Awards
2002 Guardian First Book Award
A New York Times Notable Book for 2002
From Powells.com
Everything Is Illuminated is Jonathan Safran Foer's remarkable debut
novel, the story of a young writer named Jonathan Safran Foer traveling
in Eastern Europe to find out more about his family's history and its
possible connection to (and escape from) the Holocaust. The stories are
told through
the intertwining voices of Alex, Foer's Ukrainian translator, driver, and
general cultural companion, and Foer's novelization of the story of his
grandparents. Although Foer's story is moving and intriguing, blending
history and fable, Alex's hilarious voice (both archaically formal and
littered
with pop culture idioms) steals the show. As the novel progresses, however,
Alex's rocky English steadily improves, just as his worldview matures
into
something more tragic and complex. A sharp, startling new voice from an
intelligent and passionate young writer, Everything Is Illuminated prompted
Adrienne Miller of Esquire to proclaim "One of the most impressive
first novels in a long time....[T]his book is, as its name implies,
brilliant." Jill, Powells.com
About the Author
Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977 in Washington, D.C. He is the editor of the anthology A Convergence of Birds: Original Fiction and Poetry Inspired by the Work of Joseph Cornell, a Book Sense 76 selection and a Boston Globe bestseller. His stories have been published in the Paris Review and Conjunctions. Jonathan traveled to Ukraine four years ago to research his grandfather's life. This is his first novel, parts of which appeared in The New Yorker.