Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Reviewed by Lisa Eckstein, 2/12/06

This novel received a huge amount of critical attention when it came out. One thing the critics latched onto was the young age of the author, 25 at the time of the publication of this, his first book. Another reason critics took notice is that this book is weird.

I want to be clear: I like weird books. I like books that use gimmicks, that switch narrators, that employ nontraditional structure and unusual formatting. This book has all of these elements, so it should come as no surprise that I enjoyed it. If this kind of thing annoys you, you probably won't like this book, though it might be worth a shot if you're interested in the subject matter.

The story concerns a young American man who visits the Ukraine seeking information about his heritage. It's also about the fantastical history of his ancestors and their village. Everything Is Illuminated features Judaism, culture clash, magical realism, translation humor, dreams, all manner of traditions, a cast of very quirky characters, and a wide range of deep emotions.

Language is an important part of this novel. This is one of those books where I'm sure that the author carefully selected every word, and the result is impressive. (I haven't seen the movie version yet, but I expect that it loses a lot of the feel of the book, since most of the text itself can't be adaptated to the screen.) The stories told are fascinating, and the way they are woven together is successful. While I did like the weird aspects overall, at times they were too much, and the effect was ultimately somewhat unsatisfying. That's my only complaint though; otherwise I found the book to be quite good, and a pretty remarkable first novel.