Book Thoughts 1

I just finished reading a History of Love, by Nicole Krauss. It definitely jumbled me up in different places, as I tried to keep track of who was telling the story, who was really telling the story, and at what time period the person who was really telling the story, was telling the story. And you never find out what happens to Bird, which I think is a big drawback to the book, because so much time is spent creating his life and story and then I feel he gets left out of the resolution. Unless I missed something. I do feel like I have to go back and reread it anyways, now that I know who is supposed to be telling which story. But the whole book is made up of little and big tragedies and heartbreak. A bit of a sad book that is demonstrated in even the skimmed details of desk clerks and nonchalant art students. I wonder if this kind of book is appealing to a large audience. I suppose New York City provides a pretty large audience. Bona fide as they say. So maybe it is taking the easy way out - writing a book based in New York City. I wonder how many books would have to be written about New York City in order for there to not be any more books that needed to be written. I wonder how many books have already been written about New York City. There is probably some registry out there that keeps track of matters like this, probably somewhere in New York City, but not in one of the nice buildings. The building might be a little spooky looking, but with a clean desk and a well-groomed clerk, who may or may not be named Irwin.

Mona the Cat