a life's work

First I have to say that Nicole Krauss is brilliant.
From the contemporary style to the characters themselves I love the book.

Leo Gursky the man who devotes himself to trying “not to die on a day when I went unseen.” What a character. I think we can all relate to his fears; going unnoticed, being left behind, not mattering , being unloved.

Alma Singer is Leo Gursky’s counterpart. Similar yet opposite. Where Leo accepts defeat {when he finds Alma in America and discovers his son- he walks away} and retreats. Alma on the other hand steps up to the challenge. She will discover who Alma is and draw her mother out of her comatoseness if it takes a lifetime. Her determination is strong. She will survive like the spring flower that came up too soon, she will hold on and survive.

They are both survivors. Alma with her survival lists, and her love of all things related to it. Leo the Holocaust survivor has held out through all of lives misfortunes. His desire to Exist is strong but his ambition to Thrive has been submersed under the past. There is a difference between a live that is gone through and one that has been lived. What makes that difference? Did Leo lose his thirst for life after his heart was broken? Did it come with old age? Will Alma follow his path? Or will she hold out strong to the end and keep the sparks of life alive?

I hope that you all caught the part at the art class when Leo poses for the art class, Alma was the student in the oversized sweatshirt. It was so fitting that the book ends with Leo and Alma together with no words. Like in one of the chapters in “The History of Love,” when Leo wrote about the birth of communication. Where did it begin? With touch,- tapping. Circles are said to be the most pleasing shapes to look at. All good things come full circle, rings, suns, roses, and noses & great novels.

Things I would change about the book; 1. Alma’s mother, Charlotte went uncaptured throughout the novel, perhaps to illustrate how aloof she was to Alma, but the effect could have been achieved even if we had a little introduction to her as a character. 2. The title of the book. On it’s own makes a fine title, but the fact that Leo’s book is called The History of Love and it is an entirely different book from Krauss’ made me feel like it was a copout to use the same name.

Sarajane