"Daddy issues"—there, we said it. While there are certainly other family dynamics in The History of Love—sibling rivalries, the adoption of a stepchild, single motherhood—the relationship between father and child is pretty central to the novel and provides its most emotional tension. In all cases, one half of the relationship (a father, a son, God) is absent, and the other half (a father, a daughter, a believer) struggles to deal with that absence, with varying levels of success.
Questions About Family
- Alma has a very difficult time accepting her mother's affection. Do you think she resents her mother's closeness with her deceased father, or perhaps even blames her mother for her father's death?
- What's the role of extended family in the novel? Think about Uncle Julian, Bernard Moritz, and Leo's uncle (who died when Leo was nine)—how are they similar, and how are they different? What is going through Leo's mind when he tells the guy whose lock he opens that he's Isaac's father, and then his uncle, and then not really his uncle?
- What can we take from the fact that the Litvinoffs never have any children? Does that say anything about their relationship?
- How might Alma be different if her father were still alive? What did this say about her relationship with his memory?