This is Foer's first novel, and it is two-layered; the author jumps back and forth between the narratives. First layer is the history and the tales of people from the Jewish shtetl Trachimbrod in Poland (modern-day Ukraine) from its early days to its liquidation through the nazis in WW 2.
Second layer is the voyage of Foer ("the hero“) to Trachimbrod, in search for a woman who supposedly saved his grandfather's life during WW2. They are narrated by Alex, an Ukrainian student, who is Foer's translator and courier during this trip. Since Alex's knowledge of the language is not "first-rate", he writes in a convoluted, flowery, broken English with constantly misapplied words ... which is hilariously funny / awkward and bothering / pretty constructed (delete non-applicable).

Foer brings up the deplorable erasing of the jewish villages in the Volhynia in August/September 1942. But most of the events described in the book did not really occur, the author tampers with history. Foer's first scene in Trachimbrod takes place in March 1791 – in fact Trachimbrod was founded only 40 years later, 1835. He claims that it was named Zofiowka after a mad squire Sofiowka N., but it was called so after the charitable Württemberg princess Sophie, married to a future Tsar of Russia: she donated a parcel of land for the Jewish settlement. Foer implements a disk saw blade into his story (into the skull of the great-great-great-great-grandfather) – but those saws were not invented before 1833. You have to take everything with a pinch of salt; it's merely fiction, kind of a magical realism style. Quite funny once you have got used to it. But often black with grief.

happy reading, rastaprincess :)

Thank you spy-there for sending this book ! As I realize now, I have already read (and enjoyed) this book. So I'll set it free soon

sent to my sister who did not yet read this book, with the hope she will enjoy it and discover bookcrossing:-)

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