Loved it! ( )

I recommended this novel to my book group. It is a fascinating tale of love and loss, wartime, genius, betrayal, and more. It is a fresh interesting that I have not read in other novels. ( )

I didn't know till I read it on here that Nicole Krauss was married to Jonathan Safran Foer, but all the way through this book things reminded me of Everything is Illuminated, the general themes more than anything I suppose. I enjoyed reading it a lot, the descriptions of old age and becoming decrepit were heartbreaking, and you feel like shaking the characters for not grasping onto their opportunities at love. It was a bit confusing when the voice first shifted from Leopold to Alma, and confusing at other points throughout, but in the end I just stopped worrying about it too much and waited for the connections to come clear. The different narrative have very distinct voices, but all of them have a combination of humour, sadness and wisdom that made this a very lovely book to read. ( )

Having had this book recommended to me by several people, I had very high hopes for it. I am pleased to report I was not disappointed. However, this is a book for which you need to keep all your wits about you. The following quote from the book nicely sums up its potential for confusion:

”'The History of Love' starts when Alma is ten, right?” I said. My mother looked up and nodded. “Well how old is she when it ends?” “It’s hard to say. There are so many Almas in the book.” “How old is the oldest?” “Not very. Maybe twenty.” “So the book ends when Alma is only twenty?” “In a way. But it’s more complicated than that. She isn’t even mentioned in some chapters. And the whole sense of time and history in the book is very loose.”

Having realised not far into the novel that it was going to keep me on my toes, I slowed down and tried to digest every word so I didn’t get lost. This may sound like hard work, but the effort was well worth it; by the end I was in floods of tears. The last page is breathtaking in its simplicity, and having come to know the two characters involved, I could do nothing else but cry for them. It has left me in a very melancholy mood, but that is no bad thing.

The writing is beautiful, the characters are sensitively and convincingly drawn, the plot is complex, but the story is both simple and pure, funny and sad. A delight to read. I can’t wait to read it again. ( )

I absolutely adored this book which I did not expect at all. After my disastrous experience with Love Walked In I was really expecting to hate this book. Krauss immediately drew me into the story of the characters and the mystery behind all of their stories. The chapters alternate from being told by three different characters in the book and the difference between each character's storytelling methods really gives the book a 'real' quality to it.

This book is definitely a keeper and will be staying on my shelves... and possibly even forced upon my mother. ( )