The History of Love

I read Nicole Krauss' The History Of Love after reading about it on Alice's blog. I have to admit, I wasn't sure about it, but I wanted to give it a shot. The reviews that I read of it were almost universally positive, with reviewers praising its genius and the 'heartbreaking' and 'perfect' ending. It's basically a novel-within-a-novel about and old Jewish man and a young girl living in New York.

I finished it this afternoon after reading it over the weekend. And I thought it was the most anti-climactic book, with the possible exception of Atonement (another book that everyone ELSE raves about).

When I initially finished it, my first thought was "Ok, how thick am I that I didn't get that at all?" And then I read this review in the New York Times and felt a bit better. Although the reviewer does seems to at least 'get' it, which I didn't.

The best thing I can say about it? That I'm glad I didn't have to read it for a class - there's no way I'd be able to pass a quiz on it.