Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Nice one, book. Fricking nice one.

Let me say this - without being in any way callous, or uncaring, or derogatory, or compassionless, or any of those other nasty things I would immediately think if I heard someone say this, let me say this purely from the perspective of narrative and theme - I am kind of bored of Books About The War. You know the ones, about The War? With the Jews? And the Germans? The one in Europe, about 70 years ago? Yeah, that one. The one that, without really knowing anything, everyone knows too much about, and without really understanding everything, everyone has read about 1 million times in a thousand different ways.

Please understand that I am in no way indifferent to the suffering, loss, dehumanizing events, grief, torture, destruction and death related in the Books About The War. I am not 'bored' of The War. I am merely bored of Books About The War. I'm not saying people shouldn't write them, or that people shouldn't read them. I am merely saying that I am bored of reading them. I am bored of reading their blurbs, reviews, award announcements etc.

On reflection though, perhaps what is most boring about Books About The War is that, despite the details of suffering, loss, dehumanizing events, grief, torture, destruction and death these stories tell, we're still fighting wars. We still manage to resort to war as a means to an end, even when we know that that end is suffering, loss, dehumanizing events, grief, torture, destruction and death. Why read countless books on the topic, learn about these things from a multitude of different angles, hear the same stories from different voices, if we refuse to learn anything from them?

This book is about The War. But it is not A Book About The War. This book is incredible. It's a book which, at its heart, is about people, which I suppose is also what war is about: When was the last time ants, or spiders, or trout or emus or pythons or chickens or sheep went to war?

This book asks what it means to love someone, how to love someone, how to know when you love someone, and how to face the questions any answers to these questions raise. This book asks what it is to be a human, and what on earth you can do about it if you find that you are.

It is a wonderful, glorious, magical thing. And I bought it for a pound. Amazing.