Robert Beveridge's Reviews > Everything is Illuminated
Everything is Illuminated
by
by
Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything Is Illuminated (Dutton, 2002)
My, what a clever novel!
In any case, that, I imagine, is what Jonathan Safran Foer kept saying as he was writing this. And really, much about it is clever. The comparisons to A Clockwork Orange are completely unwarranted, as Alex, Foer's Ukrainian hero, destroys the English language in a quite different way than does Burgess' Alex. (A less politically correct but more conceptually accurate comparison would be Charlie Chan, as written by Earl Derr Biggers.) Foer's intertwining of stories is also quite clever, and his use of the two narrators to tell the main storylines.
However, with all the cleverness going on, Foer seems to have forgotten in many places to actually insert a novel. Threads pick up in odd places and then die with no fanfare, never to be resurrected again; the story has holes without being told an enough of an impressionist way to allow the reader to fill in enough blanks; the characters are obviously there as vehicles to carry off the cleverness, instead of being fully-realized human beings. In other words, this is a linguistic roller coaster, not a novel.
Not to say Foer doesn't write well when he forgets about the tricks and applies himself. Especially in the novel's last eighty pages, there are scenes of great beauty and tragedy that are conveyed in powerful manner that make the reader sit up and take notice. (The emotionl impact of every last one of them is dramatically undercut by Foer's following each with a needlessly scatological and/or pornographic piece of attempted humor, each of which fails because of its positioning, but the tragic pieces themselves are extremely well-written.) Unfortunately, these scenes are all too few. One of them is going along swimmingly until he decides to interject a Rick Moody-esque three-page unpunctuated sentence. Horrid. (And a trick he repeats a couple of times afterwards, also throwing in run-on words. Even more horrid.)
The book is billed as a comedy, and Foer tries to carry it off as such, but when the finest-written scenes are those of tragedy, it's hard to call it a success as attempted. Foer has the makings of a fine dramatic writer, once he gets away from being so consciously clever. **
My, what a clever novel!
In any case, that, I imagine, is what Jonathan Safran Foer kept saying as he was writing this. And really, much about it is clever. The comparisons to A Clockwork Orange are completely unwarranted, as Alex, Foer's Ukrainian hero, destroys the English language in a quite different way than does Burgess' Alex. (A less politically correct but more conceptually accurate comparison would be Charlie Chan, as written by Earl Derr Biggers.) Foer's intertwining of stories is also quite clever, and his use of the two narrators to tell the main storylines.
However, with all the cleverness going on, Foer seems to have forgotten in many places to actually insert a novel. Threads pick up in odd places and then die with no fanfare, never to be resurrected again; the story has holes without being told an enough of an impressionist way to allow the reader to fill in enough blanks; the characters are obviously there as vehicles to carry off the cleverness, instead of being fully-realized human beings. In other words, this is a linguistic roller coaster, not a novel.
Not to say Foer doesn't write well when he forgets about the tricks and applies himself. Especially in the novel's last eighty pages, there are scenes of great beauty and tragedy that are conveyed in powerful manner that make the reader sit up and take notice. (The emotionl impact of every last one of them is dramatically undercut by Foer's following each with a needlessly scatological and/or pornographic piece of attempted humor, each of which fails because of its positioning, but the tragic pieces themselves are extremely well-written.) Unfortunately, these scenes are all too few. One of them is going along swimmingly until he decides to interject a Rick Moody-esque three-page unpunctuated sentence. Horrid. (And a trick he repeats a couple of times afterwards, also throwing in run-on words. Even more horrid.)
The book is billed as a comedy, and Foer tries to carry it off as such, but when the finest-written scenes are those of tragedy, it's hard to call it a success as attempted. Foer has the makings of a fine dramatic writer, once he gets away from being so consciously clever. **
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
Everything is Illuminated.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Started Reading
July 1, 2003
–
Finished Reading
January 23, 2008
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-24 of 24 (24 new)
date
newest »
message 1:
by
Nicole
(new)
-
rated it 2 stars
May 12, 2010 12:47PM
Agreed, far too knowingly wierd. Didn't enjoy it but gave 2* for being so different.
reply
|
flag
Okay.... AGREE. However, you have made me realise I need to persist for the last 80 pages....... I have about 90 to go presently.......
Okay......phew..... I'm finished. I agree the end is the best part......not sure I could be bothered re-reading something like that for the purpose of the last 80pages....!
So all I have to do is skip ahead to the last 80 pages and I will be compensated for the cleverness that has become so tedious by page 167? That is a relief.
Yep. The author sure thought a lot of himself when he wrote this one, and you really pinpointed the novel's problems. It's honestly quite surprising that his next book ended up being pretty good.
He ended a novel mid-sentence.. I must hate him now. Also, I really loved Alex as a character (although I can see what others hate him).. Take out every single shtetl story, and maybe we're on speaking terms again, stupid Jonfan..
I couldn't have described my problem with the novel better. I have to admit I was quite disappointed in the author because I loved "Extremly loud and incredibly close" so much.
Linda wrote: "I thought I was the only one. PS never made it to the last 80 pages and most likely never will."
I wonder if his other book is much better, but I won't spend the money to check it out.
I wonder if his other book is much better, but I won't spend the money to check it out.
I just couldn't read this, from the outset I thought no not really for me and I tried to persevere but I got to a point where I thought what is the point in doing this to myself. Life is too short to fight through a book.
Karen wrote: "I just couldn't read this, from the outset I thought no not really for me and I tried to persevere but I got to a point where I thought what is the point in doing this to myself. Life is too short ..."
This is so true!
This is so true!
If any attention is given to the way the reader is shown around Trachimbrod and led through the story - and it is a visceral and cinematic journey - I can’t see how the truth of this has no effect on you. I’m so utterly changed by this book.
"With all the cleverness gong on, Foer seems to have forgotten in many places to actually insert a novel"
You totally read my mind!
You totally read my mind!
Feeling better after reading this spot-on review. I am utterly confounded by this bizarre and practically unreadable book.
I’m so frustrated with this stupid book I think I’ll put it down and read something else. So glad I picked it up at Goodwill for 50 cents.