Rating: 
Summary: Flawed, but still great...
Review: I agree with the spotlight review above. There are the occasional flaws in this novel. The writing occasionally veers dangerously from the fancy to the fancy-shmancy. In his strive to be original, he has the characters say things and express philosophic viewpoints that strain credibility (even though it is a completely surreal novel). There are passages which could be subtitled "Author's Viewpoint Coming Through."This is obviously a debut novel. Most of the books flaws stem from that fact. On the other hand, so do its virtues. Everything is Illuminated pulls out all the stops the way only a debut novel can. Whatever flaws it may have one can easily forgive because of the sheer energy with which the book is written. I do not think readers will be bored. Also, the device of having the book written in two different voices - the one commenting on the other - works very well. Alex, the Ukrainian voice, is very funny without being condescending. Johnathan Safran Foer is an author to watch; he may have many more great works in store for the future, judging from this book. Considering that he wrote it when he was only twenty-one is all the more inspiring (or irritating, depending on how jealous you are). I listened to the unabridged audio version of this book and I highly recommend it. It includes an interview with the author at the end.
Rating: 
Summary: It made me laugh, it made me cry
Review: After reading some of the reviews below, I am glad to see that I wasn't the only one that found the beginning confusing and had to re-read it. I'm glad I did thought, because it was one of the most enjoyable reads I have had in a while. It's amazing that I can't get the terms "manufacturing zs" and "roosting" out of my mind. I disagree with some of the reviews that say that if a book is difficult to read it is a bad book. Some of the best books are the ones that take more concentration because they make you think.
Rating:
Summary: What He Hasn't Learned to Say
Review: There is no way to write about the Holocaust. There is no way to communicate its horrors, or its heroes - words fail, comparisons cannot find their right contexts. Any story is dwarfed by the actual atrocity. This is not a new idea, but one that has widely circulated since World War II: Literature and art depend upon abstraction, on distance. The very words of a story change the meaning of it, make it smaller than it once was.
Despite these impossibly high stakes, Jonathan Safran Foer attempts to shape the Holocaust into art - and entertainment - in his debut novel Everything Is Illuminated. One must conclude that he fails - Foer trivializes his subject too much with an excessively experimental style and a lack of necessary depth, especially in characters. However, when he succeeds, Foer reveals an incredible imagination, technical bravado, and a genius with words and sentences; at his best, Foer proves himself to be a major new talent worthy of reading despite his missteps.
The novel opens on its strongest note: the first-person narration of a Ukrainian translator named Alexander. Alexander and his grandfather are hired by a Jewish-American, who coincidentally shares the author's name, to find a mysterious woman whom Foer believes saved his grandfather from the Nazi's. Alexander speaks in a gloriously butchered version of English which has become the book's greatest selling point. The linguistically-explosive speech vividly renders his pretenses of arrogance, audacity, and sexuality, and provides quick, early humor in what will become a darkly absurd journey through rural Ukraine.
At times, Alexander's diction is unbelievable - for example, his insistent use of "rigid" for hard or difficult. Yet, there is an internal logic to the words Alexander chooses - if we accept that the Ukrainian believes "rigid" means difficult, he probably would say "flaccid" for easy. This consistency makes his sections hilarious and beautifully designed, and I never thought Foer contorted the language carelessly. More impressively, Foer believably develops Alexander's diction as he learns better English. As readers, we see Alexander learn not to use "spleen" for upset and how to correctly conjugate "understood."
Perhaps even more difficult, Alexander represents a complex, dynamic character, one who consistently deepens as the novel develops. The opening chapters depict Alexander as superficial and flashy, a character who boasts, "Many girls want to be carnal with me in many good arrangements, notwithstanding the Inebriated Kangaroo," and, "I will describe my eyes and then begin the story. My eyes are blue and resplendent. Now I will begin the story." By the end of the novel, Alexander has matured and struggles with the difficult issues of manhood and the place of tragedy in art and in life: "I would never command you to write a story that is as it occurred in the actual, but I would command you to make your story faithful."
