Reviews

Here I Am is about a Jewish-American family with different generational crises. It’s about finding identity - and that’s about all I want to say :) you’ll either love it or hate it.

I would highly recommend the audiobook over a print copy (also does Irv sound like Larry David to anyone else??)

kmhawley's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

callummac's review against another edition

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5.0

“While we pursue happiness, we flee from contentment”.

It’s still too early to decide, but I think this may have been Foer’s greatest. It received heavy criticism, and I can see why; there’s not many people I would recommend this book to. It’s painfully mature compared to his previous works, and it’s depressingly obvious that after growing up, Foer has said goodbye to the playfulness that underscored Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud.

Here I Am is an epic, an ambitious story that explores the floundering marriage of Jacob and Julia Bloch, while also delving into the lives of their three children, Sam, Max, and Benjy. Alongside all of this is the destruction of Israel, after being struck by natural disaster. There’s a lot going on in this book, and Foer is (somewhat autobiographically) considering the multitude of meanings behind family, fatherhood, and loyalty to a form of love that is essentially greater than all of us. For Jacob, who remains at the centre of the story, this exists in his undying devotion to his children, and his long-dead devotion to God. Jacob is seeking something more, and that ‘more’ finds itself in the title of this book: the self-assurance with which Abraham declares ‘Here I Am’.

5 / 5, and I can’t wait to read this book again.

ommsetu's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5 stars. I really wanted to give this book 4 stars, and enjoyed the first 2/3 very much, but it drags too much towards the end.

annaelisereads's review against another edition

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4.0

This is an EPIC tale in narrative scope and sheer page length. An absurd premise, but incredibly human story. I had to stop reading and take a break at some parts because I think Foer captured those dark, hidden, human, and heartbreaking feelings and insecurities that we all have in our families, friendships, and partnerships/marriages. I re-read and underlined those parts (which were all in beautiful prose, of course). I was given this as a gift and I'm not even a huge Foer fan, but I loved it. I think you would enjoy it even more if you were a fan.

_aprillllllllll's review against another edition

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5.0

"Between any two beings there is a unique, uncrossable distance, an unenterable sanctuary. Sometimes it takes the shape of aloneness. Sometimes it takes the shape of love."

Jonathan Safran Foer does it again. Creates a work of fiction that is so unbelievably real and true, that you can feel it through your chest, and limbs and fingers and bones. I rarely cry when reading books, but this one made me cry at least three times. It just cuts to the core of what is to be human: to struggle, to wrestle, to stagnate, to wait in emptiness, to love with ferocity, and to be too vulnerable to sustain that love. I don't know. I can't put it into words, but somehow JSF does. It's painfully beautiful and I highly recommend it, if you're in to that sort of thing

milola's review against another edition

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i don't know what to say.
i could not put it down.
at times i was blown asunder
at times i was underwhelmed.

mirrors everywhere i turned.

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