The History of Love: A Novel
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4.3 • 313 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
ONE OF THE MOST LOVED NOVELS OF THE DECADE.
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 taps his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he’s still alive. But it wasn’t always like this: in the Polish village of his youth, he fell in love and wrote a book…Sixty years later and half a world away, fourteen-year-old Alma, who was named after a character in that book, undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With virtuosic skill and soaring imaginative power, Nicole Krauss gradually draws these stories together toward a climax of "extraordinary depth and beauty" (Newsday).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A starred review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred review.THE HISTORY OF LOVENicole Krauss. Norton, (248p) 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. .
Customer Reviews
Beautiful story, enjoyed every detail
Such amazing characters!! I love the way the story develops and the way the narrator switches as the story unfolds.
A must read.
I'm in love with this book.
added to my list of awful books
I’m about 72% done with this book and I’m only finishing it out of spite and because I paid for it.
I’ve never read a book with a worst writing style. Why is all the dialogue clumped into one paragraph? Feels like I’m reading something written by a fifth grader who doesn’t understand the rules of writing dialogue.
Overall, it’s just a bad book. The plot is all jumbled and hard to understand, the characters are badly written. I absolutely HATE this book, which says a lot because there are only two other books that I hate so fiercely.
But hey! If you’re an aspiring writer just remember... if this can get published so can your book!