- Alma writes that she's sure there is a moral to the story about her mother and the blind photographer (2.9), but she doesn't know what it is. What do you think? What it might be?
- What role do the settings play in this novel?
- Do you think Leo is strong or weak, honorable or pitiful? For example, do you agree with his decision not to tell Isaac the truth about his parents?
- What is the connection between Bruno and the elephant?
- What's the deal with Bird? How can we connect his behavior to Alma's?
- Krauss dedicates the book to her grandparents, who taught her "the opposite of disappearing." How does that relate to the novel?
- What is the connection between Leo being a locksmith and writing The History of Love?
- Why does Litvinoff claim his friend's book as his own work? Do you have any sympathy for him? Why doesn't Rosa call him out on it?
- What is the relationship between grief and love in the novel?
- Can we draw any similarities between the two Almas in the book?
- What is the significance of Litvinoff's friend's stack of authorial obituaries?
- Why do we know so little about Charlotte Singer?
- What is the role of religion in the novel?
- At one point in the book, someone screams out "The novel is dead!" (6.13). Do you agree with this?
- Who baked the cake for Leo? What clues do you find?
- Do you think there might be a connection between the "flood" that ruins the manuscript and the flood that Bird is waiting for?