Everything Is Illuminated
by Jonathan Safran Foer · first published 2002
50% recommend50% neutral
A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, however, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into new forms; a 'blind' old man haunted by memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis, Jr, Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive - a truth hidden behind veils of time, language and the horrors of war. What they find turns all their worlds upside down..
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…military, this is a good self-reflection on the American soul (circa 1961). "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!". The life of a Nobel winning physicist and renowned professor doesn't have to be boring. "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer. The premise is too complicated to describe here, but it really delves into the cruelty and self-protectionism of the human heart. Plus, its hysterical! "Slaughterhouse Five"…
on “Ask HN: Good books?” ↗I'd say it's a tie between 2 books by Jonathan Safran Foer: "Everything is Illuminated" and "Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close".
on “Ask HN: Best book you read in 2011” ↗…used their intelligence constructively (or destructively, I suppose). on a completely non-tech book note, I'm currently reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (author of Everything Is Illuminated) and I'm absolutely loving it! it's beautifully written, filled with humor and tragedy all at once. just my two cents
on “Ask HN: My Birthday's Tomorrow, I Need Book Recommendations” ↗this recalls to my mind J.S. Foer's 'Everything is Illuminated,' which deals with Ukrainian-Jewish issues in general and identity in particular. Was also made into an outstanding and hilarious movie by L. Schrieber
on “Newly digitized recordings offer a glimpse of the Ukrainian-Jewish past” ↗