Serena's Reviews > The History of Love

“Empty teacups gathered around her and dictionary pages fell at her feet.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“He wondered if what he had taken for the richness of silence was really the poverty of never being heard.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“I tried to make sense of things. Now that I think about it, I have always tried. It could be my epitaph. LEO GURSKY: HE TRIED TO MAKE SENSE.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“It's one of those unforgettable moments that happen as a child, when you discover that all along the world has been betraying you.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“Once upon a time you were a fish. How do you know? Because I was also a fish. You, too? Sure. A long time ago. Anyway, being a fish, you knew how to swim. You were a great swimmer. A champion swimmer, you were. You loved the water. Why? What do you mean, why? Why did I love the water? Because it was your life! And as we talked, I would have let him go one finger at a time, until, without his realizing, he'd be floating without me. Perhaps that is what it means to be a father-to teach your child to live without you.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“19. THE WALL OF DICTIONARIES BETWEEN MY MOTHER AND THE WORLD GETS TALLER EVERY YEAR

Sometimes pages of the dictionaries come loose and gather at her feet, shallon, shalop, shallot, shallow, shalom, sham, shaman, shamble, like the petals of an immense flower. When I was little, I thought that the pages on the floor were words she would never be able to use again, and I tried to tape them back in where they belonged, out of fear that one day she would be left silent.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“She abandoned the garden, and the mums and asters that had trusted her to see them through to the first frost hung their waterlogged heads.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love

“ONE THING I AM NEVER GOING TO DO WHEN I GROW UP
Is fall in love, drop out of college, learn to subsist on water and air, have a species named after me, and ruin my life.”
― Nicole Krauss, The History of Love