Everything Is Illuminated

by Jonathan Safran Foer

First published 2007

A young American arrives in Ukraine, clutching a tattered photo - his only clue to the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis. With the help of a translator with a knack for mangling English, a blind old man haunted by wartime memories, and an undersexed guide dog, he embarks on a quest to uncover the truth. But the past proves elusive, obscured by the horrors of war. As the search unfolds, it turns all their worlds upside down, revealing a story of love, loss, and the power of memory to both shape and shatter lives.

Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century

Vibes: intimate, lyrical, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family

Setting: Ukraine, Amerikaner, Juden

Period: German occupation 1941-1944, Geschichte 1997, Geschichte 1942, Geschichte 1791-1942

288 pages · Paperback · Mariner Books

Content warnings: death, war

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