The illuminating national bestseller: "Vertiginously exciting…vibrantly imagined….[Krauss is] a prodigious talent."—Janet Maslin, New York Times
A long-lost book reappears, mysteriously connecting an old man searching for his son and a girl seeking a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.
Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Pol... (show more)
The illuminating national bestseller: "Vertiginously exciting…vibrantly imagined….[Krauss is] a prodigious talent."—Janet Maslin, New York Times
A long-lost book reappears, mysteriously connecting an old man searching for his son and a girl seeking a cure for her widowed mother's loneliness.
Leo Gursky is just about surviving, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive. But life wasn't always like this: sixty years ago, in the Polish village where he was born, Leo fell in love and wrote a book. And though Leo doesn't know it, that book survived, inspiring fabulous circumstances, even love. Fourteen-year-old Alma was named after a character in that very book. And although she has her hands full—keeping track of her brother, Bird (who thinks he might be the Messiah), and taking copious notes on How to Survive in the Wild—she undertakes an adventure to find her namesake and save her family. With consummate, spellbinding skill, Nicole Krauss gradually draws together their stories.
This extraordinary book was inspired by the author's four grandparents and by a pantheon of authors whose work is haunted by loss—Bruno Schulz, Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel, and more. It is truly a history of love: a tale brimming with laughter, irony, passion, and soaring imaginative power. (show less)
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I really didn't know a lot about this book when I picked it up, but I was really very surprised how much I loved it. I couldn't put it down, and i... (show more)
I really didn't know a lot about this book when I picked it up, but I was really very surprised how much I loved it. I couldn't put it down, and it is one of the most beautifully melancholy books I have read in a long time. It has the kind of sadness that is so gorgeous that you can't help but fall in love with this story as it unravels. It is a sort-of mystery story, a search for a son, a lover, a father, an author, a friend--so many things. It is beautifully paced, the characters and their musings are distinct and interesting in the best ways, and the structure of the novel is just revealing enough to keep you if not guessing then interested in where it is headed, and the ending--oh the ending. I feel like I'm gushing a bit, but I really loved this book. And for those who go into it looking for the similarities to Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, those similarities are there, they exist for sure, but I think that Krauss' voice is so very distinct from her husband's, and while I have loved his books, I have never loved one as much as I loved this one. (show less)
I wasn't really impressed by this book. Is it well written, yes. Does the story keep your attention, not really. Parts of the story were fantastic,... (show more)
I wasn't really impressed by this book. Is it well written, yes. Does the story keep your attention, not really. Parts of the story were fantastic, and I enjoyed reading it, other parts I wanted to skip ahead. The book is written from three different people's perspective. And each person has their own unique voice and way of talking. Then 3/4 of the way through the book, she introduces another perspective. I wasn't too thrilled about this, it seemed more of a way to keep the pages of the book down, then to actually keep the fluidity of the book going.
I was also disappointed about the end, it does have a sweet ending, but I felt like there should have been something more. (show less)
"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." This was a quote fairly early on in the book and it had me hooked, because who wouldn't love to hear something like that!!
I forget why I initially purchased this one, but I am glad that I did! The book was fantastic. A really intriguing story with lots of twists and turns. There were really a lot of things to like about this book, but the best thing... (show more)
"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering." This was a quote fairly early on in the book and it had me hooked, because who wouldn't love to hear something like that!!
I forget why I initially purchased this one, but I am glad that I did! The book was fantastic. A really intriguing story with lots of twists and turns. There were really a lot of things to like about this book, but the best things were the characters. From the quirky Leo Gursky himself, his equally crochety neighbor and childhood friend, the elusive Alma, the unknown sun, and the younger Alma and her younger brother Bird. It was all just very well crafted and there were several really good twists in the end.
There was one other really great quote from the book that I think applies to everything in life, "When your pants are down around your ankles, that's when everyone arrives."
This was really just a great novel and I would highly recommend it to anyone! (show less)
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A wonderful book. I think the synopsis at the back of the book (which I use quite a lot to gauge if a book's interesting or not) is not at all like the story within. If I were just to judge the book by its synopsis, I wouldn't have picked it up. Having read a quote from it in a literary community, I fell in love with Krauss's prose. The book is much more than just beautiful. The way the story is told is both creative, different and keeps you on edge. Would definitely recommend this to anybody... (show more)
A wonderful book. I think the synopsis at the back of the book (which I use quite a lot to gauge if a book's interesting or not) is not at all like the story within. If I were just to judge the book by its synopsis, I wouldn't have picked it up. Having read a quote from it in a literary community, I fell in love with Krauss's prose. The book is much more than just beautiful. The way the story is told is both creative, different and keeps you on edge. Would definitely recommend this to anybody who is interested in beautiful modern prose. The only I could have wished for is perhaps a glossary of the abundant Jewish words used in the story. My favourite character is actually the lamed vovnik. However, the downside to this book is that, although the writing is very beautiful, there are some parts that are slightly confusing. I also did not think too much of the ending - too many things left unexplained. (show less)
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Bruno. WARNING SPOILER
dont know if i missed something, but was Bruno really there? leo says near the end that bruno died in 1941, but then he was going a bit mental himself by that point. also when did the handover of the manuscript in minsk (from leo to zvi) happen?
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