‘Everything Is Illuminated’ by Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer was born in Washington D.C. in 1977, meaning that he was just twenty-five years old when this, his first novel, was published back in 2002. Everything Is Illuminated evolved out of Foer's Princeton thesis and tells the story of a young American Jew, also named Jonathan Safran Foer, who travels to Ukraine in search of the woman who saved his grandfather's life during the Nazi liquidation of his village. Clutching an old photograph of the woman, Augustine, and his grandfather, Jonathan befriends Ukrainian native Alexander Perchov and sets about finding her. In spite of having studied English at school Alex's knowledge of the language is rudimentary at best, and Everything Is Illuminated is laden with laugh-out-loud malapropisms as a result.

I am loath to give my opinion of this book, however, mainly because I do not really have one. While there is no denying the originality of Everything Is Illuminated, for it defies several conventions, it failed to hold my interest for any significant period of time. However, this may have more to do with the fact that my attention span has been on the blink of late, so I wouldn't wish to discourage anyone else from reading it. Foer does do certain things exceptionally well: Alex's fractured English, for example, is most charming and often the cause of multiple belly laughs. The work is also very touching at times, and the characters are fully-formed, charismatic, and relatable. While Everything Is Illuminated may not have been able to revive my flagging attention span I would not hesitate to recommend it as a good read, particularly if you enjoy the work of Gary Shteyngart or Anthony Burgess.

This piece was originally published on alisonlaurabell.tumblr.com in January 2012.