Everything Is Illuminated
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, however, he is aided in his quest by Alex, a translator with an uncanny ability to mangle English into 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..
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A young American named Jonathan Safran Foer travels to Ukraine to find the woman who saved his Jewish grandfather from the Nazis. His guide and translator, Alex, narrates much of the book in his own English.
Everything Is Illuminated is fictional but loosely inspired by Jonathan Safran Foer's own family research in Ukraine. The framing of the search for a woman who saved his grandfather draws on his real travels and family lore.
Yes. Liev Schreiber wrote and directed a 2005 film adaptation starring Elijah Wood. The film follows the contemporary thread of the novel and largely cuts the historical thread.
Everything Is Illuminated was written by Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Everything Is Illuminated is 288 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Everything Is Illuminated takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
Everything Is Illuminated is a standalone novel by Jonathan Safran Foer, not part of a series.
Everything Is Illuminated is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
