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"Before you know it as the years go by, you're just like other people you have seen, with all those peculiar human ailments. Just another vehicle for temper and vanity and rashness and all the rest. Who wants it? Who needs it? These things occupy the place where a man's soul should be." -- Henderson the Rain King

Saturday, April 30, 2005

Everything Is Illuminated

Book #20 of 2005 was Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (is this blog real?). The book is a fictional account of Foer's real-life trip to the Ukraine to visit his Jewish roots and search for information about the grandfather that he never knew. The story is told in two voices, one that of our hero the author and the other the hilariously challenged English of Alex Perchov, the Ukranian translator who guides Foer along on his journey. The book weaves between time periods, narrators and characters (including the slobbering dog Sammy Davis Jr., Jr.) to build a story that all converges towards the end of the book. One good description I saw of the book compared it to the movie Donnie Darko, basically saying it's one of those books that's tough to explain and can really only be appreciated by reading it.

This is another one of those books that's been reviewed online a bazillion times already. To learn more about it, I'd recommend Francine Prose's glowing New York Times review, the more even handed Salon review or the official reader's guide.

If you're too lazy to read the book, it looks like it's already been made into a movie (starring Elijah Wood and Jason Schwartzman) set to release in August this year.

posted by Jamie at 2:11 PM