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Everything Is Illuminated A Novel Jonathan Safran Foer 9780060529703 Books

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Everything Is Illuminated A Novel Jonathan Safran Foer 9780060529703 Books

The Inuit may have dozens of Inuktituk words for snow, and Jews may have dozens of words for putz and schmuck, but in English we must have a dozen words for how good I found this novel. I really don't care about the author's connections, the size of the publisher's advance, or the critical acclaim of this novel. All I know is that I read the book and loved it. It was premium, carnal, and absorbing. Like the main character, the hero, I, too, did a roots search in Eastern Europe, so the book spoke to me even more through its parallel experiences. The two voices in this book are so good, funny, sad, and true. Yes, you may question what is actually illuminated, who is the Jew or non-Jew? Who is the hero? Or whether, like starlight lightyears away, are we illuminations of our ancestors past deeds? But stick with it, for the imagery and ideas in this book are too good to not read it. If your book club read Bee Season, Revenge, or The Red Tent, then this is a must for your reading list, since there is so much to discuss.


Tags : Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel [Jonathan Safran Foer] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man -- also named Jonathan Safran Foer -- sets out to find the woman who may or may not have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Accompanied by an old man haunted by memories of the war; an amorous dog named Sammy Davis,Jonathan Safran Foer,Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel,Harper Perennial,0060529709,Literary,Americans;Ukraine;Fiction.,Jewish families;Fiction.,World War, 1939-1945;Ukraine;Fiction.,Americans,Fiction,Fiction General,Fiction Literary,Jewish American Novel And Short Story,Jewish families,Popular American Fiction,Ukraine,World War, 1939-1945,FIC019000

Everything Is Illuminated A Novel Jonathan Safran Foer 9780060529703 Books Reviews

This novel has haunted my thoughts and my soul since I read it. As the daughter-in-law of a survivor, I found it compelling reading. As a woman, I found the pain in all the characters impossible to forget. Everyone needs to read this book because we are all damaged by hate; we are all disfigured by hateful acts. Those who survived the Holocaust believed they were given the mandate to tell their story so that the world would never forget what was done to them. As their children, each of us must determine whether or not we can forgive; however, no one must ever forget.
It was an ok book. I liked Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close much better. This story was a bit hard to follow with 3 narrators, but then started making sense as you got into it. I liked Alex and his terrible use of the English thesaurus. I liked the stories about Alex and his Grandfather, and Jonathan's search, but didn't particularly like the stories about the past. It was a little too surreal in a book that I hoped to be more realistic. But I'm glad I read it.
The main character is named after the author, that's the first strange thing about this novel. Jonathan is taking a trip to Europe to try and find the woman who saved his Grandpa from the Nazis. The book's chapters alternate between Jonathan's ancestral back story, his trip to the Ukraine, and his subsequent correspondence with his travel guide Alex. I'm not sure, but I think the book's title comes from Jonathan's conclusion that things become illuminated when we see reality the way we would like to see it. I may be way off, but that was my take. I'd be interested in hearing how others interpret the novel.
The extravagant hype surrounding Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel serves only to create a camouflage of unreasonable expectations and subverts an extremely promising career beginning, a promise left as yet unfulfilled. Like Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" (but without her degree of tonal control), Mr. Foer writes beyond our expectations of one so young, and ambitiously, with humour and humanity.

The novel, however, is wildly uneven, veering between cut-rate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, abbreviated William Styron and a witty lyricism all his own. The stabs at humour frequently become repetitious or fall flat and his experimental narrative constructions are only intermittently successful as well.

But he gets full marks for effort and, when his writing works, as it frequently does, it is a joy to read. So if "Everything" is approached ignoring the hype, it has enough delights to reward your effort.
3 narratives with such different voices in 1 book... I have read this twice and will be reading it again. The change in the first narrator’s language through the book is a key strength, and the grandfather characters in 2 of the narratives are such an interesting link.
This book starts out hilarious. Several people didn't like the beginning, but I was reading it in public (on a bus, by a swimming pool) and laughing out loud in several parts. Yes, it is a bit sophomoric, but the young Ukranian narrator is so endearing and the situations he describes so hilarious. I actually liked the later parts of the book less and was often confused as to what was going on. Too many different literary styles and the ending was somewhat unsatisfactory.
Mini-Review of "Everything Is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer

As I mentioned last month, my friend, Andy Peix, turned me on to the idiosyncratic writing style of Jonathan Safran Foer. Having been moved by "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," I knew I had to dig deep and read his first novel, "Everything is Illuminated."

Foer has a gift for taking huge tragedies - 9/11 or the Holocaust - and distilling the horror of their aftermath into very personal journey taken by unforgettable characters. In this case, the protagonist - a fictional Jonathan Safran Foer - sets out on a journey to find a gentile woman who may have saved his grandfather form the Nazis. The fractured English of Alex, the young Ukrainian translator, highlights the absurdity of many of the situations that Alex and Jonathan find themselves in - accompanies by the ever-drooling and randy canine with the greatest name in all of literature "Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior"!

The writing is brilliant; the characters are memorable; the story is moving. Read it.

Enjoy.

Al
As others may have mentioned, some sections of the book are written in broken english, so if you are a stickler for grammar, you might want to pass. Likewise, you may want to look elsewhere if you have prudish tendencies, as some parts can get quite vulgar. You will, however, be missing out on a pleasant (-ly surprising, at least for me), engaging story. I hate spoilers, so I won't go into detail regarding the plot, but I can tell you that I found myself reading this book at every free moment, and had a difficult time putting it down. It's been some time since I've become so engrossed in a book.
The Inuit may have dozens of Inuktituk words for snow, and Jews may have dozens of words for putz and schmuck, but in English we must have a dozen words for how good I found this novel. I really don't care about the author's connections, the size of the publisher's advance, or the critical acclaim of this novel. All I know is that I read the book and loved it. It was premium, carnal, and absorbing. Like the main character, the hero, I, too, did a roots search in Eastern Europe, so the book spoke to me even more through its parallel experiences. The two voices in this book are so good, funny, sad, and true. Yes, you may question what is actually illuminated, who is the Jew or non-Jew? Who is the hero? Or whether, like starlight lightyears away, are we illuminations of our ancestors past deeds? But stick with it, for the imagery and ideas in this book are too good to not read it. If your book club read Bee Season, Revenge, or The Red Tent, then this is a must for your reading list, since there is so much to discuss.