Unfortunately, Foer's other narrative, a self-consciously written tale that relates the story of Foer's Jewish ancestors, does not show the same depth. The second plot line has been compared to the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his magical realism; I believe there is also likeliness to Milan Kundera, as Foer works in a variety of different genres, both fiction and nonfiction, including theatrical dialogues, encyclopedias, and dream journals. These eclectic sections demonstrate the author's ability to invent new ways to express the elements of story. Foer can turn powerful Garcia Marquez-esque phrases, such as in an opening scene in the novel, when a diver inspects a sunken wreck for a drowned man: "Feathers washed over him on the wings of water swells. Unstrung pearls and ungummed teeth. Blood clots, Merlot, and splintered chandelier crystal." More frequently, however, Foer lacks the poetic precision that makes a writer like Garcia Marquez unique and potent, blundering through descriptions and unnecessary exposition.
Worse, his magical characters lack the complexity they need to affect the reader. Take, for example, the character of Brod, the narrator's mythical great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. Her birth, a Venus-like rising from water, justifies her character's mercurial behaviors. But Foer shies away from showing the drama, the indecision in her character; rather, he draws her from a variety of flat perspectives: as an intellectual, a romantic, a melancholic, or a passive victim of spousal abuse. Never do these sides conflict with each other; Brod's fullness is never realized.
At other time, Foer undercuts his novel with too many "clever" experiments with genre or excessively obvious satire. In one scene, a character seduces a local virgin while attending a play. Foer lists all dialogue, both on stage and between the couple, as a script. His technique emphasizes the artifice between the couple and ties into the novel's developing questions about aesthetics; however, it also purposely reduces Foer's authority. Magical realism generally depends upon a totally authoritative voice, otherwise the reader feels cheated or emotionally detached or that the author is simply making things up as he goes, writing the first ridiculous event that occurs to him. Other magical realists might trick their readers into believing that religious practitioners hang from chains attached to the ceiling while screaming prayers, or that a character must endure life with a rotor blade sticking out of his forehead - Foer never reaches the authority of the greatest of these fantastical writers, and looks silly.
One might argue that this failure is Foer's purpose, that he proves the Holocaust is too complex and too full of pain to turn int0 art. However, his Alexander sections, fueled by a creatively written, deep character, display both virtuosic skill and have enough emotional interest to support the intensely dramatic revelations that arise in the final moments of the story, all while asking, both through content form, some great questions about tragedy. In contrast, Foer's more weakly written section cannot hold up its own themes of religious hypocrisy or of the strangeness of love, let alone handle the Holocaust.
Despite these major shortcomings, Jonathan Safran Foer is an author to look to joyfully. His masterpiece, Alexander comes to life, expresses himself in new ways, but also contains enough complexity to tackle child abuse and genocide convincingly. That Foer cannot maintain this authority is more likely because of his age than his talent. The twenty-five year old has found himself thrust into the light as one of the most exciting voices of his generation, a position Everything Is Illuminated justifies. The novel may sometimes disappoint, but its promising luster gives it a resonance beyond its parts.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful writing
Review: Like the writers he has been compared to, Mr Foer has superb skill with the English language. Unfortunately his skills iwth plot and story need a little more work. Still very enjoyable though.
Rating:
Summary: Very good writing, predictable plot.
Review: As others have said, the book is beautifully written. Both in the magic realism sections and the faux English ones. This almost disguises the fact that the plot is predictable and telegraphed rather too early in the book. But not quite.
Rating: 
Summary: and the ilumination begins when?
Review: It's true: You can't judge a book by it's cover. I bought this when I was visiting Manhattan, and thought the cover was neat. I quickly skimmed the inside flaps and thought it might be an interesting read. I just finished it the other day, and it was a waste of time and money. The whole time reading, I kept waiting for the book to get to it's point. Characters were introuduced and then dismissed without explanation. If anything, more knowledge on sex was the only thing I got out of this book. It has no ending. It just ends, leaving you wondering what happened to this, this and this. A very disappointing read.
