singer is also dealing with loss in her life, because her father
died of cancer when Alma was 7 years old, leaving her, her younger brother
Bird, and her lonesome mother to support themselves. Alma's mother receives a
letter from a man asking her to translate “The History Of Love” from
Spanish to English as a personal copy. Alma has the idea that since her mother
and this man share the common devotion to this book, they would be perfect
together. Alma even writes a letter to her mother's client pretending to be her
mother, because her mother's reply was not romantic enough. This shows how Alma
is still dwelling in the past of her father’s death seven years ago, because
once she realizes he isn’t coming back, she tries to find someone to replace
him. By the end of the book, Alma meets Leo, and she realizes that she doesn’t
need another fatherly figure as long as she is loved.
Alma’s little brother,
Bird, is also dealing with their father’s death by trying to find a fatherly
figure to replace him. Bird does this by seeking refuge in religion and God,
and making himself feel loved by calling himself one of God’s “Chosen Ones”
even though he only became religious in order to feel appreciated. When Alma
begins to pay more attention to Bird once her problems are being resolved, Bird
becomes less reserved.
Overall, this book is beautifully written with many unique writing
techniques and styles. I thought it was really interesting to compare Krauss’s
technique with that of another one of my favorite authors, Jonathan Safran Foer,
who is Krauss’s husband. They used the same parallel character’s stories and
beautiful tone. Before I knew they had anything to do with each other, I
noticed the extreme similarities between their writings. I also especially
enjoyed the excerpts from Leo Gurskey’s “The History Of Love,” because they
really highlight the themes of living in the moment.
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