Review: “Everything is Illuminated” by Jonathan Safran Foer
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel” by Jonathan Safran Foer
I had seen the movie version of “Everything is Illuminated” probably about five years ago- long enough ago to let the visuals of the movie fade so I could fully enjoy the book on its own merits. As is usually the case, the book was much better.
“Everything is Illuminated” is many things; At moments, it is laugh out loud funny (I couldn’t read it at lunch in work for fear of bursting out laughing at the table!). It shows us slices of life that prove we are not all so very different. It is at times irreverent, surprising, and heartwarming. Even the dog becomes a beloved character, in a way which does not usually occur in most stories.
It is also incredibly serious, unapologetic in its depiction of the war. It deals not only in the horror experienced at the time, but the war that all survivors carry with them for decades after. Jonathan, Grandfather, even Alex, were all in their own way, victims of that war. The holocaust claimed more victims than even history books will ever calculate.
The novel is faithful in its depiction of the real life of the war as well, the life in between the atrocities. The shtetl of Trachimbrod is a symbol of the reality experienced in every village that found itself under the thundering wheels of the Nazi war machine, facing the darkness by carrying on, marrying, loving, celebrating, keeping secrets, keeping traditions. Foer accomplishes something universal in anonymizing the people of Trachimbrod, giving them only so much identity to love, and just enough universality to make us understand that it could have been anyone, even us.
This is an incredible book, touching a wide range of the emotional spectrum, holding us to the end in a firm but careful grasp.
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