History, Love | A History of Love

A new post! This one about a book I borrowed from Alison, whom I believed salvaged it from a charity shop some months back: 

A History of Love by Nicole Krauss. 

I'm going to start by quoting directly from Marie Claire's four star review as it lends itself well:

' Krauss's complex Russian-doll structure demands - and repays - concentration. But the characters are so vivid and human that it never feels like hard work. '

Almost, but not quite.
There was just one critical moment as I was about two-thirds of the way through and I lost sync as to whose story we were currently involved in & had to scurry back a few pages to reconfigure. Up until that point, I had felt spurred on in my reading of it and involved with the characters and their plights and quests across the pages. I guess because of the multiple layers and dynamics as to who knows who, if you lose the voice & story, you lose your way entirely. 

Character list being somewhat complex, as:

• Leo Gursky, Bruno ... Alma (Meriminski) ... Isaac Moritz
• Alma Singer ... Charlotte, Bird & David Singer
• Uncle Julian, Mischa & Herman ... Jacob Marcus
• Zvi Litvinoff, Rosa ... Leopold, Alma; Isaac Babel

That was the one weak link which changed this from being a fabulous, captivating read for me to a great, & otherwise, incredibly strong read.

1. Everything else that was good:

I loved the captions which introduced us to Alma's quirky way of thinking and also how that in turn, helped structure her story, her quest.

It's multilayered - full of character and observation and the tragicomic qualities of life. Metafiction; being so beautiful with its understanding of words as memory, words which comfort, as well as words turned to pages - as seen with Charlotte - which suffocate & stifle. 

It's brave due to its use of "unconventional typography". How many writers would stake an otherwise blank page to emphasise the process of writing or reading? Or a character's way of thinking? I loved especially how this was used as a open book format, with Leo's & Alma's journeys happening step-by-step, side-by-side.

The character of Alma: her determination & fortitude; the loss of her father, desire to prompt her mother to love again & intervention with the exchange of letters; her romance with Mischa & exploration of teenage love/lust. 

The character of Bird & Alma's influence on his need "to be normal"; how he handles this and how he aids the resolution of the ending - surely making him the kindest, altruistic figure of them all? 

The shared history of the oldest men, their war stories and subsequent flight from Poland. The eureka! moment as Jacob is exposed as Isaac; the horror at Isaac's plagarism of his estranged father. 

The sheer humanity - the love shown, loves lost, fears, dreams, laughter and tears. 

The inclusion of A History of Love as 'book-within-a-book'. 

The sheer poetry of 'once there was a girl...' 

________________________________ 

Plot: ***
It's labyrinthine but Krauss impressively pulls all the varying threads back together by the end. 

Fun: ****
Really engaging & enjoyable. Plus a lot of wry, observational humour used.
Krauss gently poking fun at the idiosyncracies of each character & using that humour to build them up. 

Novelty: **** 

Yes. There aren't many novels out there, this brave & successfully experimental. 

Overall: ***
I'm glad I read it; I'll no doubt revisit it again.