Jonathan Safran Foer

Hilarious, energetic, and profoundly touching, a debut novel follows a young writer as he travels to the farmlands of eastern Europe, where he embarks on a quest to find Augustine, the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis, and, guided by his young Ukrainian translator, he discovers an unexpected past that will resonate far into the future. Excerpt in The New Yorker.

Everything Is Illuminated

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, Junior, Junior; and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past.

A Novel

lola

We all choose things, and we also all choose against things. I want to be the kind of person who chooses for more than chooses against but like Safran, and like you, I discover myself choosing this time and the next time against what I am certain is good and correct, and against what I am certain is worthy. I choose that I will not, instead of that I will. 

Everything is the was it is because everything was the was it was

a novel

Everything is illuminated

Sarah Sammis

I didn't like the book. There was nothing to any of the characters that made me willing to put up with Foer's chaotic style of writing. The experience was rather a chore and a headache to read.

I found this one to be a very, very mixed bag. The Trachimbrod histories are of a rare poetic beauty and originality. Alex’s letters have a certain comedic charm. But the buddy comedy search sections are downright irritating. 

Frederik De Bosschere

Michael Springer

I couldn't do it. Tried twice, gave up both times. And I though the beginning was hilarious! But it was like a big gimmick that got old after six or seven pages and then went on for a couple hundred more. 

Twice is usually the most times I'll give a book to catch my interest, so this one probably ain't changing shelves.

Colleen

1 Star

This review contains spoilers. They are not hidden because I feel people should be forewarned about this book.

Can I give a book zero stars?? Because there was not a single thing that I liked or even could tolerate about Everything is Illuminated. This just might make my top ten worst books I have ever read list.

The premise sounded good: a young man going to the Ukraine to find out what his grandfather went through during WWII and ending up going through his own journey of self discovery. It was supposed to be loosely inspired by Foer's own journey. I expected an emotional, culturally rich historical fiction. It was short; I thought I would be able to read it in a weekend. Instead I had to drag myself through it.

I immediately had no idea what was going on. Far from anything being illuminated, things just got murkier. It felt more like having a sack thrown over my head, being shoved into a van, driven around by a maniac, then having said maniac demand I provide detailed directions for the route he just drove. This book was a colossal mess! The characters were all obnoxious. The plot was chaotic disaster. And the author put so much effort into trying to make impressive stylized writing that he forgot to actually write the book.

After much confusion, I did at least figure out the the story had three segments. The first is the main events of the story narrated by young local, Alex, who is supposed to be acting as guide to the main character. His sections were the most over the top in terms of desperately trying to be original and hyperbolized stylization (which just turned into bombastic mangling of the English language). It felt like maybe, those were supposed to be some comic relief, but it was mostly just exhausting.

The second thread is the main character, Jonathan Safran Foer, writing a heavily fictionalized family history. This was very confusing because most of it was about several generations ago starting in 1791 and not about his grandfather as the synopsis would lead one to believe. In fact WWII was barely even mentioned until about half way through the book. The other very confusing part, if you did not catch it is that the main character has the exact same name as the author. No, it is not a memoir or even an embellished truth. Apparently Jonathan(the author) did take a trip to the Ukraine to find out about his family history but did not learn anything and certainly did not experience the events that Jonathan (the character) did in this book. So what was the point?? How preposterously pretentious do you have to be to write a fictional version of yourself still with your exact name? And then go so far as to having the fictional narrator constantly refer to your fictional self as "The Hero"? I was literally cringing as I read this book. 

The third thread are letters from Alex to Jonathan (the character) discussing Jonathan's (the character) weird writing about ancestors. These letters are written after the events of the main story. They are filled with Alex's simpering gushes about how great Jonathan (the character) was and how great his writing was. Again, with the nauseating self-importance of Jonathan (the author). There are no responses included from Jonathan (the character); only Alex's side of the conversation is represented. The other annoying thing about those sections was that they went beyond foreshadowing to outright telling what was going to happen in the main story. Then you have live through the chaotic retelling of it knowing exactly how it would turn out.

I did not like a single character in this book. Between the pompousness, the vulgarity, and the pandemonium of the plot, I just wanted it all to end. Jonathan (the character AND the author) was annoying. Alex was a ridiculous unreliable narrator. The grandfather was just weird. I initially felt some sympathy for Brod but quickly lost that under the growing suspicion that she just might have been sociopath and was at the very least extremely unstable. 

