Book description
Everything Is Illuminated is Jonathan Safran Foer's
bestselling novel of a search for truth
The inspiration for the Liev Schreiber film, starring Elijah Wood
A young man arrives in the Ukraine, clutching in his hand a tattered
photograph. He is searching for the woman who fifty years ago saved
his grandfather from the Nazis. Unfortunately, he is aided in his
quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English
into bizarre new forms; a "blind" old man haunted by
memories of the war; and an undersexed guide dog named Sammy Davis Jr,
Jr. What they are looking for seems elusive -- a truth hidden behind
veils of time, language and the horrors of war.
What they find turns all their worlds upside down . . .
'An astonishing feat of writing: hilariously funny and deeply
serious, a gripping narrative. Extraordinary'The Times
'One of the most impressive novel debuts of recent years'Joyce Carol
Oates, The Times Literary Supplement
'A first novel of startling originality'Jay McInerney, Observer
'Showy, smart. Made me laugh a lot'Susan Sontag, The Times
Literary Supplement
'It seems hard to believe that such a young writer can have
such a deep understanding of both comedy and tragedy'Erica Wagner,
The Times
'A box of treasures'LA Times'
'Funny, life affirming, brilliant'Esquire
Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977. He is the author of
Everything is Illuminated, which won the National Jewish Book
Award and the Guardian First Book award; Extremely Loud and
Incredibly Close, which is now a major film starring Tom Hanks
and Sandra Bullock; and Eating Animals. He is also the editor
of A Convergence of Birds.
Jonathan Safran Foer was born in 1977 and lives in Queens, New York.
He is the editor of the anthology A CONVERGENCE OF BIRDS, which Hamish
Hamilton will publish in 2004 alongside his second novel, THE ZELNIK
MUSEUM.
