Everything Is Illuminated
May 11th 2008 11:59
Everything is Illuminated is a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and it is probably the best book that I've read in about the last (50 years/5 years/5 months/5 weeks/quite some time/I don't know).
Before I learned to love this book, I learned to hate it. The reason for this is because the story is told in two voices in alternating chapters.
Firstly, there is the story of Foer's family history told in a surreal fairy-tale style centreing around the inhabitants of the Ukrainian village of Trachimbrod.
Secondly, there is a combination of correspondence written by Alex, a young Ukrainian loudmouth, to Foer, who places himself at the centre of the story, and Alex's story of chaperoning Foer around the Ukraine in a search for his actual family history (which is probably just as much a fairy-tale as the other parts of the book).
In any event, the 'Alex' parts of the book are written in the style of the hugely funny and entertaining modern comedy character 'Borat'. Ha ha, you are probably thinking, that Borat, what a card, I will enjoy this very funny and entertaining book, ha ha, I am recalling a funny 'Borat' moment at this very point in time and it is indeed very funny, ha ha ha.
No. This is not the case at all and the broken English of Alex is hugely grating and annoying at first and it almost made me give up on this book. I'm glad that I didn't, because once you get over this irritation and also acclimatise to Foer's overall style, then the novel is very, very good.
As briefly described above, the story is essentially about Foer himself (or someone with the same name as the author) and describes his (fictional? I'm not researching this - why don't YOU research this!) journey to Ukraine in search of Augustine, who was reputedly responsible for saving the life of one of Foer's ancestors from the Nazi scourge, who decimated the village of Trachimbrod.
Alex, Alex's near-dead grandfather, and a near-dead seeing-eye dog are employed to guide Foer around Ukraine in search of Trachimbrod and Foer's past. The book is at times very funny with some terrific racist humour from the Jewish author against the poorly educated eastern Europeans and their laughable attempts at speaking this great language of ours... but more often this book is actually pretty sad, with a number of horrible situations covered by Foer in both limbs of the story and these moments are by far the most effective passages of the book.
I'm not going to attempt to describe the second story-arc, that of the fairy-tale of Foer's past, because it's much more complicated and strange, and to be quite frank, doesn't really make all that much sense. The above is probably what I would call the actual plot, so just stick to that. The culmination of events, which is what the slightly meaningless title of this book refers to, is very well done and I like it a lot, but I will not tell you anything more than that because
In any event, the book is very entertaining. Its strong points are listed as follows:
* The characters are GREAT (once you get past the lame funny-foreigner schtick).
* There are some moments which are FUNNY and other moments which are SAD. Both of these are good in a book!
* The author is very CLEVER (of course he is, that crafty Jew) and he writes in an ENTERTAINING style.
* This book also received a positive review from popular internet web-site BOOKS ARE FOR LOSERS . COM which is a great endorsement.
* The MOVIE version of this book (which I haven't seen because I hate movies) features Eugene Hutz (pic below), singer of popular punk rock and roll band GOGOL BORDELLO, and I actually listened to that band (album: Super Taranta!) as I typed this review! Amazing!
Read the book and post a comment below, thanks, appreciate your custom, have always said nice things about you, your hair looks really nice today, you're welcome.
post script - I think this review sucks fairly hard because I feel a bit lacking in brain power today, so I will review this review shortly and point out all the things that you are thinking but are too polite to tell me to my face. You people are always too kind to me... much too kind.
post post script - I just re-read my review, and it rules, this whole blog rules, basically I'm the best.
Before I learned to love this book, I learned to hate it. The reason for this is because the story is told in two voices in alternating chapters.
Firstly, there is the story of Foer's family history told in a surreal fairy-tale style centreing around the inhabitants of the Ukrainian village of Trachimbrod.
Secondly, there is a combination of correspondence written by Alex, a young Ukrainian loudmouth, to Foer, who places himself at the centre of the story, and Alex's story of chaperoning Foer around the Ukraine in a search for his actual family history (which is probably just as much a fairy-tale as the other parts of the book).
In any event, the 'Alex' parts of the book are written in the style of the hugely funny and entertaining modern comedy character 'Borat'. Ha ha, you are probably thinking, that Borat, what a card, I will enjoy this very funny and entertaining book, ha ha, I am recalling a funny 'Borat' moment at this very point in time and it is indeed very funny, ha ha ha.
No. This is not the case at all and the broken English of Alex is hugely grating and annoying at first and it almost made me give up on this book. I'm glad that I didn't, because once you get over this irritation and also acclimatise to Foer's overall style, then the novel is very, very good.
As briefly described above, the story is essentially about Foer himself (or someone with the same name as the author) and describes his (fictional? I'm not researching this - why don't YOU research this!) journey to Ukraine in search of Augustine, who was reputedly responsible for saving the life of one of Foer's ancestors from the Nazi scourge, who decimated the village of Trachimbrod.
Alex, Alex's near-dead grandfather, and a near-dead seeing-eye dog are employed to guide Foer around Ukraine in search of Trachimbrod and Foer's past. The book is at times very funny with some terrific racist humour from the Jewish author against the poorly educated eastern Europeans and their laughable attempts at speaking this great language of ours... but more often this book is actually pretty sad, with a number of horrible situations covered by Foer in both limbs of the story and these moments are by far the most effective passages of the book.
I'm not going to attempt to describe the second story-arc, that of the fairy-tale of Foer's past, because it's much more complicated and strange, and to be quite frank, doesn't really make all that much sense. The above is probably what I would call the actual plot, so just stick to that. The culmination of events, which is what the slightly meaningless title of this book refers to, is very well done and I like it a lot, but I will not tell you anything more than that because
In any event, the book is very entertaining. Its strong points are listed as follows:
* The characters are GREAT (once you get past the lame funny-foreigner schtick).
* There are some moments which are FUNNY and other moments which are SAD. Both of these are good in a book!
* The author is very CLEVER (of course he is, that crafty Jew) and he writes in an ENTERTAINING style.
* This book also received a positive review from popular internet web-site BOOKS ARE FOR LOSERS . COM which is a great endorsement.
* The MOVIE version of this book (which I haven't seen because I hate movies) features Eugene Hutz (pic below), singer of popular punk rock and roll band GOGOL BORDELLO, and I actually listened to that band (album: Super Taranta!) as I typed this review! Amazing!
Read the book and post a comment below, thanks, appreciate your custom, have always said nice things about you, your hair looks really nice today, you're welcome.
post script - I think this review sucks fairly hard because I feel a bit lacking in brain power today, so I will review this review shortly and point out all the things that you are thinking but are too polite to tell me to my face. You people are always too kind to me... much too kind.
post post script - I just re-read my review, and it rules, this whole blog rules, basically I'm the best.
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Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Michaelie
Comment by Pat
Books Are For Losers
So I can't answer you about which book is better, but this book is very, very good (in my opinion). Serious recommendation for everybody I know to read this book.
Comment by Luke
Book Club
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Pat
Books Are For Losers