Oh, damn you Jonathan Safran Foer. I have to congratulate you for an incredible debut novel, he with the smirky grin on the back cover.* "Everything is Illuminated" grew on me as it went on, and as I went from trying to understand the historical stories and genealogy the "narrator" JSF was trying to describe to trying to understand the "real" narrator of the story-- a "guileless" Alexander--I began to understand what the story is about. At its core, it's about sacrifice for people, your loved ones. It's about being a "premium" person, and trying to protect those you love, and sacrificing the fistful of bills you have stashed in the cookie jar in your kitchen saved up for a move to America, and then having to give all the money to your broke-ass drunkard dad and telling him to get the hell out because it's what's best for your family. And my Jewish G-d, Alex. You break my heart, stomp on it, and make me laugh two paragraphs later. This is mostly because JSF has a Ukranian narrator (Alex) narrate roughly two thirds of the novel (and the only parts you should read). One of the best parts about "butchering" a language** is that sometimes we use words in different ways and "illuminate" (I just had to, sorry) what we really mean, and challenge conventional meanings.
I think both JSF the author and JSF the narrator could have cut out all the sections JSF wanted to write about using his "I am a serious, sensual author capable of describing some really, really disturbing sex and making it seem totally okay"*** and just written from the point of Alexander with his broken English and home. If you want to, you can just read the letters from Alex and the parts where Alex is narrating the trip; honestly, the parts where JSF delves into what he imagines his relatives' lives are like is one giant exercise in writing. It's about scene-setting and descriptive qualities rather than relevance. Eugendies' "Middle Sex" is incredible for the breadth and links between past and present. JSF, both of you, it's your first novel! It's okay. We get it! You're a writer with amazing aptitude. But just because you have 30 really beautiful paragraphs about your relatives in Chapter X doesn't make it any more enticing because it doesn't go anywhere. You are also wasting paper.
It's really hot, Ender really wants to go for a walk, and does cement burn dogs paws? Maybe I'll make him wear socks, haha.
hi ender! ready for a walk! oh? you want to walk him JSF? word. don't you look like a young joel stein.
currently listening to:
Free
Prince
guilelessly, tiffany
* Although I would probably have a smirky grin if I was that talented.
** I say "close the lights" instead of "turn off the lights" all the time. And everyone gets it. Really, it's fine. There's a fantastic, and I mean F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C essay on this by Amy Tan called "Mother Tongue". Beautifully written, and also explains why she and I both, um, did really horribly on the SAT verbal section. Really badly. You can find it here
***Including sex with a TEN YEAR OLD. With a VERY VERY OLD person. A widower. Several widowers. Lots. Beaucoup. Ewww. I really didn't get what this had to do with the rest of the novel, in all honesty.
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