27 May, 2012

The History of Love

The History of Love is a second novel from Nicole Krauss. It follows three stories which eventually becomes one: 

---> Leo Gursky: is an old man who survives World War II & Jewish concentration camp. When he was young and living in Poland, Leo promised his neighbor, Alma Meremenski, that he would always love her. A promise he keeps throughout his life and endures through a book he wrote, "The History of Love". 

---> Alma Singer: is a girl living in New York with her brother and recently widowed mother. Alma's name is taken from a character in her parents favorite book, "The History of Love." One day comes a letter from a man name Jacob Marcus asking her mother to translate the book (which originally in Spanish) into English. 

--->Zvi Litvinoff: in Chile, another immigrant from Poland published a book in Spanish, the book is titled "The History of Love."

Leo Gursky endures a life watching his son from a distance, a son he assumes never know his father exist (till the day he dies). But fate comes in an unexpected way, and Leo Gursky is destined to find proper ends.

Krauss has written conventional story with unconventional techniques in such tenderness it becomes  beautiful in its own time. Like the life of Leo Gursky itself. 

How hurtful it must be, to love someone who does not even think of you...