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Loading... Everything Is Illuminated (original 2002; edition 2005)by Jonathan Safran Foer (Author)
Work InformationEverything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (Author) (2002)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. One of my sons thought I would be interested in reading Everything is Illuminated; he was correct! While the story is fictional, and not autobiographic, the hame of the author, Jonathan Foer, and main character are the same. The story takes place in the context of Jonathan's trip to the Ukraine where he has gone to attempt to find his grandfather's shtetl, Trachimbrod, and to learn about his life there. in the mainJewish-American writer's attempt learn about his life. Jonathon, a young Jewish American has only a few maps and a photograph of a woman named Augustine, who is said to have saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Jonathan's guide on his trip is Alex, a young Ukrainian man. They are both twenty-one. Their driver, Alex's grandfather, who claims to be blind, also brings his dog, "Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior" along on the trip. Alex's fractured English and cultural differences between him and Jonathon make many of their interactions both amusing and confounding. The trip to Trachimbrod becomes a cross-country odessey when Sammy Davis Junior Junior eats Jonathan's maps. As the title suggests, one of the best things about this book is Foer's use of pidgin English. It's not even really pidgin English, though, it's most like the kind of English you hear from someone who's learned English without learning any of the conventions of a native speaker, and it just ends up making a wonky kind of sense. One of my favorite parts is when Alex is telling a story about getting in a car accident and he says "My face gave a high-five to the windshield" (or something like that). It really cracked me up. Yes! A book about the Holocaust made me laugh. Crazy. no reviews | add a review
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Jonathan is a Jewish college student searching Europe for the one person he believes can explain his roots. Alex, a lover of all things American and unsurpassed butcher of the English language, is his lovable Ukrainian guide. On their quixotic quest, the two young men look for Augustine, a woman who might have saved Jonathan's grandfather from the Nazis. As past and present merge, hysterically funny moments collide with episodes of great tragedy -- and an unforgettable story of one family's extraordinary history unfolds. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The most captivating character, in my opinion, was Alex. The letters he writes to Jonathan in his just-learning-English style are hilarious, insightful, heartbreaking. I adored him. Unfortunately, he is only present in about one-third of the novel. There were times when I was incredibly annoyed to have to leave the present day and continue with the 1700s backstory, which was just not as interesting. Much of the backstory seemed to rely on characters who were outlandishly quirky, but not in genuine or endearing ways, and Safran's endless sex scenes began to bore me and trivialize the rest of the story. I wanted the novel to focus on the three main characters, their enlightenment/illumination, and their relationship.
But still, it's a great book and it deserves its accolades. ( )