Everything Is Illuminated

Critics

• Guile by the mile

  Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer 276pp, Hamish Hamilton, £14.99 Perhaps because they saw Bambi at an impressionable age, those in the generation of American artists born since the late 1960s are marked by a terror of sentimentality. ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

• Everything is Illuminated

  A 20-year-old Jewish American, Jonathan Safran Foer, goes in search of his roots in the Ukraine and is accompanied by his translator, Alex (also 20), and Alex's grandfather. The result is an absorbing story, hilarious and heartbreaking. Foer sets out ... (read full critics)

  bookgroup published on Tue, 14 Sep 2010

21 Reviews

• 10 people find this helpful

  

  Definitely one of the books of my life.
  It spoke to me, linking everything to everything else, inside and outside, with white strings made of words, with words made of feelings, with feelings made of everywaves, linking each nowhere to everywhere inside and outside.

  Is this helpful?

  Zu said on Jul 21, 2008 | 5 feedbacks

• 4 people find this helpful

  

  as Alex would put it: "very premium". Jonathan, his translator Alex, Alex's grandfather (who claims he is blind but is the driver) and his allegedly disturbed seeing-eye bitch undertake an amazing journey through Ukraine to find the village of Trachimbrod.
  chasing Augustine, the past meets the ... (continue)

  as Alex would put it: "very premium". Jonathan, his translator Alex, Alex's grandfather (who claims he is blind but is the driver) and his allegedly disturbed seeing-eye bitch undertake an amazing journey through Ukraine to find the village of Trachimbrod.
  chasing Augustine, the past meets the present and modern English meets Alex. nothing will ever be the same...and everything is illuminated.
  unputdownable.

  Is this helpful?

  disastrino said on Oct 29, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 3 people find this helpful

  

  What a beautiful and unusual book this is!
  Jonathan Safran Foer is a very talented writer, and although the first pages of the novel can seem a bit confusing, once you get into the story you feel completely absorbed by the plot and the characters...

  Is this helpful?

  Miss Piggott said on Jul 26, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 2 people find this helpful

  

  Everything is the way it is because everything was the way it was.

  Memory: It is an ugly thing.
  One can't help digging for one's past, but memories hurt and uncover oneself more than one can ever imagine.
  The past is the present is the future is the past... That's what this book is made of ... (continue)

  Everything is the way it is because everything was the way it was.

  Memory: It is an ugly thing.
  One can't help digging for one's past, but memories hurt and uncover oneself more than one can ever imagine.
  The past is the present is the future is the past... That's what this book is made of.

  Is this helpful?

  Chiara L'Onironauta said on Dec 16, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Very evocative

  I guess it's one of those book you love or hate because in the end it doesn't boil down to anything and it tells it all.

  I loved it.

  Is this helpful?

  fran_ces said on Aug 26, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• Alex's story is a bit interesting. But the letters and the other plots are boring. I can't help abandoning the book afte 30+ pages.

  Is this helpful?

  Waleswong said on Apr 11, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

See all 21 comments

Book Details

• Rating:
  (385)
  • 5 stars
  • 4 stars
  • 3 stars
  • 2 stars
  • 1 star
• English Books
• Hardcover 288 Pages
• ISBN-10: 0241141664
• ISBN-13: 9780241141663
• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd
• Pub date: May 30, 2002
• Also available as: Paperback, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Libri Italiani, Nederlandse Boeken, Svenska böcker

Improve data of this book

Groups with this in collection

• The Collective (143)
• NY Times Notable Book Club (474)

Margin notes of this book

Prices Change currency & sellers

ISBN	Edition	List	Sale	Seller
9780241141663	Hardcover	$24.58	--	The Book Depository
Other editions →
+ 3 copies tradable: 1 in USA →