Book Review: 'The History of Love' by Nicole Krauss

“Once upon a time there 

was a boy who loved a girl, 

and her laughter was a question 

he wanted to spend his whole 

life answering.”

Warning: this was a five star read for me. I loved it. 

What was it about? 

Love. This is by all accounts a love story, but unlike any I've ever read before. It's about romantic love, familial love, the loss of love, love of a nation, love of a race. It encompasses so much and yet is so short. It's a simmering fire of emotion packed into 250 pages of adept writing.  

It follows the parallel narratives of Leo Gursky and Alma Singer, both living in New York City, exploring the love that they have in their lives. Both protagonists are related in some way to the titular novel, The History of Love, which is also a book in the story. Events unfold and both characters are forced to confront love. 

What I liked:

It was so god damn clever. So clever. It was a book within a book within a tale within a life (did that make sense to you? Me neither). I won't spoil it, but as the narrative unfolds there were many points when I said a long 'oh' to myself in realisation. It's very clever, very subtle, sometimes very confusing. But I loved it. 

Krauss did well at assimilating the voice of both the old and young. Leo Gursky (80 odd) was funny and witty and frank, and Alma Singer (14, about to turn 15) was a perfectly portrayed curious, unsure teenager. 

I liked how frank the book was about old age, from bowel problems to shrivelling bodies. It was slightly disgusting and very realistic. Leo came to life as a real man, not a caricature of what an old, melancholy man might be. There was a great balance of the emotional and the raw reality of life; not everything in this book seemed like a perfectly written, poetic dream. 

What I disliked:

Sometimes the switching between narrators bothered me. I'd be loving one particular voice and then it would be taken away. But this didn't bother me enough to reduce my rating; if anything, it made me take much more notice of the story and how Krauss had weaved the plot together. 

Nicole Krauss was married to Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I dislike how Foer-esque this novel was. The repeated mentioning of The Street of Crocodiles. The narratives separated by headlines and numbered bullet points.  The narrative was dominated by a quest. This playfulness, which would come off as original if I hadn't read Foer's work, seemed a little... stolen? This was compounded by the fact that the book is dedicated to Jonathan. However overall I felt it was more successful at portraying it's main theme (love, the loss of it, and it's survival) than any of Foer's works. 

Also, Krauss and Foer have since broken up. This gives me little hope for love. If the writer who wrote such a book couldn't make it work, who can? 

Would I recommend? 

Yes. 100%. It's my favourite read for a while. As I got this out of my local library, I might even buy a copy. 

Find it on Goodreads here. 

'Pretending he's beside me...'

Books that I want to read before the end of the year that have been sitting on my shelf forever. 

1) A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R Martin- I love the TV show and I have read the first book but it just didn't hook me so I didn't pick up the rest. But now all my friends seem to have read them and want to talk about them so I really do have to finish them; I'm hoping that once I start I'll be drawn in and will hurtle through the remaining six books. 

2) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy- this is a classic that I've had on my shelves for years, after finding a free copy in a book recycling shop. It always looks a bit daunting on the shelf but it sounds like a beautiful story.

3) Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez- because I still haven't started my quest to read some Gabo.

4) The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne- this is one I bought when I was still a teen and pretty much obsessed with the Pretty Little Liars books and wanted to read anything referenced in them, but I never actually got around to it. Another classic I'd like to read. 

'I've been saved by a woman...'

There are many things I love in life. Chocolate. Gossip Girl. Doctor Who. Game of Thrones. Clothes. Bags. Shoes. Airports. New York. Makeup. Skincare. Shopping. But there's one thing I love more than most- books. 

I love reading, I love writing, I love going to the library, I love going to book stalls, I love going to WH Smiths. I even have an unread book pile of about 7 going on on my bedside table. 

My English Literature degree has enabled me to read greatly in the canon, yes. But it generally lacks the kind of fiction I like to read, and so I do a lot of outside research on top of it. Some people may think I'm crazy, yes. But I just love it. 

Books I've been loving recently:

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann

This book is a rarity: one I've read for a course and loved. I can't deny it's trash fiction and had me wondering why on earth it was on a university reading list. It's very evocative of both time and place, and really gets across the emptiness of the lifestyle it's trying to portray. The ambition displayed in it is gravity defying, and I'm not sure if it made me feel awe or really, really sad. The characters are fantastic, whether you love them or you hate them. It might be holiday reading but it's one I'd definitely recommend. 

Wonderboys by Michael Chabon

This one I have a love/hate relationship with. I read the first 100 pages and wanted to drop it in my bath or light it up with a candle. I haaaated the main character with a passion. Hated, hated, hated. He was the kind of cack-handedly misogynistic twat I would detest in real life. I also hated him because he was a writer, and this is a book about writers and the literary world. I thought I would find this interesting, yet it was making me cringe. But, you know, I think it was somewhat of a slow burner; by the end I wanted to understand the protagonist's choices and the world around him, and I found some humour in it. 

The Group by Mary McCarthy

Ok so this is a slight cheat as I'm only halfway through but I'm so in love. The female characters aren't all sassy feminists, no, but they're all flawed and well-rounded. They all have problems and successes, and make different life choices. All the mention of jellied dishes does make me want to throw up (what did people cook in the 60s?!) but overall, a good read.

On my to read list...

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

I love Everything is Illuminated, and JSF is a tutor on the MA Creative Writing course I would sell an arm and leg to do at NYU. I haven't seen the film, but the blurb on this one makes me melt. 

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

Reviews often make me want to read a book, and this one was really loved. I also love the idea of the viewpoint it takes on New York and the multiple characters it explores. 

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

This has been on my to read list for a while due to the rave reviews it received, and it's been pushed up due to my enjoyment of The Goldfinch. How can a book be so universally loved? It has to be good, so I'm excited for this one.