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Great House A Novel Nicole Krauss 9780393079982 Books

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Great House A Novel Nicole Krauss 9780393079982 Books

As in the last books I have read by Rachel Kadish my mind never stopped twirling! I would forget where I was and try to turn back, or not...I stopped and my mind swam away...does it matter it the theme of this book is like the fly in amber or jello or the ripple of a reflection? Not on bit! It is a marvelous read choked full of ideas and history and under it all feelings. Thank you author! Now it will be difficult to find another book that can capture my mind as well!


Tags : Great House: A Novel [Nicole Krauss] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <strong>Finalist for the 2010 National Book Award in Fiction<br /> Winner of the 2011 ABA Indies Choice Honor Award in Fiction<br /> Winner of the 2011 Anisfield-Wolf Award<br /> Shortlisted for the 2011 Orange Prize in Fiction<br /><br /> A powerful,Nicole Krauss,Great House: A Novel,W. W. Norton & Company,0393079988,Contemporary Women,Loss (Psychology),Loss (Psychology);Fiction.,Memory,Memory;Fiction.,Psychological fiction,Psychological fiction.,FICTION General,FICTION Women,Fiction,Fiction - General,General,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Great House A Novel Nicole Krauss 9780393079982 Books Reviews

What can I say about a book that's so hauntingly beautiful that I'm still thinking of it several days after I finished it? It's haunting because it's everyone's story of grief and loss and hope and the ties that bind, even ties that cross continents and generations. It's beautiful because of the author's tremendous gift for language. Even now certain phrases stick in my mind. A short one is "the relief of failure," something that when I quoted it to a young English teacher friend of mine, she said, "That's beautiful...and so true. I love it!" A simple phrase, and yet it's something everyone can relate to.

The novel is similar to The History of Love in that several families are involved and connected in ways that the reader can't ascertain right away. Sometimes those threads are loose and fragile and not so obvious. There's a middle aged writer in New York City, a Jewish father in Jerusalem who tells a story of his wife and sons, Weisz and his children, and a professor in England who's married to a Holocaust refugee with a secret. There's also a young American student who becomes involved with Yoav, Weisz's son. Throughout the book, the writer from New York is pleading her case before a judge although I never could figure out just exactly what she did.

Basically, the novel includes several stories of people who live in different countries and in different generations, and yet there's something that looms large in most of their lives, a huge desk that belonged to Weisz's father. When the book opens, it's in the apartment of the writer in New York City, but by this time, the desk has already had quite a history. When the book ends, the desk that was once in Budapest is in a warehouse in New York, and the woman who once owned it is actually in Jerusalem searching for it. She has a number of adventures while there, including hitting someone with her car.

The stories are all powerful, and they draw the reader in with their "truthfulness." The people have periods of hopefulness, pretty much always followed by sadness,disappointment,or disillusionment. Despite outward appearances of normalcy, they all have their doubts, insecurities, sorrows, and memories. Ah yes, especially their memories. Is memory all that remains? Is it accurate? Can it be trusted? Is that what shapes and defines a person? Was Lotte the woman, wife, and writer she was because of the loss of her parents, the birth of her son, or what??? Why was Dov always so unhappy and unreachable? And just who was Daniel Varsky?

There are several passages that demonstrate the beauty and truthfulness of the book, but one in particular continues to resonate with me. Mrs. Fiske is talking to Arthur, and she's verbalizing what every mother realizes at some point. "Only later did I come to understand that to be a mother is to be an illusion. No matter how vigilant, in the end a mother can't protect her child--not from pain, or horror, or the nightmare of violent, from sealed trains moving rapidly in the wrong direction, the depravity of strangers, trapdoors, abysses, fires, cars in the rain, from chance."

Although most of the characters are Jewish and there is a lot of Jewish symbolism throughout the book, any person can identify with the human condition so eloquently described by Krauss.I keep asking myself how someone so young can know so much, the "so much" referring to the secrets of a person's psyche and soul...and even the secrets of the dead. "The secrets of the dead have a viral quality, and find a way to keep themselves alive in another host."

Great House is not a quick easy read. It's not romantic or funny or upbeat. However, it's guaranteed to make you think and to wonder about life and death and families and the purpose of it all.
Excellent novel! Though it took me some time to unravel all the interconnected story lines, it was very satisfying and intelligent read -graceful, thoughtful and profoundly introspective. Two weeks passed I still think about it, pressed several friends with copies, announced to the world the urgent need to read it. The main satisfaction comes from intuitive redeeming mood of the narrative. It feels rejuvenating though the themes are of loss, regret, despair, melancholy. Nicole Krauss is a deeply compassionate thinker and this book leaves one with hope for ultimate redemption though the source of which is unfathomable.
It"s not good when you have to go back to read the book's description after reading the book. Of course, maybe that's because I hurried through trying to figure out who was speaking and probably didn't read carefully enough.

That said, Nicole Krauss has written about some of the effects the Holocaust caused in Jewish lives during and after the horror. Tracing the history of an imposing writing desk (that was originally preserved by a survivor), the desk hovers over the internal turmoil of the characters who subsequently come to temporarily own and write at the desk. The narrators have all been affected by the difficult times, and the stories are filtered through their eyes and memories. Some of the stories are unresolved, but that's what chaos leaves behind.
Nicole Krauss is a deeply perceptive writer who is worth reading even though her experimental writing does not always succeed 100%. She has more to say than most contemporary literary writers. That being said, structurally, her books can be hard to follow and don't always come together. Great House is not an exception. The novel starts off slowly. It is divided into sections with different voices/characters. Some characters are much more successful than others. I found the least interesting character to be the first section/character so definitely do not give up on this book after section 1! Future sections are so beautifully written, poignant and memorable that even though I don't feel like I grasped Krauss's overall idea as expressed through an experimental structure, it doesn't matter because the sections can stand on their own. The section expressing a father's love for his son (an older man nearing the end of his life) is so unforgettable and touching, I doubt I will ever forget it. It expresses the pains, challenges, heartbreak and glories of parenting boys/men that is so poignant, I was amazed by Krauss's talent. Great House is a book that needs to be read over and over. Each reading will yield more and perhaps the structure will come together better. Great House is an ambitious undertaking and definitely a worthwhile read for readers who appreciate ideas and do not require a linear narrative style. Krauss successfully pulls off the ending (which she fails to do in her bestseller, The History of Love) but questions remain unanswered as loose ends in the novel are never quite connected. I read the book digitally on the and suggest buying it in hard copy instead as I think if I could have easily flipped back pages and sections, the structure might have worked better for me. If interested in Jewish themes and issues involving family, love, relationships, and parenting, this book is a must read.
As in the last books I have read by Rachel Kadish my mind never stopped twirling! I would forget where I was and try to turn back, or not...I stopped and my mind swam away...does it matter it the theme of this book is like the fly in amber or jello or the ripple of a reflection? Not on bit! It is a marvelous read choked full of ideas and history and under it all feelings. Thank you author! Now it will be difficult to find another book that can capture my mind as well!