This book is full of disturbing vulgarity and sexual crudeness. Not just swearing and sexual analogies but horrible sexual acts. I could not stand the pages and pages describing a twelve-year-old being objectified, lusted after by "every man in the village," and molested. Then it implies her rape at age thirteen followed by years of more disturbing sexual acts. I mean, who the hell puts a glory hole in their house?? And it makes it even more disconcerting when you think that those things were written by Jonathan (the author) writing as Jonathan (the character) both writing about their great-grandmother's sexual acts. And none of it seemed to have any point other than shock value. 

There were many historical anachronisms, no richness of historical detail, no true emotion, and no real humor. On top of that, this book had some of the worst dialogue I have ever read. Much of it was done in paragraph. The sections of the fictionalized family history had the dialogue in italics for some random reason and no quotation marks. Alex's sections had the dialogue crammed together in paragraph back to back without saying how was saying what. So it just clumped together into this huge mess. Most of those conversations were between Jonathan (the character) and Alex in English and then between Alex and his grandfather in Russian (although these parts were written out in English as well). So it resulted in these huge run-on conversations all stuffed into single paragraphs. I was going to include an example, but I just cannot bring myself to type it all out.

Unfortunately, I do not understand what was supposed to be emotionally moving about this story. Yes, the scene at the climax in and of itself was tragic but it felt as chaotic and poorly written as the rest of the story. You can tell it was supposed to be this profound illuminating twist (and obviously it was to a lot of other readers given the high ratings and gushing praise), but it left me feeling nauseated and utterly repulsed. It felt like an exploitation of the Holocaust for the sake of fleshing out the book and purposefully trying to manipulate people's emotions. 

I admit I had to skim so parts. It was that or completely DNF it. If this book had not been given to me, I would most certainly not have finished it. It was terrible in its entirety. The whole book felt pretentious and was a study in trying waaaaay too hard to be artsy. It was disturbing. It glorified vulgarity. It was written by someone who apparently thinks themselves far more clever than they actually are. Jonathan (the author) was trying so hard to be clever and witty and the result was a disorganized, disturbing disaster. Usually I try not to bash authors even when I do not like the book, but given the whole making-yourself-a-fictional-character-and-having-the-narrator-call-you-The-Hero thing, I do not feel the least bit guilty about it.

I would not recommend this book to a single person. Ever.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 1 Star
Writing Style: 1 Star
Characters: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 1 Star
Level of Captivation: 1 Star
Originality: 1 Star

Kaitlin Caruso

Trever

Fully formed debut novels such as this one,  White Teeth,  The Broom of the System, etc., Make it harder to excuse someone for writing a bad one.

I debated whether I should give this four or five stars. I'm going with five for two reasons:

A) It exceeded my expectations
B) For a debut novel, it's damn great

Foer doesn't feel undeveloped; his tone is established, and the story is fairly intricate.

It was pretty good.

Daniela Peña 

Omg this book was so good... After a couple a pages this book just draws you in! Really good!

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

Escuche un montón de cosas buenas de esta novela, pero a mí me aburrió. Leí trabajos de no ficción del autor y me resultaron buenos. Tal vez el tema es que es ficción, o que la clase de humor que maneja no es para mí. Sé que hasta hay una película de esta novela, la cual no vi. Mi segundo DNF de la vida entera. Con todos los libros que quiero leer, dejo este y veremos mas adelante si le doy una segunda chance. O no.

Everything Is Illuminated is Jonathan Safran Foer's bestselling novel of a search for truth The inspiration for the Liev Schreiber film, starring Elijah Wood A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into bizarre new forms; a "blind" old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive -- a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war. What they find turns all their worlds upside down . . . 'An astonishing feat of writing: hilariously funny and deeply serious, a gripping narrative. Extraordinary'The Times 'One of the most impressive novel debuts of recent years'Joyce Carol Oates, The Times Literary Supplement 'A first novel of startling originality'Jay McInerney, Observer 'Showy, smart. Made me laugh a lot'Susan Sontag, The Times Literary Supplement 'It seems hard to believe that such a young writer can have such a deep understanding of both comedy and tragedy'Erica Wagner, The Times 'A box of treasures'LA Times' 'Funny, life affirming, brilliant'Esquire Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977. He is the author of Everything is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book Award and the Guardian First Book award; Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which is now a major film starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock; and Eating Animals. He is also the editor of A Convergence of Birds.

