Read it: Everything is Illuminated

A couple months ago, I was running an errand and walking down my office’s block. It’s funny, I pass this bookstore almost everyday, and for someone who’s an avid reader, it’s sort of weird that I’ve never actually been inside it. I approached it, just as I would on any other day. But on that particular afternoon, I happened to glance over at the well-stocked used book rack. In passing, one of the book spine’s caught my eye. There it was, starring me in the face, the title that quite literally changed my life. I already have a copy, but I couldn’t just leave it there, so I grabbed it, walked inside, placed Ab Lincoln on the counter and walked out.

I have an obsession with Jonathan Safran Foer’s (JSF) Everything is Illuminated. I bought my first copy a few years ago and his words made me want to be a writer. Never had I ever experienced an author who treated his reader with such maturity and respect, letting us elucidate meaning and create an outcome based off of our interpretations of the story. It was enlightening, discovering someone who’s work made me so excited while also introducing me to a writing style that inspired me so much.

Everything… follows a young American student named Jonathan on his journey through the Ukraine. He hires a team of guides: a translator named Alex, Alex’s “blind” grandfather and a spirited dog named Sammy Davis Jr, Jr. The foursome set out to find the woman who saved Jonathan’s grandfather from the Nazis fifty years ago. What they discover is something much bigger, a hidden truth, unearthed from an archived past. Once learned, this truth changes everything for each of them in more ways than one.

JSF writes in such a way that the characters becomes more real. When you read this book, they’re so raw and vulnerable that they feel almost palpable—especially Alex. This is my favorite thing about JSF’s style. The main character’s emotions are heightened. You’re angry when they are; you fall in love when they do; you feel like crying when they are. I like experiencing each person’s ups and downs; it’s magical.

Perhaps though, my favorite part of this novel (and JSF’s other mega hit Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) is the journey that each character takes. There’s always a period of discovery, growth and recovery. I love to go on that emotional plight with the main players, witnessing each step of the process as they go along. You leave each chapter learning a little more, feeling a bit wiser.

Here’s one of my favorite passages:

“He was not such a social person. He loved to read very much, and also to write. He was a poet, and he exhibited me many of his poems. I remember many of them. They were silly, you could say, and about love. He was always in his room writing those things, and never with people. I used to tell him, What good is all that love doing on paper? I said, Let love write on you for a little. But he was stubborn. Or perhaps he was only timid.” p. 243.

Everything… will surprise you. It’s the kind of story that sends you on a whirlwind and keeps you thinking long after its end.

 

 

 

 

 

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