This is a superbly unusual book. A young American travels to the Ukraine to find a woman he believes saved his grandfather from the concentration camps. He's accompanied by Alex, a young Ukrainian who speaks English in a comical I-wore-out-my-thesaurus type way (as in "I was roosting at the beach," or, "Enough of my miniature talking. I am making you a very bored person"). Since young Alex doesn't have a driver's license, his grandfather (also Alex), who is haunted by memories of the war, is doing the driving. Oh, and the dog, the flatulent Sammy Davis Junior,Junior, is along to provide another touch of comedy.

The stories--both the imagined story of his ancesters written by Jonathan (he's a character in his own book) and Alex's more realistic one, are incredibly sad. It's an intelligent look at the unknowable "truths" that can haunt families, and how the past affects all of us. Of course, everything cannot be illuminated (Alex's word). There's SO much to this book! It will NOT have you "manufacturing Z's."

Offered on BookRelay page

This book is flying to the UK in a couple days.

Received with many thanks! Will add to Mount TBR and try to get to it soon!

This novel is made up of three intertwining stories - Jonathan's fictionalised family history, Alex's account of the journey of himself, Jonathan and his grandfather to track down Jonathan's family, and Alex's letters to Jonathan after Jonathan has returned to America. For the first half of the book I just thought it was a good, enjoyable read, but it wasn't taking my breath away; although I liked the fact that Foer was a character in his own novel, giving the reader the feeling of getting to know him as well as his story.

The turning point came when the characters finally find the woman who isn't Augustine. From this point, it really took off and I became caught up in all of the stories, and was surprised at the depth of emotion I suddenly felt. Suffice to say that when you have finished reading, everything will be illuminated!

RELEASE NOTES:

Releasing at Derby Meetup...

Picked this up at Derby Meetup. I may take sometime to get to it, but will have read it in the next year.