Everything is Illuminated

Emmett

A journey interspersed with fictional narrative is bewildering enough. But there is more to it than meets the eye. Three identifiable threads weave the entire tale from start to finish: the narrative of Jonathan's family history (bizarre enough to be safely regarded as fiction (?)), Alex's translated recount of their journey coupled with his letters, which are encountered first. The uncanny structure of the book leaves the impression of time running both ways, and a third in a dream, but the convoluted timeline reveals more than it obscures. In this peculiar manner is the progression of things shown: of Alex's gradual revealing of himself (not carnal, not generous with his currency, nor particularly fond of famous nightclubs) and his maturity, and the binding thread between both parties which ultimately causes sordid secrets to be brought to light. Our knowledge of things grows along with narrator Alex. As the title suggests, light forms an overarching theme; illumination as a synonym for revelation: in intercourse, in revealing hidden things.

At least, this is one reading of it. Upon finishing this book is the uncanny feeling that there is yet much to uncover, the bundle of signs as erratic as the manner they are presented. For example, what is accomplished by the wading through a confusing catalogue of names and dreams and the foreign quality of a religion I did not understand. Sometimes an excess of words, in other instances things are left unexplained. The grandfather's narrative at times takes on a surreal, fictional quality quite different from the journey they had undertaken; fantastical, even.

At the end one is left figuring what to figure out, how to begin, or whether it would be proper to simply marvel. In the end (almost) everything is illuminated, for better or for worse, for there are things in dark corners wishing to be unseen.

Ellie Younger

Rose Stanley

Not a style that I could particularly engage with, although I applaud the author for managing to write the wonderfully mangled English that Alex uses throughout the novel (even if I did find it implausibly Poirotesque at times). Lots of unreliable narration make this a slightly frustrating read, and I have to say it is quite an ugly read at times. But if that doesn't put you off then give this a whirl for yourself.

Summer Stanley

First, I am sure my expectations were raised because of the adoration I hold for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. 
But, even then, I was disappointed. It was hard to grasp hold of the characters' intentions and stories. The storyline was a bit too bizarre to follow for me. However, I saw some merit until the ending...not at all what I hoped for or felt was appropriate. 
I truly wish I could have liked this book.

Louise 

Christian Otte

A great read. Very well-written and humorous, while still being touching.

Todo está iluminado, su primera obra de ficción, es una novela muy divertida, con una intriga que corta la respiración, honda, trágica, conmovedora. La historia cuenta el viaje de Jonathan Safran Foer, un joven judío de Nueva York, a Ucrania, a donde se dirige para tratar de encontrar los orígenes de su familia y el misterio que envuelve a la figura de su abuelo, que logró escapar milagrosamente de los nazis. Jonathan lleva consigo una fotografía en la que aparece su abuelo junto a una mujer, Augustine, que, al parecer, fue quien salvó a su abuelo de los alemanes. En Ucrania le guiará un joven de su misma edad, Àlex, quien, en compañía de su malhumorado abuelo y de un perro llamado Sammy Davis junior junior, le servirá de dudoso traductor en su particular viaje al fondo de la memoria, el punto de partida de una hermosa y controvertida amistad en la que los dos jóvenes irán desvelando los secretos de sus vidas.

