By Noelle Friedberg

Staff Writer

Nicole Krauss’ third novel is a story of revolution, love, loss – and yes, a desk.

It is a tale of an American novelist who has been writing at her beloved desk for 25 years. As the story goes on, it becomes known that she actually inherited this desk from a Chilean poet who disappeared at the hands of Pinochet’s secret police. But the woman’s world is turned upside down when the poet’s now-grown daughter comes to take the desk back. This catapults the novel into a collection of scenes from around the world that all tell of the lives of the characters who once called the desk their own. The reader is transported from New York, to a London suburb, to an antique shop in Jerusalem, to a poet trying to survive under a harsh dictator. For all of these different characters, the desk stands for all that has been taken from them. This allows the novel to ask the crucial question: how do we survive change?

Krauss’ novel gives a beautiful and well-written answer to this question. By the end of the book, the desk is no longer just a desk. It lives on as a symbol of what has been lost, but also as a source of hope. I couldn’t put this compelling book down. Krauss paints each of the characters so intimately that you feel as if you are experiencing their struggles alongside them. You feel loss over their losses, and joy over their triumphs. I suggest this book for anyone looking for a stimulating read amidst the humdrum of classes. It will transport you from the boring reality of your accounting homework into a world that is wondrously intertwined by a single piece of furniture.