Everything Is Illuminated
given to me by my mom and dad for my birthday, but bought on may 22nd 2010Oh my god, this book. This book!
I can sincerely say it’s one of the books that has touched me the most. Seriously!
The narrator, Alex, is an Ukranian young tour guide who is hired by an aspiring author (also named Jonathan Safran Foer), to find a town where his grandfather was saved from the nazis by a woman named Augustine. Along for the ride is Alex’s grandfather, who insists on being blind, despite being able to drive just fine, and his dog.
This novel manages to be hilarious during the first 100 pages (courtesy of Alex’s thesaurus-filled English) and absolutely heartbreaking during the rest. But it’s that good kind of heartbreak, you know?. Also, kudos to Jonathan Safran Foer for being able to split the book into three different narrative times, with two completely different narrators, and still being able to make me not confused at all. While there were some bits that made me blush when I read them in public (most of my reading is done on buses to and from school), there were others that nearly made me cry. And Foer also plays with language and page-setting and I love those kinds of things.
I can’t believe how long it took me to read this book. It’s so good. Sooooo good. I’m really glad Read Hard! suggested it as its first book, because I’d never have picked it up otherwise.
Read from May 23rd to May 27th, 2010.