creative writing idea by nicole krauss: the death topic

A friend of mine, a great public speaker, told me once: "Each audience has its favorite topic. But there are three topics common to ALL the audiences. Those are: love, death and prestige."
The very first sentence of 'The History of Love' refers to death: "When they write my obituary".
And that's not all. What about the second paragraph? "I often wonder who will be the last person to see me alive".
And the third one: "I try to make a point of being seen... All I want is not to die on a day when I went unseen".
Now see the final page: 'Leopold Gursky started dying on August 18, 1920. He died learning to walk. He died standing at the blackboard...'
No, you should not think now the novel is about death. Next time I will show more optimistic sides of it.