Interwoven Threads

Nicole Krauss adds an edge to her novel that facilitates the reader with a sense of intrigue. As talked about in my previous post, there are three different narrators. The first one who was introduced was Leo Gursky, and his chapters are identified by a heart, because his is fragile and he is towards the end of his life. In Leo's chapters, the narration is primarily a constant stream of consciousness in which the reader can follow Leo Gursky through weeks of daily routines and struggles. I find this tactic very strategic on Krauss' part because it allows the reader optimal chance to be able to identify with and empathize for Leo. For example, at one point Leo is struggling to cope with accepting the death of his son, Isaac, of whom's death he found out about through a customer of his. Leo is planning to go to his son's memorial service, and wakes up to the realization that he has overslept and is on the verge of being late for the service. Leo narrates, "I was about to go up and knock on his door when I looked at the clock. It was already quarter past ten. I like to think the world wasn't ready for me, but maybe the truth is I wasn't ready for the world. I've always arrived too late for my life" (84). This short excerpt of Leo's thoughts can tell the reader a great amount about how he feels upon reflection on the life he has lived. It is clear that Mr. Gursky has many regrets about the choices he made, or didn't make in his life. This is especially true when it comes to the lonely life he ended up living due to the series of unfortunate events that ended his relationship with Isaac's mother. Not on purpose, she chose another man over Leo, depriving Leo of the love of his life as well as his son who died without knowing about the truth of his father's existence. Although a troubled man, Leo shows the reader that he handles his regrets the best that he can considering the hardships he is living with.

The next main character that is introduced to the reader is teenage girl, Alma Singer, whose chapters are identified with a compass because of her interest in wilderness, survival, and her father. Her chapters are written in the form of lists. Each thought or experience that she has is its own separate section. The length of each individual portion of the chapter ranges from about five sentences to a page and a half. However, even in the shortest sections Krauss offers vivid and in-depth insight into Alma's character. Her chapters tend to use more dialogue than Leo's do because Leo is much lonelier, and dialogue would contradict that sense of loneliness. Alma, though, uses many pages to recollect conversations with her mother, friends, peers, or her little brother, Bird. My favorite part of Alma's chapters are the titles of each section. They generally have a very strong impact as well as giving indicators as to what the coming section will pertain to. One of the titles in her most recent chapter that I really enjoyed was, "IF I HAD A RUSSIAN ACCENT EVERYTHING WOULD BE DIFFERENT"(98). This section talks about her first kiss with her pen pal and closest friend, Misha, whose family immigrated to New York from Russia. Each section builds a clearer image of Alma as Krauss develops her characters and prepares the reader for the climax of the novel.

The third narrator is identified by a book. This is because these chapters are about the significance of the novel of The History of Love, the novel the book is named after. These chapters are narrated by David Singer, Alma's deceased father, who dedicated the book to his wife, and the "author" of the novel, Zvi Livitnoff who is also polish, like Leo Gursky and Alma Singer (part Polish from her father's side). These chapters give less insight into the character's thoughts, and primarily focus on following their actions. This is because these chapters are crucial for context clues as to how all these seemingly random and totally separate characters are actually related.

As I have progressed into the book it is becoming clearer and clearer through little context clues and hints that these characters are all interwoven threads that create a bigger picture. Their relation to each other all stems from the significance of The History of Love in each of their lives. Although, I am only on the cusp of figuring out how the characters will cross paths, I am entirely hooked due to Krauss' phenomenal job of subtly giving unique lives and personalities to her characters through the various writing styles that she associates with each different chapter, and I look forward to finishing the novel and discovering the significance of The History of Love.