Rating:
Summary: sure, they're sellin it, but i ain't buyin.
Review: it's ironic. the more a book gets touted by the literary elite, the more mediocre it actually is. while on the other hand, the truely good books seem to gain readership by themselves, with little advertising and prodding by the establishment. so from now on, whenever i hear Oates or the new yorker talking about a hot new talent, i will gladly turn the other way. this book is a literary fraud. the literary world knows it, anyone barely literate knows it, but it is being forced upon the public for who knows what reason. since literature is in its final death throes, all the critics and writers alike are trying to keep it alive somehow, even if they have to claw for scraps, and cling to "hot new" half-talents like Foer. in my opinion, if books like this are an indication as to literature's future, then we should just let literature die. death is far more preferable than the shameless grasping for straws.
Rating: 
Summary: Meh?
Review: I had read such effusive reviews about this book that I was quite anxious to read it (but able to wait until I could get it at the Strand for 30% off). Anyway, I'm not sorry I waited. The book honestly has some moments of inspiration and contains some beautiful writing...even, a few times, hits upon some truths. All of this suggests that the author has a promising future as a writer ahead of him. HOWEVER, the shortcomings of this novel were so distracting that for me they overshadowed the positives. The "historical" parts are so riddled with anachronisms and wrong information that I could not take them seriously. Clearly the author is not very familiar with the history of the Soviet Union or Ukraine, nor with Jewish culture in the region. That's fine, but if you're going to write about something, at least get your BASIC facts straight. Another major compaint: I couldn't bear the fatuous, precious tone of the "mystical/magical-realist" sections of the book, although I did enjoy Alex's narration quite a bit, I also am familiar with the Russian language and know that the translation "problems" are grossly exaggerated; I did enjoy the style, though, and the evolution of Alex's character. Overall, I couldn't recommend this book to any but the most avid readers who just have to read the latest "thing" and see what all the fuss is about. I personally think this is an overrated book, but it does have its moments.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best recent novels I've read...
Review: Brilliantly written. Extremely, extraordinarily, wonderfully clever -- broken into parts, with one narration written in butchered English by a young Russian man. Very smarly done. Lots of neuroses in this book, pent up sexual frustration, confusion, Jewish humor galore... Minimum exposure to Yiddish not required, but helpful.
Rating:
Summary: GLITTERING DEBUT, THAT YOU *SHOULD* READ, BUT..
Review: Foer is a pretty endearing writer, no doubt, and one who is already on my watch list. But this novel is not something I'd be seen heaping praises on, as several other reviewers have been. The book's narrative is inventive, mildly funny (depending on your sense of humor) and occasionally even strewn with streaks of universal wisdom. But some of Foer's devices of story telling seem a little, er, affected. The lead-in into the novel is a bit wobbly and I took time to warm up to the goings-on -- in reality, the it is a tapestry of SEVERAL stories, the prime theme being one of a young American Jew named Jonathan Safran Foer (eponymous as the author, note) who travels to the Ukraine searching for the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis in 1941. We read of his search through the eyes of his Ukrainian guide and translator, Alex, whose imperfect English provides comic relief. Part of the story of Jonathan's search is told in straightforward prose, but part is told through letters from Alex. Other stories are told in dreams or in plays. Concurrently, we also get the story of several of Jonathan's forbears, going as far back as 1791. Much of the novel's humor stems from Alex's under-developed English and his posturing antics. Such comic relief is deft, but the all too frequent flights of lyricism stink of affectation to me, not of staggeringly impressive command of language or anything. Foer is no Wodehouse, not yet. Everything Is Illuminated is ultimately more of an experience than a book, an episodic, thoughtful and rewarding work. But perhaps you may want to start with a fresh slate instead of a baggage of high expectations, a mistake I made. It is not worthy of a pedestal, but definitely worth a read if only for the sheer boldness of the narrative. Pick it up!
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