THE HISTORY OF LOVE

I picked up the book The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss, off the front porch of some house in Park Slope when I went for a run there last month, some day around Valentine's Day.  It is a common practice in that area of town, people just put stuff out on their porch to give away, sometimes with a sign that says "Free", other times none.  Sometimes I even carry books to the area and donate to the few Little Free Libraries in the area.  On that day, I failed in my mission to declutter because I think I also picked up some other books.

The History of Love sounds like an ambitious title, so grandiose, so historic.  It's sorta like the movie Inception, a book within a book.  Yes, there are characters inside the book that are connected to a book called, surprise surprise, The History of Love.  The beginning was pretty sad, much about an old man with no relatives counting the days until he dies.  So depressing, maybe that's why I couldn't get far.  Then a girl named Alma was introduced into the story, I didn't catch on right away that she was in the same universe as the old man.  As a matter of fact, in the same city, this great New York City of ours that is mostly a ghost town because of COVID-19.  In theory, with NYC on lockdown I should have plenty of time to read etc but I was just not in the mood for it.  Eventually I did and finished the book after a few nights as before-bed reading.  Once I saw how the story turned out, that the girl was trying to find the real people behind the book, that she would eventually meeting the old man, I went through the book much faster.  I did have to read the Wikipedia entry afterward to make sure I didn't miss anything.  In the old days, that would be a Cliff Note or Monarch Note.  Yup, I pretty much got the gist of the story.  Supposedly a movie was made out of it, but I am reluctant to see it so soon.  I'd rather see the movie, if I ever will, some time later when what I remember of the book is gone or mostly gone.  I think it's more enjoyable that way.

In the spirit of decluttering the house, I am thinking of offering the book to my local Buy Nothing group, although I am not sure if anyone will want it.  Who knows, when my local library first closed down for the immediate future I thought about raiding the nearest Free Little Library but I never followed through with the idea.