April 2, 2010

Friday Book Blogging

This week was a seven book week, but I had a hard time choosing a favorite. I'm going with Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer as my pick of the week primarily because it was the one that stuck with me the most.
The book is deliberately vague and horribly disjointed, but one of the characters, Alexander Perchov, makes the whole read worthwhile. Alexander is a young Ukrainian who is employed as a translator for a Jewish-American man who is looking for the woman who helped save his grandfather from the Nazis.
The complete bastardization of the English language at Alex's hands is charming and hilarious, doing much to alleviate the naturally dark tone of the story.
The part of the story that stays with you is the insightful compassion the author elicits for all the characters, good and bad.

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