Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Title: Everything is Illuminated

Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

First Published: 2002

No. of Pages: 276

Synopsis (from B&N): "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."

Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction

Comments and Critique: This is a difficult book to get through and one that requires the reader to go slowly, but you will not want to do so. The tale is so engrossing and entertaining that you'll have to force yourself to slow down and get the full meaning, and even then you'll probably need to reread sections to be sure you didn't miss something, or just to luxuriate in the language.

One of the things that make this book so enjoyable is the way it jumps around in time, so that you get the backstory woven into the modern story. In a way, you're getting a story-within-a-story, or I could even say three stories in one. First, you've got Jonathan's (the character, not the author, although maybe they're one and the same?) family story (told in 3rd person omniscient); then you've got Jonathan's journey (told from Alex's point of view); and you've got Jonathan's friendship with Alex (told through Alex's letters to Jonathan). With each, you wonder about possible bias from that section's narrator, which leads me to the second great thing about this book, which is the theme of the reality/perception/desire for truth. Sometimes this is obvious, as when Alex acknowledges his "not-truths." But sometimes it's more nuanced. For instance, is Jonathan's family story true or only a story? You often feel that it's part of Jonathan's life story and all the parts could be arranged chronologically; other times, you wonder if it's only made-up, which led me to consider how much of our own family histories are true and how much made-up, and does it make a difference? And can there be more truth in stories than in reality?

I won't go on in that vein, but I'll state the obvious and say that this book will make you think. Parts will make you laugh, parts will strike you as truisms and parts will make you question if they are truisms that you never knew were true. All told, a great book.

Challenges: 999 ("Dewey's Books"); Classics (future classic); Guardian 1000 Novels ("War and Travel"); Support Your Local Library