Everything Is Illuminated

In EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, Jonathan Safran Foer`s protagonist, an American Jewish college student (also named Jonathan Safran Foer), travels to Ukraine to find out the truth about his grandfather, who managed to escape to America during the Nazi takeover. In the course of his investigations, which are both comic and poignant, Jonathan manages to find out much more than he had reckoned on. The novel is tortuously narrated by the translator and driver Jonathan hires to assist him, a man named Alex Perchov whose command of English is bizarrely off-kilter. The two are accompanied by a mutt named Sammy Davis, Jr., Jr., and (in one of several magic realist touches) by a man also named Alex who may be Jonathan`s grandfather. Foer`s boldly imagined first novel, a popular and critical success when it was published, was named a New York Times Notable Book for 2002. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.