Everything Is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran-Foer

Every now and then there comes along a book which starts out being a bit of hard work, a bit sticky and stop-start, but which after perservering I find myself suddenly swept up in its surroundings and unwilling to leave. This was that kind of book.

Having previously read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by the same author, I admit to having the expectation that this would be easy reading, and when I didn't pick it up and instantly fall in, I set it aside and finally came back to it about 6 months later. It was worth it.

And while I don't want to go into what the book is actually about, I do want to share my favourite bits.

“She was a genius at sadness, immersing herself in it, separating its numerous strands, appreciating its subtle nuances. She was a prism through which sadness could be divided into its infinite spectrum”

p.78 Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran-Foer

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“He is not a bad person. He is a good person, alive in a bad time”

p. 145 Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran-Foer

This line made me stop and re-read it, and re-read it, and toss it about in the air, and flip it over, shut the book, open the book, and then re-read it again because I have spent a lot of time knee-deep in this debate. It brings to mind Christopher Browning's Ordinary Men, and that's not a nice place to be. Yes, the use of 'nice' here is intentionally inadequate.

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“They lay in silence, thinking their own thoughts, each trying to know the others’. They were becoming strangers on top of each other”.

p. 232 Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran-Foer

Upon reading that I found myself scrambling for one of my favourite albums by The Cure, and was left wanting since a bizarre abberation caused me to somehow miss adding Wish to itunes. From the edge of the deep green sea and Apart are now playing on the edge of my musical consciousness, and I'm debating whether to download it from itunes, or wait until I'm back home and can load on my CD... Oh, the dilemmas.

My dilemmas aside, I think these two sentences are hauntingly sad and beautiful and reflective of how feeling the end coming on can feel.

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