An old man in the city of New York, Leo Gursky knew what he wanted. A job, a life, and the love of his. A grumpy man's character formed by the circumstances he experiences, Leo is faced with adversity when his faith is under the reign of Hitler in his homeland of Poland. As the novels main character, Leo first strikes you as a pessimist, but through stories of heart wrenching experiences the reader starts to understand the reasons he is broken because of. He has lost a home that no other exists and the love of his life because "There isn't a word for everything"(page 11) and soon Leo learned that there aren't enough words to explain goodbye and explain love, but only enough words to break a heart. Only by Leo's "selfishness" has he been able to keep his best friend. His heart and love for the people that have impacted make him hard to dislike and easy to relate to. What a reader is unable to relate to is Leo's relatively strong understanding of his death, although it has yet to come.
Speaking of relating, Bruno is the best friend and hall mate to our main character, Leo. Growing up friends in Slonim, Poland, Leo and Bruno thought they would never know each other again. But one hurried day in New York, they knew each other again. Speaking the same language has not made them closer, because they don't speak it. Yiddish was the language of their childhood and soon it became strange. They "couldn't use them in the same way and so"(Page 6) they "chose not to use them at all."(Page 6) "Life demanded a new language."(Page 6) Life demanded more than just speaking a new language for Bruno, though. Life demanded a news way of life. A man who loses his wife, Bruno attempts suicide in order to relieve his pain. This is where we get a glimpse inside Leo's heart. "So selfish"(Page 7) he thought of himself, to save someone who didn't want to be saved, to save someone who no longer wanted to live. But to not save someone you so desperately need and love is minimally selfish, but compassionate and eye opening.
Grieving loss much like Bruno is another one of our main characters. Alma, named for the novel she is in, is grieving the loss of not only one parent, but two. This is not because both her father and mother passed away, but because when her father passed, her mother was bed ridden and forced Alma to not only grow up, but be a grown up. At a young age she was a parent to a sibling and household caretaker. Quickly Alma learns to love everything her father was while she knew him and used it to her advantage. While raising her brother she realized that his lack of parental stability was clear and that he was not only unhappy with the life he was living, but with the way they were living it. Both to young to know what unhappiness is, Alma begins to worry about the things she is doing in order to keep her greatest friend safe and from harm. As his nickname clearly states, Bird's can fly. But children can't and that makes for a worry-some childhood for Alma.
"When they write my obituary. Tomorrow. Or the next day'[...]'I try to make a point of being seen.'[...]'All I want is to not die on a day I went unseen."(Pages 3 & 4)
"He'd had enough. All he wanted was to sleep forever. Taped to his chest was a note with three words: GOODBYE, MY LOVES."(Page 6)
"I hope these chapters are all you hoped for; anything less is my fault entirely."(Page 61)
Leo and Bruno's relationship actually becomes pretty weird as the book goes on. It turns out their friendship is kind of circumstantial. They were actually not very fond of each other back in Poland but the reasoning for that is a little unclear.. It appears they may have liked the same girl but I'm not completely sure. So they're really only friends/neighbors now because they discovered they were both in NY and both alone.
ReplyDeleteDo you think their friendship is beneficial or harmful? I have a hard time deciding because sometimes they definitely have some positive, friendly moments and they certainly understand each others backgrounds better than anybody else could, but sometimes it just feels like a big pity party for lack of a better term.
I was unaware that those were the circumstances and am not sure if they are in the pages I have read. I think that having said that, their relationship might become incredibly complicated. Not necessarily because of their past, but because of their personalities and the circumstances they are under currently in the novel. I certainly feel that they are benefitting by seeing an old face that they once knew, but I am unsure that whatever kind of relationship it becomes, will no longer be.
ReplyDeleteKasey, you got at some of the major elements/conflicts the characters face, including loss as the major one that links Leo and Alma.
ReplyDeleteAs you mention, Alma is named after a character in a book, and Leo focuses a lot on language and words. Do you think there is some reason for this on the part of the author? What comment might she be making about language, art, etc.?
Watch out for typos.
I definitely feel that the idea of the novel plays a huge told for both Alma and Leo. I think it might play a huge role who Alma will become to Leo and vise versa. The things that they have in common are not by chance by any means, in my opinion.
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