Warning: The reading of this book may cause intense desire to
join a book group and discuss --- gasp --- actual themes.

In EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, the talented author Jonathan Safran
Foer introduces the reader to the fictional character Jonathan
Safran Foer, an American who journeys to Ukraine in search of the
woman he believes saved his grandfather's life during World War II.
Foer is not the primary narrator on this trip --- that distinction
goes to Alex, a bravura Ukrainian young man who turns out to have
many issues of his own.

Alex acts as translator for Jonathan during his journey, on which
he's also accompanied by Alex's grandfather, their erstwhile
near-blind chauffeur and grandpa's dog, Sammy Davis Junior, Junior.
The odd foursome travel to the place where Jonathan's grandfather
grew up, only to find there's almost nothing left. This forces
Alex's grandfather to confront a past that nearly all World War II
survivors are desperately trying to forget and ultimately leads to
Alex making some bold decisions of his own.

Back to the book group, though. More than anything, Foer, the
author, is a fan of language. The skilled humor with which he
presents Alex's passages (during which the Ukrainian's attempt at
English slang and literal interpretation is harder to pull off than
it seems) is amazing. Where else, in the year 2003, can you find a
young man talking about how much he "digs" girls, or hear someone
describe an effort to "KGB" on another … err, spy? The book
within a book about Jonathan's relatives combines the elements of
magical realism and folklore into a satisfying story. When all
three parts of the novel are combined --- Alex's correspondence
with Jonathan, Alex's account of the trip and Jonathan's story
about his family --- it's a compelling read, one that must be
discussed with others to make sure nothing has been missed.

However, there are some flaws. Foer's use of himself as the lead
character can be read as a bit grating; just how cute can you get?
The novel did arise out of Foer's real-life trip to Europe, so
where fact and fiction meet is anyone's guess. Plus, it seems
strange for Alex's epiphanies about their trip to take so long to
come to fruition. After all, the trip has been finished for months
by the time he finally reaches some conclusions.

Yet, these structural errors are nothing compared to Foer's gift
for words and original storylines. Throughout the book, it's tough
not to keep repeating, "This guy's only 25." His talent for
observation and dry, unusual comparisons keep the book buzzing
along. And even if, in the end, nothing it seems is completely
illuminated, that is OK. The book group should help clear things
up.

Reveiw #2 by Becky
Ohlsen

The
paperback edition of EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED contains 24 drooling
quotations from worshipful critics --- one for each year its author
had lived when the novel was first published. But the only one you
should take seriously comes from the London Times: "You will
have to ignore everything you read about this novel.... You won't
believe it and you'll decide not to read the book on principle. And
that would be a disaster, because it's all true." Jonathan Safran
Foer's debut novel (he also edited A CONVERGENCE OF BIRDS: Original
Fiction and Poetry Inspired by Joseph Cornell) won the type of
critical adoration almost guaranteed to backfire. You hear all this
praise from Joyce Carol Oates, Isabel Allende, Jeffrey Eugenides
and you think, "How can it possibly be THAT good?" Certain you'll
be disappointed, you decide the novel must be overrated, or the
author's just a well-connected little snot, or the whole thing's
some kind of marketing ploy, so you curl up with your well-thumbed
copy of THE SUN ALSO RISES instead.

Unless.

OK, so there are two reasons you might not read this book. One, the
hype puts you off. Two, you have no soul. See, here's the thing: If
you're curious enough about the hype to peek at the first page of
the novel --- titled "An Overture to the Commencement of a Very
Rigid Journey" --- and you STILL don't want to read the book, then
you have no soul. Honestly, what reader could fail to be charmed by
the amazing prose of Alex Perchov, a young Ukrainian "translator"
whose grasp on the English language is fierce but undeniably
skewed? (Sample: "...he is always promenading into things. It was
only four days previous that he made his eye blue from a
mismanagement with a brick wall.")

Alex has been pressed into service by his father, a tour guide, to
act as translator for an American visitor named Jonathan Safran
Foer. Jonathan is on a quest to find the woman he thinks may have
rescued his grandfather from the Nazis. The novel is told in
pieces, as Jonathan and Alex each write their own stories and
exchange chapters by mail after Jonathan's return to the U.S. This
allows us to hear about both Jonathan and Alex's wild family in
Alex's inimitable voice (his violent father, "very, very humble"
mother, beloved brother Little Igor and supposedly blind
grandfather who nevertheless drives and watches television and of
course the grandfather's deranged "seeing-eye bitch," Sammy Davis
Junior Junior), while the historical sections are written by
Jonathan, later to be translated by Alex. Since "Jonathan" is
mostly a tangential presence, or at any rate a character in Alex's
story, the book neatly avoids sounding like your typically
self-absorbed first novel --- a difficult feat for anyone, much
less a 24-year-old author like Foer.

As the novel progresses and the two characters' stories develop,
you start to feel that Alex's reverence for "the hero," as he calls
Jonathan, is misplaced and, that if there's anyone who deserves to
be called the hero of this story, it's Alex. If there's anyone who
should be winning praise for the raw genius of his writing, it's
Alex. But then you remember that Alex was, of course, written into
existence by none other than...Jonathan. This means that, in fact,
all the praise was deserved all along and the author himself ---
the real author, Jonathan Safran Foer --- is the true hero.

Reveiw #3 by Rob
Cline

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED opens as a laugh-out-loud farce and
closes as a weep-aloud, but cautiously redemptive, tragedy. The
journey between the two features a pair of startlingly inventive
and related narratives, as well as a series of letters that serves
as internal textual criticism. The result is a novel that is
extremely impressive, both in terms of the risks it takes and the
successes it achieves.

The book's two storytellers are Alex --- a Ukrainian who serves as
an earnest but linguistically challenged translator --- and a Jew
who, like the author, is named Jonathan Safran Foer. Alex is
writing the tale of his adventures with his grandfather and
Jonathan when they searched rural Ukraine for an important link in
Jonathan's family history. Jonathan is writing an account of that
family history, which is related in the style of magic realism. At
stake is an understanding of the vagaries of life and love, as well
as a reckoning with events that took place during the Nazis'
invasion of Ukraine.

Alex's fairly straightforward story is rendered in fractured and
hilarious English that temporarily masks the essential sadness of
his tale: "I had performed recklessly well in my second year of
English at university. This was a very majestic thing I did because
my instructor was having [expletive] between his brains."
Jonathan's mystical account of his family's history in Ukraine is
also a delight to read, but it is a dark tale that turns gradually
darker: "It was March 18, 1791, when Trachim B's double-axle wagon
either did or did not pin him against the bottom of the Brod
river." In the end, both stories descend into real-life tragedy as
accounts of the Nazi invasion enter the narrative.

The two writers exchange chapters of the text and Alex comments on
both in his letters to Jonathan. These letters, written in Alex's
inimitable style, explore issues considered in both stories,
examine symbolism and consider the role of fiction and the
responsibility of writers. This running commentary, combined with a
wide array of religious images and symbols, lend EVERYTHING IS
ILLUMINATED a sacred feel, despite the novel's farcical elements
and the occasionally graphic violence and sex.

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED is a richly rewarding novel that takes
the reader through a gauntlet of emotions. Both the laughter and
the tears seem an inadequate response to a novel of this much reach
and daring.