In 1997, author Jonathan Safran Foer decided to go on a trip to Prague to embark on a search for his roots. A badly planned 3-day trip to the Ukraine for clues to his Jewish ancestry eventually turned into the novel
Everything is Illuminated published in 2002.
Although this is a highly acclaimed book, I for one never even looked at it until I heard of the upcoming film by the same name, the directorial debut of actor Liev Schreiber (
Manchurian Candidate, Spinning Boris" ).
Okay, I admit it: I read about 30 pages and got annoyed, put the book down and didn't touch it for a few months; specifically, until I got the invite for the screening of the film and a follow-up press conference for the filmmaker. At that point, I had to cram the remaining 200 or so pages within a week.
I must say that, after watching the film, the book acquired a whole different charm that it didn't quite possess before. Seeing the filmmaker's interpretation of the deeply felt, meaningful ending of the story awoke an interest in the development of it that I just couldn't muster when first picking it up.
Jonathan Safran Foer inserted himself into the story as the Jewish-American traveler who visits Ukraine to find a woman named Augustine who he believes saved his grandfather from the Nazis. All he has to go on is an old photograph showing her and his grandfather with some other family members, and the name of the town he needs to find: Trachimbrod.
Upon arrival, he finds himself welcomed by the tour guides he hired: Alex, a young man whose real name is Sasha, but who feels Alex sounds better, and his grandfather. Along for the ride comes Sammy Davis Junior Jr., grandfather's seeing eye dog.
Well, alright - correction: Sammy Davis Junior Jr. isn't really a seeing-eye dog, but a deranged mutt from the pound who spends most of her time "masticating her tail", snarling and humping the American visitor, or doing other inexplicable things. Of course, she doesn't really need to have much seeing-eye talent, cause grandfather only thinks he's blind, which doesn't prevent him from being the driver for this peculiar search.
Alex welcomes this opportunity to finally meet a real American so he can confirm all the pop culture images he's turned into some Nirvana Americana he plans to one day move to with his younger brother Igor, and, faced with all this oddity, Jonathan finds himself slightly concerned about the bizarre group he's attached himself to; but as the trip progresses, these characters not only learn more about each others' lives and cultures, but also about themselves and who they really are, what past they come from and how they should apply their history to the way they lead their lives.
After a lot of disappointment from people who claim never to have heard of a town named Trachimbrod, they finally find a woman who seems to be the only survivor of Trachimbrod. In her ramshackle house, she keeps thousands of artifacts from the people of Trachimbrod, who died during the Nazi invasion, keeping their memory alive within the four walls of her home.
If this was the only story in the book, I'd love it and call it the most adorable story I've read in a long time, even though there are quite a few unanswered questions left at the end.
However, there are three stories in this book and all three written individually. Often, reviews about this book state that these stories come together in the end, but in fact, the stories are never separate, only three views written parallel to each other.
The first story is that of Jonathan visiting Ukraine: this is the charming, funny and moving story of Jonathan and his quirky travel companions discovering the story of Trachimbrod and a long-forgotten past of the grandfather which ultimately teaches all of them about how memories can come back to haunt as well as provide closure.
The second story is that of the village of Trachimbrod as it follows the generations of men and women that make up Jonathan's ancestors. The story starts in 1791 and is written in the whimsical style of folklore, telling odd stories of men who lived on after having saw blades stuck in their heads or the grandfather who became the sexual addiction of the women in town because of his deformed arm.
Last, there is the mail correspondence of Alex to Jonathan, as he muses about the other two stories told and tells of the goings-on at home after Jonathan has left back for America. Over the course of this correspondence, Alex changes from the happy-go-lucky loudmouthed pop culture fan to a thoughtful, mature man who realizes what he has to do to for his family and himself.
It took me a while to realize that Alex' letters are the in-between that holds together the story of Trachimbrod, which is being written by Jonathan after his return to the US, and the story of the trip which is written by Alex. Perhaps if it had occurred to me from the start, I would have been a bit less confused by the back and forth between the stories. Upon realizing it, though, it became easier to read and like.
The most talked-about part of this book is Alex' odd use of the English language. He often-times uses words the thesaurus suggests but that don't really fit the sentence he's making:
"I luxuriated the receipt of your letter. You are always so rapid to write to me." I didn't always find that endearing, but also not particularly annoying; perhaps it is the fact that, having been dealing with different languages on a regular basis when growing up, I'm familiar with this kind of mis-use of language (frequently still doing it myself, I must admit).
I found the book so-so until I watched the film. Oftentimes, when a book is turned into a movie, you end up with a film that's either not as good as the book, is better than the book, or doesn't really have a lot to do with the book.
In this case, the film took a lot from the book verbatim, but also took some liberties in changing the story, adding some imagery and bringing the characters of Alex, Jonathan, the grandfather and the dog to live in a way that makes the book much more fun to read. The book and the film have become so intertwined that they complete each other in a way I've never come across before.
