Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
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Book Reviews of Everything Is Illuminated
Book Review: Everything is Illuminated
Summary: 4 Stars
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Book Review: Good first novel
Summary: 3 Stars
The extravagant hype surrounding Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel serves only to create a camouflage of unreasonable expectations and subverts an extremely promising career beginning, a promise left as yet unfulfilled. Like Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" (but without her degree of tonal control), Mr. Foer writes beyond our expectations of one so young, and ambitiously, with humour and humanity.
The novel, however, is wildly uneven, veering between cut-rate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, abbreviated William Styron and a witty lyricism all his own. The stabs at humour frequently become repetitious or fall flat and his experimental narrative constructions are only intermittently successful as well.
But he gets full marks for effort and, when his writing works, as it frequently does, it is a joy to read. So if "Everything" is approached ignoring the hype, it has enough delights to reward your effort.
Book Review: not for smooth reading but worths it...
Summary: 3 Stars
I could not engage with this novel as much as I wanted although the author has too many merits. Maybe because I was going through a stressful phase. So although I rate three starts, I still believe it is worth reading it. This multi-perspectival narrating technique, with language games and not always linear timeline is an interesting experiment. I know that these are not new and there is something not smooth in reading. Maybe the author wants that intentionally. It is a challenge to the reader.... But of course this may be due to the fact that the author attempts to portray comedy and tragedy (Holocaust) elements together...Book Review: hate it at page 40
Summary: 1 Stars
I was immediately put off by Alex the narrator. Yes he has a unique voice, but the author is trying too hard to be clever with him. It might be funny for 5 pages, but not 45.
And Foer, the character, writes his "novel within the novel" about a Ukranian Jewish community that is a caricature of a community. Perhaps this is intended, but I didn't care for it. Maybe if I was intimately familiar with the culture's foibles, I would find it immediately funny. But since I'm not, I had no sympathy built up to enjoy the caricature -- to laugh with it, and not at it. And again, since it tries too hard, I couldn't even do that. And possibly I missed the author's intentions entirely -- was this part to be taken seriously but lightly, with the magical realism going on?
Maybe I haven't given it a chance, or didn't "get it", but I don't like suffering through things I don't care for these days.
Book Review: Skip the book, see the movie
Summary: 1 Stars
I saw the moview 1st, then wanted to know more, so I bought the book. The book is horrible. It is obvious (now) that the screen writer took the best ideas from the book, changed the story, eliminated the garbage and created a great story.
The moview is a much better story.