Man Walks Into A Room by Nicole Krauss

Nicole Krauss is a fantastic writer. Her latest novel, Great House, has been on many "best of 2010" lists and was a finalist for the National Book Award. I read, and loved, The History of Love earlier this year. So, when I found her first, lesser-known novel, Man Walks Into A Room and Half Price Books, I knew I wanted to read it before I picked up Great House and once again, Nicole Krauss did not disappoint. Krauss' prose is some of the most eloquent I have ever read. Even if the story weren't all that interesting I would still read it, because her writing is so beautiful. But the story happened to be captivating as well.

Man Walks Into A Room explores the mind of a man who has lost 24 years of his memory. The only memories he holds are from his childhood, which offers a fascinating perspective from this lead character, Samson. A man who is free from his memories - a freedom the average person will never experience.

Although he was slowly beginning to understand the situation, he felt less as if he had forgotten time than as if time had forgotten him. That he'd fallen asleep in one life and somehow passed into this one along the axis of a consistent heartbeat, so that some memory of where he came from, of who he was, had stayed with him.

Krauss speaks to the mind's daydreams and everyday pleasures, as well as it's confusion and uncertainty. She explores human relationships in an honest way by examining true empathy and the familiar, sometimes silly habits we develop with each other - habits that connect us to one person alone, habits that are unique to a single relationship. She highlights the importance of childhood in the development of one's adult identity, and explores what it is that makes us human and what it means to experience love.

And yet, what else does it mean to be loved, Samson wondered, than to be understood?

After finishing this book, I like Krauss even more. The ideas in this book blew me away. She is an intelligent and creative writer that I will continue to recommend to readers. I look forward to Great House.

Publisher: Anchor Books, 2002

Top 20 Under 40

The New Yorker has named it's 20 Under 40 - it's favorite authors who are all under 40 years old. When they made the list 11 years ago it included relatively unknown authors at the time who grew to become renowned (Jhumpa Lahiri, Junot Diaz).

A couple of weeks ago I read that they were compiling the list again. Apparently the New Yorker's Editor-in-Chief was brushing his teeth one morning and thought to himself they hadn't done it in awhile, so why not?

Who made the list? I definitely called out one (Jonathan Safran Foer) but the others aren't as recognizable (save Nicole Krauss - Foer's wife!):

Chris Adrian, 39
Daniel Alarcón, 33
David Bezmozgis, 37
Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, 38
Joshua Ferris, 35
Nell Freudenberger, 35
Rivka Galchen, 34
Nicole Krauss, 35
Yiyun Li, 37
Dinaw Mengestu, 31
Philipp Meyer, 36
C. E. Morgan, 33
Téa Obreht, 24
Z Z Packer, 37
Karen Russell, 28
Salvatore Scibona, 35
Wells Tower, 37
Jonathan Safran Foer, 33
Chimamada Ngozi Adichie, 32

To my disappointment I have only read the work of one of these authors (and only recognize a handful of their names). Next time I'm at the bookstore I am going to pick up a few books written by them. So, my question to you is have you read anything by any of these authors (besides Krauss and Foer)? What was it? Did you like it?

I've also got to say that the youngest person on this list is my age. Kudos to her. Clearly she is on the right track. To make this kind of list at the age of 24 is quite the accomplishment.

The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss

Let me start by saying Leo Gursky, one of the novel's protagonists, is one of the most compelling characters I have read in a long time. A retired locksmith who immigrated to the US from Poland, he is the first speaker in the novel and immediately he drew me in - I was literally laughing out loud at his witty thoughts and crazy tenancies.

"I often wonder who will be the last person to see me alive. If I had to bet, I'd bet on the delivery boy from the Chinese take-out. I order in four nights out of seven. Whenever he comes I make a big production of finding my wallet. He stands in the door holding the greasy bag while I wonder if this is the night I'll finish off my spring roll, climb into bed, and have a heart attack in my sleep."

Overall I really liked this book. The multiple narrators made it a little hard to follow at first but once Krauss established her style I couldn't put it down. The novel is actually about a fictional book The History of Love (I love books about books) and the interconnectedness of the of the people this book has affected. Of course, each plot line is creatively linked in the end in a way that made me think Wow - I really like Nicole Krauss.

"Sorry. It's a long story," I said, and part of me wanted him to ask me why I was looking for her, so I could tell him the truth: that I wasn't really sure, that I had started out looking for someone to make my mother happy again, and even though I hadn't given up on finding him yet, along the way I began to look for something else too, which was connected to the first search, but also different, because it had to do with me."

Ultimately this book functions as a conceit for the endless potential of love, however it's much more than just a love story. From the characters to the prose to the multiple plot lines - it all consumed me.

In a related note, Nicole Krauss is married to Johnathan Safran Foer. I have been meaning to read one of his books for awhile now and his wife has just inspired me further.

There Isn't A Word For Everything

Reading now: The History of Love: A Novel by Nicole Krauss

"Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering. When they were ten he asked her to marry him. When they were eleven he kissed her for the first time. When they were thirteen they got into a fight and for three weeks they didn't talk. When they were fifteen she showed him the scar on her left breast. Their love was a secret they told no one. He promised her he would never love another girl as long as he lived. What if I die? she asked. Even then, he said. For her sixteenth birthday he gave her an English dictionary and together they learned the words. What's this? he'd ask, tracing his finger around her ankle, and she'd look it up. And this? he'd ask, kissing her elbow. Elbow! What kind of word is that? and then he'd lick it, making her giggle. What about this? he asked, touching the soft skin behind her ear. I don't know, she said, turning off the flashlight and rolling over, with a sigh, onto her back. When they were seventeen they made love for the first time, on a bed of straw in a shed. Later - when things happened that they could never have imagined - she wrote him a letter that said: When will you learn that there isn't a word for everything?