Todo está iluminado

celeste

este libro definitivamente no es para mí.
estuve cerca de dejarlo a un lado y no terminarlo mínimo 4 veces, pero luego de llegar a la mitad del libro las cosas se pusieron un poco más interesantes y decidí continuar con la lectura. lamentablemente, esto no cambió ni mi calificación, ni mi postura sobre esta historia. hubo muchas cosas que me parecieron muy problemáticas y sentí que la historia durante un poco más de la mitad del libro no tenía ningún rumbo y ningún tipo de trama lógica. 
la historia se divide en dos, una parte narrada por JSF contando la historia de sus ancestros mientras vivían en Trachimbrod, un pueblito de Ucrania, y la otra parte narra los hechos que ocurren durante el viaje que realiza él en el presente hacia Ucrania junto a Alexander y su abuelo, ambos ucranianos, en busca de Augustine, la mujer quien supuestamente salvó al abuelo de JSF de los nazis durante la segunda guerra mundial.
durante gran parte del libro me costó dar sentido a lo que leía, ya que tantos cambios en perspectiva con respecto a la historia se me hizo bastante complicado, por lo menos hasta que le agarré la mano. sin embargo, nada cambió a lo largo del libro. la historia se hizo tediosa, densa, con muchísimas escenas innecesarias que no aportaban NADA a la trama, y solo el final es lo que puedo rescatar como positivo de este libro, en especial una escena del abuelo de Alexander narrando un emocionante momento que tuvo que vivir cuando era joven durante la invasión nazi.
la verdad es que esperaba otra cosa de Safran Foer ya que todo el mundo ama sus novelas, pero creo que el autor no es para mí. igualmente pretendo leer en algún momento su otra novela "tan fuerte, tan cerca" ya que ya tengo el libro y también vi la película, así que espero que sea por lo menos un poco mas llevadera que todo está iluminado.
mas allá de que el final fue emocionante y me dejó satisfecha, el resto del libro no me dejó ninguna impresión positiva, ni de la historia, ni del autor.

Roman

Alles ist erleuchtet

Margarete 

I think I never read a book that gave me mixed feelings like this one. It made me laugh a lot and moved me so much, but on the other hand big parts of it were extremely weird and hard to follow. I am sure that Foer put meaning in every word of this book and I will definitely research and find out more about it. Putting it into the context of his background I assume this is his way of processing the experience with his family history.

I was close to giving it two stars, but the parts about the Holocaust and the unbearable descriptions about the war touched me deeply and counteracted the partly dull storylines.
It is not a book for everyone, but if you’re into surrealism and metaphors and are looking for a book that makes you think, I can recommend it!

Grace Gloria McCubbin

a wonderful book, but one point: if you have dyslexia it might be a good idea to read online. the stylistic decision of omitting punctuation and blending words is lovely, but also hard to distinguish sometimes. nonetheless, a great read.

“Imagine a novel as verbally cunning as A Clockwork Orange, as harrowing as The Painted Bird, as exuberant and twee as Candide, and you have Everything Is Illuminated . . . Read it, and you'll feel altered, chastened — seared in the fire of something new.” — Washington Post With only a yellowing photograph in hand, a young man — also named Jonathan Safran Foer — sets out to find the woman who might or might 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, Junior, Junior, and the unforgettable Alex, a young Ukrainian translator who speaks in a sublimely butchered English, Jonathan is led on a quixotic journey over a devastated landscape and into an unexpected past. As their adventure unfolds, Jonathan imagines the history of his grandfather’s village, conjuring a magical fable of startling symmetries that unite generations across time. As his search moves back in time, the fantastical history moves forward, until reality collides with fiction in a heart-stopping scene of extraordinary power. “A rambunctious tour de force of inventive and intelligent storytelling . . . Foer can place his reader’s hand on the heart of human experience, the transcendent beauty of human connections. Read, you can feel the life beating.” — Philadelphia Inquirer

Simona Andrijauskiene

I dnf'ed this book at page 80. N word whilest talking about black people...Really, Foer? Really? It definitely wasn't necesary for this story, also enough with portraying easter euopiens like some dumb peoplee, who are unedjucated, can't speak english and are joke to the world. 
I'm sick and tired of books like this. Ukrainians, Liethuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Polish - all of them have their unique language, beautiful traditions, have good education seastem, have their unique names and not all of them are prostitues, thieves, members of mafia, uneducated villagers and so on. 
This book made me angry. Do not reccomend, just for your own sanity.

Daryl Houston

I felt like this book was trying to be One Hundred Years of Solitude, but it fell far short. It was very uneven -- sometimes hammy and funny, sometimes absurd without discernible reason, and occasionally a little bit lovely. Often I felt like the author wanted to say big poetic things but didn't have much of substance to say. I didn't think the merits of the book justified its gimmickry (the typographical stuff is really annoying and cheap) and slackness.

Jessica Smith

I really adored this book. It's paced pretty much perfectly, never seems slow or boring, and there's a lot of dry humour that I really appreciate in the first half, that gradually fades away as the narrative turns more sombre and melancholy.

I have little more to say than that - it's so hard to think of things to say when a book was pretty much perfect. Read it!

I.m. ruzz

I really enjoyed this. It's simple and quirky and still theres plenty going on below. A really original work, which mostly gets over itself somewhere about a third of the way into the book.

Everything Is Illuminated

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