Jonathan Safran Foer

Here I Am

A monumental new novel from the bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close In the book of Genesis, when God calls out, “Abraham!” before ordering him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham responds, “Here I am.” Later, when Isaac calls out, “My father!” before asking him why there is no animal to slaughter, Abraham responds, “Here I am.” How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years—a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy. Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia Bloch and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the meaning of home—and the fundamental question of how much aliveness one can bear. Showcasing the same high-energy inventiveness, hilarious irreverence, and emotional urgency that readers loved in his earlier work, Here I Am is Foer’s most searching, hard-hitting, and grandly entertaining novel yet. It not only confirms Foer’s stature as a dazzling literary talent but reveals a novelist who has fully come into his own as one of our most important writers.

A Novel

Eva Ströberg

To be honest, I like the book, and I also like Foer's narration throughout the book,

but think about the book as "The Marriage Story" but with 600 pages, and you'd start to become wary about things.

J. S. Foer

Ryan Mateyk

POPSUGAR 2020: A book with a three-word title

I wanted to absolutely love, because Jonathan Safran Foer is an old favourite. I still count Everything is Illuminated among my all-time favourite books. This book was really good, but just didn't capture all of the same magic as his previous novels. 

This book is essentially two storylines: a failing marriage, and a fictional war leading to a religious/national identity crisis in our main character. The marriage storyline? Absolutely perfect. The way Foer writes is simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking. Though this book came out a few years ago, reading now was a perfect time to read, as this serves almost as a companion piece to the buzzed about movie Marriage Story, which also traces a failing marriage.

The part that lost me a bit was the war. I thought this book would have been on my favourites shelf had it only focused on the marriage, as the addition of the war part-way through the book seemed a bit disjointed. But all in all, still lots of love for Foer.. and this quote... incredible.

In sickness and in sickness. That is what I wish for you. Don't seek or expect miracles. There are no miracles. Not anymore. And there are no cures for the hurt that hurts most. There is only the medicine of believing each other's pain, and being present for it."

Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld

A book about the slow disintegration of a marriage while constantly meditating on what it means to be Jewish. I spend almost three weeks reading it while working on my Master's Thesis. I found it to be quite beautiful and at times heartbreaking. I'm curious as to what gentile readers think of it. Foer is not very inclusive and I imagine that to someone unfamiliar with Judaism and Jewish culture lots of concepts, words and philosophical discussions will seem foreign and impenetrable.

ania

turned out to be a perfect book for 2022, this confusing text about the family, love and marriage (mind the difference), about the new war and the old one, about the loaded silence passed down from generation to generation, about the bar mitzvah of the oldest son and euthanasia of the only dog with a heroic name.

“Without context, we'd all be monsters.”

Perhaps nothing this year has reconciled me with the given reality than this book.

Raluca Piteiu

An interesting read, but I felt the end was a bit too long. 
The first half of the book feels like a movie, the dialogs and everything.

Adrian Martinez

Heather Margaret

Eugene

Yasmin

Kahli Scott

The New York Times bestselling new novel about modern family lives from the author of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Discover Jonathan Safran Foer's greatest novel yet. 'Towering and glorious: a tale of social, familial and marital breakdown and the End of the World. The funniest literary novel I have ever read' The Times Jacob and Julia Bloch are about to be tested . . . By Jacob's grandfather, who won't go quietly into a retirement home. By the family reunion, that everyone is dreading. By their son's heroic attempts to get expelled. And by the sexting affair that will rock their marriage. A typical modern American family, the Blochs cling together even as they are torn apart. Which is when catastrophe decides to strike . . . Confronting the enduring question of what it means to be human with inventiveness, playfulness and compassion, Here I Am is a great American family novel for our times, an unmissable read for fans of Jonathan Franzen and Michael Chabon, a masterpiece about how we live now. 'A rich, beautifully written, ambitious and grandly moving novel, which looks both at the world at large and at the deepest concerns of individual lives' Evening Standard 'Lays bare the interior of a marriage with such intelligence and deep feeling and pitiless clarity, it's impossible to read it and not re-examine your own family' Time 'Astonishing. So sad and so funny and so wry' Scotland on Sunday

Andrea Rosen

Caroline Oestergaard

Ioana Kardos

Kate Sigrist

Jk Jensen

Kyle Vice

Helena Pedersen

Alexander Lobov

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the bestselling author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Everything is Illuminated and We are the Weather - a rich and moving novel about modern family lives and the ties that bind 'Towering and glorious: a tale of social, familial and marital breakdown and the End of the World. The funniest literary novel I have ever read' The Times 'A rich, beautifully written, ambitious and grandly moving novel, which looks both at the world at large and at the deepest concerns of individual lives' Evening Standard 'Lays bare the interior of a marriage with such intelligence and deep feeling and pitiless clarity, it's impossible to read it and not re-examine your own family' Time 'Astonishing. So sad and so funny and so wry' Scotland on Sunday Jacob and Julia Bloch are about to be tested . . . By Jacob's grandfather, who won't go quietly into a retirement home. By the family reunion, that everyone is dreading. By their son's heroic attempts to get expelled. And by the sexting affair that will rock their marriage. A typical modern American family, the Blochs cling together even as they are torn apart. Which is when catastrophe decides to strike . . . Confronting the enduring question of what it means to be human with inventiveness, playfulness and compassion, Here I Am is a great American family novel for our times, an unmissable read for fans of Jonathan Franzen and Michael Chabon, a masterpiece about how we live now.

Here I Am

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