March 2006
The Power of Love
Check out these two emotional tales
THE HISTORY OF LOVE ****
By Nicole Krauss
Penguin, 2005
Married to writer Jonathan Safran Foer, Nicole Krauss is one half of New York’s golden literary couple, despite this being only her second novel. But what a novel!
The History of Love tells the story of two characters whose lives are intertwined—although discovering just how they are linked takes some time.
The novel opens with an elderly Jewish man, Leo Gursky, a Polish immigrant in New York, nearing the end of his life. The retired locksmith is terrified of dying on a day when nobody has noticed him. This drives him to attention-seeking behavior, ranging from throwing a cup of coffee onto the floor to modeling for a life-drawing class. But the reader soon learns that Gursky’s life was not always like this. Sixty years ago in Poland, he loved—and was loved by—a girl named Alma. He wrote a book about his love, which, unknown to him, survived and inspired generations.
One of the people fascinated by his book is Alma Singer, a 14-year-old, whose parents named her after the character in Gursky’s love story. As well as dealing with the usual adolescent turmoil, Singer is struggling to piece together a picture of her dead father, trying to encourage her grieving mother to fall in love again, and to make her little brother, Bird, stop behaving like an antisocial nerd. On first impressions, there is a stark contrast between Singer and Gursky—they are two characters at very different stages in life. But, a little later, the reader realizes that they share many things—the same feelings of loneliness, of being an outsider and their preoccupation with the past.
Rarely can a novel so quickly capture—and keep—one’s attention. The reader feels an instant connection to the quirky, vivid characters. Evoking just one of these characters would be an amazing feat for most writers, but Krauss manages two effortlessly.
The History of Love is a pleasure to read on so many levels—the cleverly constructed story, the novel within a novel, the brilliantly crafted characters and the wider themes of loneliness, survival and lost love. Bittersweet, melancholic, yet funny and human, this book comes highly recommended.
DORA B: A MEMOIR OF
MY MOTHER ***
By Josiane Behmoiras
Bloomsbury, 2006
This moving auto-biographical account took Josiane Behmoiras six years to write, perhaps because of its delicate subject matter. She wrote the book—her literary debut—for her 12-year-old daughter, to explain why her grandmother was living an itinerant’s life on the streets of Tel Aviv, and to unravel their complicated mother-daughter relationship.
The story begins in 1961 in Montpellier, when the author is eight. She and her mother are arrested and, unable to prove that they aren’t vagrants, are sent to Israel. They begin a new life there, but things do not go smoothly. What starts out as hostility from their neighbors—prompted by Dora’s bizarre behavior—soon turns into abuse and them being ostracized. But the two always have each other, and somehow manage to survive.
The story focuses on Behmoiras’ struggle to come to terms with the fact that her mother is losing her grasp on reality, and struggling with mental illness. Behmoiras paints a warm and affectionate, if at times also heartbreaking, picture of her mother: “I can imagine her walking along the affluent streets of Tel Aviv, holding a letter addressed to François Mitterrand or to Queen Elizabeth. Her hair matted, her clothes mismatched layers, crumpled and stained dresses, shirts, cardigans, coats. Two pairs of looking glasses are held together with string; one eye blind, cloudy, the other in need of a thicker lens. Her face tense with confusion and her step heavy with exhaustion.”
Dora B is an easy read, with each short chapter describing an episode of their lives. What comes through most is her mother’s selfless love. Despite her eccentricities, she always fiercely protects and loves Josiane. That’s why it is an extremely courageous step for Behmoiras to have written this book, as she cut herself off from her mother in order to save her own sanity. Leaving Israel and her mother was the only way in which she could survive. She later tried to arrange for her mother to join her in Australia, but by that time it was too late. An honest, moving story, for which you will need your tissues at the ready. <<<
