Friday, September 24, 2010

Everything Is Illuminated

Sorry readers, if there are any of you out there. Due to my many school obligations, I have been unable to keep up with my blog and my reading for that matter. I am trying to catch up with writing my blogs for the books I have read, such as Everything is Illuminated and Pride and Prejudice. I am currently finishing reading Dr. Zhivago, so I do have some posts that I do need to catch up on. It is hard juggling 5 classes, 2 part time jobs and the rest of my life to keep doing my reading. I am upset that it has taken me so long to finish reading my books because I am missing the bookclub deadlines and I love to keep up and I can't! I hate not being able to participate in my book club as I was able to to do over the summer, but with an exam and lots of homework to do, it really has been a struggle to keep up and school is obviously the first priority. However, let's get off this dreary subject and let us move on to the novel!
So, Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer, is about a guy name Jonathan Safran Foer who travels to the Ukraine to find a woman who supposedly saved his grandfather from the Nazis with the help of his tourguide Alex, and his grandfather Alex, and their dog Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. The book is written in two parts, the part written by Alex which tells the story of his week adventure to find this woman who may or may not be alive. The other part is written by Jonathan who tells his story of the village and of his grandfather. This was a little annoying to me because each chapter alternated between the two stories. However, as the story unfolded, I grew to love the characters in the story that Alex told.
I did not like reading Jonathan's story of the village, I mean it was folksy and interesting but it could have been told at the beginning. It is funny to read Alex's story because of the broken English, the words and verbs that he uses and it seems to personalize him and make him more likeable. I really connected with his character and his grandfather. Jonathan's characters seems cold and aloof but he mainly is a fish out of water in a country he has no idea about or what the customs are.
I wish I could write more but I am running out of time and I am at work! Pick up this novel as it is an easy read and enjoyable!

On to the next!

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