The History of Love (2 page)

“ ‘Beautiful’ is not a word to be thrown around lightly, but it is the first one that comes to mind in relation to Nicole Krauss’s second novel . . . her writing is flawless.”

—Newark
Sunday Star-Ledger

“Leo’s poignant, often hilarious ruminations ring piercingly true, and they beautifully showcase Krauss’s expansive imagination. . . . [It] is a whimsical, wistful epic that gradually unbraids several intertwined mysteries, and the climaxes of both texts come together with an effortless click and a sigh of wonder . . . this is complex, inventive storytelling at its best.”

—
Ruminator Review
, St. Paul, Minnesota

“
The History of Love
is one of those novels you want to reread the minute you finish.”

—
Jewish Woman

“The authenticity of the humour contrasted with the sadness is extraordinarily moving. Krauss is the real thing;
The History of Love
is a novel to be read and reread.”

—
Globe and Mail

“This wonderful novel is poignant, imaginative, funny, and even suspense-ful. . . . A book that will steal your heart.”

—
Halifax Sunday Herald

“A wonderful novel erupting with life . . . building to a perfect, heartbreaking end.”

—
Daily Mail

“Undoubtedly the work of a formidably talented novelist.”

—
Independent

“Its primary effect is to warm and sadden the cockles of the heart.”

—
Financial Times

“For all the complexity of this book, it has the simplicity of pure emotion, and is a delight because of it.”

—
The Times

“Endearing. Krauss is an entertaining, humane and intelligent writer.”

—
Guardian

“Captivating. . . . Characters fly off the page and into your consciousness.”

—
Good Housekeeping

“Poignant and evocative . . . the writing is beautiful, and the twists and turns keep you riveted until the last page.”

—
Easy Living

“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.”

—
Marie Claire UK

“A new star in the literary firmament . . . one of the most touching stories you are ever likely to read.”

—
In Style

Praise from other authors:

“Charming, tender, and wholly original.”

—J. M. Coetzee

“The interwoven threads of this marvelous tapestry offer delights at every turn. The writing is gorgeous, and Krauss’s questing characters follow surprising and touching paths.”

—Andrea Barrett, author of
Servants of the Map

“Nicole Krauss’s Leo Gursky is all voice—frisky, aching, jittery, stunning, heart-rending, irresistible. There’s nothing like his voice, nor will there ever be. A cross between I. B. Singer and Woody Allen, Kafka and Leopold Bloom, Nicole Krauss’s gripping new voice doesn’t work its way into the pantheon of American voices: it literally walks straight up to them and asks them to move over—or else it will haunt their living days and nights. And it does just that. You can’t shut it off, can’t put it out of your mind, can’t live without hoping to run into it again and again. Leo Gursky is here to stay. And we are the luckier for it.”

—Andre Aciman, author of
Out of Egypt

“
The History of Love
is such a unique and beautiful book, one I read with great pleasure quite literally from the first sentence to the last. It is a mystery, a prose poem, a meditation, a single answer to many questions. It is the kind of book one hopes to find but rarely does: a work that captivates, challenges, and consoles, all at once. Nicole Krauss is proof positive that great literature is being written today.”

—Elizabeth Berg, author of
The Year of Pleasures

“From the twentieth-century Jewish experience of dislocation, Nicole Krauss has constructed—with nods to Bellow and Singer and a kiss blown across the gulf of years to Bruno Schulz—a stirring, soulful novel that speaks to our own losses and loves. This book will break your heart and at once mend it.”

—Ken Kalfus, author of
The Commissariat of Enlightenment

“
The History of Love
is imbued with empathy and bittersweet humor. It is a book to be read slowly—both to savor the luminous prose and to stave off reaching the last page.”

—Myla Goldberg, author of
Bee Season

“The triumphant song of this book is that it is an obituary told in opposition to obituaries —we live on in our dark, tender, heartbreaking mysteries and even the anonymous moments resound. A tremendous novel that will wring out our tired hearts.”

—Colum McCann, author of
Dancer

“A beauty of a book, totally alive, made with real energy and nerve and craft. It restores your faith in fiction. It restores all sorts of faith.”

—Ali Smith, author of
The Accidental

ALSO BY NICOLE KRAUSS
Man Walks Into a Room

THE HISTORY OF LOVE

Nicole Krauss

W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
NEW YORK LONDON

Copyright © 2005 by Nicole Krauss

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

First published as a Norton paperback 2006

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

Manufacturing by R. R. Donnelley, Bloomsburg

Book design by Barbara Bachman

Production manager: Andrew Marasia

Illustrations by Sam Messer

Ebook conversion by Erin Campbell,
TIPS Technical Publishing, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Krauss, Nicole.

The history of love / Nicole Krauss.— 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-393-06034-9 (hardcover)

1. Authors—Fiction. 2. Immigrants—Fiction. 3. Lost literature—Fiction. 4. Books
and reading—Fiction. 5. Loss (Psychology)—Fiction. 6. Poland—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3611.R38H57 2005

813’.6—dc22

2005000936

ISBN-13: 978-0-393-32862-2 pbk.

ISBN-10: 0-393-32862-7 pbk.

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110

www.wwnorton.com

W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT

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