The History of Love

Alma’s uncle Julian comes from London to stay with the Singers, and Alma continues her search for Alma Mereminski, keeping Misha updated on her progress. Misha isn’t convinced that Alma Mereminski is real, and he doesn’t know why Alma Singer is so sure she came to New York, but Alma isn’t dissuaded. The two teenagers begin developing feelings for one another, and spending time together becomes awkward. For Misha’s birthday, Alma decides to make him a card with a butterfly on it, but during her research, she learns that butterflies are going extinct at an alarming rate and that Earth is currently in the midst of the planet’s sixth mass extinction.

One night, while his parents are fighting in the other room, Misha kisses Alma. It doesn’t go well; they bump noses, put their tongues in the wrong place, and open their mouths at the wrong time as if they “were both trying to say something” (142). Afterward, Alma tells him she likes someone else, even though it’s not true. She goes home, and Misha doesn’t call.

Alma starts working on the next letter to Jacob Marcus but can’t get it right. Instead, she finds a partial letter from her uncle to his wife, suggesting that Uncle Julian isn’t in love with her anymore. Hoping for more clues, Alma begins reading The Street of Crocodiles, a book Jacob Marcus mentioned in one of his letters. It starts to rain, and Bird comes in and announces, “It’s starting” (145).

Alma heads out to the New York City Municipal Archives to see if there is a record of Alma Mereminski’s birth or death. There is no sign of her, but the clerk tells Alma that later records are kept in the New York City Department of Health, Division of Vital Records. Dispirited, Alma leaves. Her mother is reading when she gets home, and Alma wonders why she married her father.

The rain continues, and Alma walks by the vacant lot where Bird has been selling lemonade and building a garbage heap. However, there is no sign of her brother, and Alma decides to call Misha from a payphone. He tells her he is going to see a movie with another girl, and Alma is crushed. She continues to the Division of Vital Records, but there is still no record of Alma Mereminski.

Lying in bed that night, Alma has a realization: Alma Mereminski must have gotten married and changed her name, and that’s why there’s no record of her. When she reaches under her bed, searching for her notebook and backpack, she finds a diary that Bird has hidden. She disregards the “private” label and reads it. Bird documents how many days he has succeeded at “being normal” even though he is still convinced he is a lamed vovnik. He is saving his lemonade money for something unspecified, and at God’s request, he is building “a special thing” that “will help people” (151). The entry closes with the announcement that a flood is coming. Alma notes that it is still raining.

Zvi Litvinoff says goodbye to his friend on his last day in Poland and then looks at the package he has given him. A note on the front says, “To be held for Leopold Gursky until you see him again” (153). Afterward, the narrator says Litvinoff didn’t think much about Leo or the package. He was preoccupied with his journey, first to Spain, then to Portugal, then to Chile, and later with trying to start a new life in South America. One day, he finds himself outside of a newspaper office, and he begins to miss his old life and work as a journalist.

At night, Litvinoff listens to the radio alone and is horrified by news of the war. There are other refugees in Valparaíso, but Litvinoff prefers to be alone in his sadness. To avoid an invitation to tea one day, Litvinoff tells his landlady needs to stay in and write. This starts a rumor starts that Litvinoff is a poet, and he doesn’t protest. He begins teaching at a Jewish school and settles into his life. He’s lost his entire family in the war but goes on with his life, even though living with this truth is “like living with an elephant” (156). In this state, Litvinoff meets Rosa, and it seems miraculous that she is interested in him. The night after their first kiss, Litvinoff goes home filled with happiness.

However, back in the quiet of his apartment, he worries that she will discover how broken he is, that he is “a shell of a man” (158). He starts reciting “The Death of Leopold Gursky,” which he took from Leo’s desk and still carries in his pocket. By now, Litvinoff has memorized the words and said them so many times “that sometimes he actually forgot that the words weren’t his” (158). Finally, he pulls out Leo’s package, which he has never opened. He takes out the manuscript and tries to get rid of the envelope with Leo’s message to hold the package for him. He buries it in the trash, but it always reappears. Finally, Litvinoff sets fire to the paper and destroys it once and for all.