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It seemed appropriate to read a book titled "Hineni" during the Jewish High Holiday season. The barebones plot, a suburban Jewish marriage falling apart, had me expecting a stale retread of Literary Fiction's favorite cliches, but Foer writes a uniquely powerful novel out of it, full of poetry and wisdom. And it does not rely on e-reader breaking typographical gimmickry like his earlier novels -- or at least any such tricks were gracefully removed from the Kindle edition I read.
"But wait!" you are surely saying. "Will there be significant portions of the book that make the reader somewhat uncomfortable as they can't shake the feeling the author is sharing his own psychosexual hangups?" Of course! Foer hasn't dropped that distinctive feature of his writing.
Strangely, the weakest parts are when he steps outside the individual and imagines a violent catastrophe for the State of Israel. It is a chilling if not always plausible fantasy, but it lacks the impact or meaning of his more navel-gazing main characters' dramas.
"But wait!" you are surely saying. "Will there be significant portions of the book that make the reader somewhat uncomfortable as they can't shake the feeling the author is sharing his own psychosexual hangups?" Of course! Foer hasn't dropped that distinctive feature of his writing.
Strangely, the weakest parts are when he steps outside the individual and imagines a violent catastrophe for the State of Israel. It is a chilling if not always plausible fantasy, but it lacks the impact or meaning of his more navel-gazing main characters' dramas.