Exactly how steamy is this story?
PG-13
Technically, there are two sex scenes in The History of Love, so PG-13 it is. Mind you, though, both of them are memories from Leo's past. He only momentarily alludes to making love to his beloved Alma, but it's almost like it's a memory too painful to recall. He also mentions a one-night stand he had with a woman whose lock he helped open (nudge, nudge, wink, wink), but he cuts away from the action before anything happens, as if he's ashamed about the whole thing. Alma, on the other hand, has two kissing scenes that she describes in all their slobbery, messy, teenaged glory.
What the two characters share is a frank treatment of nakedness. Alma begins one of her chapters by writing, "1. WHAT I LOOK LIKE NAKED" (11.1)—while, yes, standing before the bathroom mirror naked. And Leo writes even more candidly, referring to his genitals with, um, plenty of specificity. Heck, he even mentions them in his auto-obituary. Well, at least most of the time he uses the Yiddish terms.