Book Review Wednesday by Kim

Everything Is Illuminated
By Jonathan Safran Foer (2002)

Review by Kim

Usually when I start a book and can’t quite keep the characters or situations straight it doesn’t worry me too much and I keep on until it all becomes clear, or, occasionally, I flip back when I realized I’ve mistakenly misplaced a major character.

It’s generally a good method because usually everything is eventually illuminated. Except in the only book that actually promises illumination in the title.

I made it to the end but still don’t quite understand the second chapter, or who’s who, or, more to the point, who’s not who, or how who connects to who, much less what.

It’s a bit like Tom Stoppard’s absurdist theatre squashed 2-D. You know it’s brilliant (goodness knows it’s won enough awards), but you’re at a loss to identify much more than a generous handful of themes. Writing, sex, the Holocaust, Ukraine, sex, Jews, character, history, ancestry, light, sex and possibly dead arms spring to mind, but how exactly they all relate is still a bit unclear.

Let’s just say I feel out of the loop, but oddly illuminated.

Thanks Kim. Sounds like one I may need to avoid for fear of feeling even dumber.