We can sometimes feel that if we could recreate those things, that material world, we could repossess our lost lives, our childhood, or our loves. And, we can be linked in our minds to our pasts by smells and textures and breezes that blow through windows carrying sea spray or the smell of roses. In some ways, it can come to embody the idea of that person and feel like a bridge to their soul. I know from experience that when a person is gone, any possession they cherished takes on a different meaning. How much can you know about another person? Does a person deserve to have his secrets respected after death? How long can you close a person out before it is too late to make amends? Can we ever understand a person fully if we do not have access to their history, their stories, their losses? How can we not live with death every day, when we all know death is the ultimate outcome for each of us?Īnd then there is the concept of a thing carrying the memory, and in some way the residual life, of those who are lost. This is a book that raises important questions and leaves you pondering answers long after you have reached the final page. There was, within that revelation, an accompanying feeling that I had discovered something not only about the characters, but about myself. There were moments when I wondered if I had missed something crucial, I felt so lost, and then Krauss would lay down her next layer and I would find the pieces interlocking and making sense.

It is a puzzle with pieces that lie just out of the reach of your hand and without which you can never make a complete picture. This book is written like a maze, weaving in and out, characters coming and going. Many of these characters have an excruciating inability to reach beyond themselves and touch others or let anyone in. What each story has at its core is the theme of loss, memory and isolation. Each of the narratives is a story in itself, a glimpse into the lives of people who struggle with their humanity and how they fit into the world at large.

There are several narratives to follow and they are tied together by a desk, a desk that was part of the stolen property of Jews displaced by the Third Reich. I found Great House at a local thrift store for $1, and it was one of the best dollars I ever spent. After reading The History of Love, I promised myself to read something else by Nicole Krauss when I had the chance.

Great house nicole krauss summary