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laurasauras's review
5.0
23/05/2023 Still one of my favourite books, if not taking out the top spot. I just can't get over the beauty of an author so in love with stories, in love with his first book, who writes of a family cursed to never feel love the way they feel they should, who then writes the book loving him back. Because it does, Alex does; it's a love story where one is confined to the pages and the other only expresses himself through telling stories about other people.
So many beautiful quotes in this. It made me laugh and cry as it did the first time and I treasure that it made me feel so very strongly. It's a masterclass in the power of word choice in conveying sincerity.
28/08/2020 This may be the best book I've ever read. Definitely top ten. It's such a beautiful story, one that manages to be about so many things and nothing more than love. I'll be thinking about it for a very long time.
So many beautiful quotes in this. It made me laugh and cry as it did the first time and I treasure that it made me feel so very strongly. It's a masterclass in the power of word choice in conveying sincerity.
28/08/2020 This may be the best book I've ever read. Definitely top ten. It's such a beautiful story, one that manages to be about so many things and nothing more than love. I'll be thinking about it for a very long time.
jess_mango's review
4.0
"Everything is Illuminated" is an inventive debut novel with a blend of tragicomedy and magical-realism. The primary character in the book is a young Jewish-American man who goes to the Ukraine in search of a piece of his family's history. The novel jumps around between different narratives. I enjoyed some parts of the book a lot more than others, but overall it was an entertaining read.
ssmart213's review
4.0
After reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close I knew I needed to get my hands on more of Jonathan Safran Foer's work. Although this one was not nearly as good, I was still amazed by it. The writing style in all his work is amazing, flip flopping between letters, stories and interactions between characters.
ericmellow's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
klparmley's review against another edition
4.0
This was hard to hear because the subject matter is painful. The narrators were excellent.
The movie was about half of the book. There is the sotry of the journey of Alex, his grandfather and Jonathon. (This is the movie) and there is the novel that Jonathon is writing. The book switches back and forth between them. This is not my favorite literary technique.
Eventually, it does work for this.
The movie was about half of the book. There is the sotry of the journey of Alex, his grandfather and Jonathon. (This is the movie) and there is the novel that Jonathon is writing. The book switches back and forth between them. This is not my favorite literary technique.
Eventually, it does work for this.
kerrence30's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
I struggled to get into this book, needing to go back and re-listen a few times particularly at the beginning. It picked up once the story properly started at about halfway through.
The first half sets up the story in a slightly clunky way, introducing characters from various generations, without any links or understanding of how they are necessary to the story. This has not been an issue as a reader previously with other books with a similar set up. I would say all the characters are flawed, much like real life, which helps with familiarity as a reader, but doesn’t make them any more endearing. The style of conversation of the characters is very quirky and repetitive, which fits with the overall style of the book up until this point, but I’ll admit it gets a bit tiresome after a while.
The second half is mostly about the main storyline and ties in the other generational throwbacks as it goes which helps with understanding and the flow of the story. By the end I really enjoyed this story itself. I’m not sure how faithful or otherwise it is to the goings on in Ukraine at this time, but it feels like a worthwhile story to tell. I'm not sure how the use of specific literary devices could have been tweaked to improve the overall impression of the book.
The first half sets up the story in a slightly clunky way, introducing characters from various generations, without any links or understanding of how they are necessary to the story. This has not been an issue as a reader previously with other books with a similar set up. I would say all the characters are flawed, much like real life, which helps with familiarity as a reader, but doesn’t make them any more endearing. The style of conversation of the characters is very quirky and repetitive, which fits with the overall style of the book up until this point, but I’ll admit it gets a bit tiresome after a while.
The second half is mostly about the main storyline and ties in the other generational throwbacks as it goes which helps with understanding and the flow of the story. By the end I really enjoyed this story itself. I’m not sure how faithful or otherwise it is to the goings on in Ukraine at this time, but it feels like a worthwhile story to tell. I'm not sure how the use of specific literary devices could have been tweaked to improve the overall impression of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide, Xenophobia, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Infidelity
Moderate: Vomit and Gun violence
Minor: Rape
liebejen's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not sure what to think of this book yet to be honest. I read the german translation and it in retrospective it probably would have been better to chose the original because of the Sascha part - such things are hard to translate.
Imo the book starts kinda slow and it took some time till I actually enjoyed my reading and the ending was definitely something I didn't like just because of the way it was arranged.
So overall not my favourite book from the author so It's 3 stars from me.
Imo the book starts kinda slow and it took some time till I actually enjoyed my reading and the ending was definitely something I didn't like just because of the way it was arranged.
So overall not my favourite book from the author so It's 3 stars from me.
danib11's review against another edition
3.0
I don't get why "everyone" loves this book. It was good but not great. Well written but at times a little all over the place. A little too much sex for me and TMI! I did enjoy the Jonathan/Sasha exchanges.