# I just finished a great book..

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-a-great-book/130078>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 29, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-a-great-book/130078 "2002-09-29T05:59:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![strangecurrencies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@strangecurrencies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strangecurrencies)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-a-great-book/130078/1 "2002-09-29T05:59:35Z")

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Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. My god, what a piercingly beautiful novel… I wholeheartedly wish that you would read this book if you haven’t already, and that you would share your impressions if you have…

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**Author:** ![Bloody\_Pollyanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@Bloody\_Pollyanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_Pollyanna)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-a-great-book/130078/2 "2002-09-29T11:32:38Z")

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I haven’t read it, but for those who were (at some point) going to read _One Hundred Years of Solitude_, by Garcia Marquez, perhaps you should follow the above advice and read _Everything is Illuminated_ instead. Because 100 Years isn’t worth it.

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**Author:** ![Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michele_in_SoCal)\
**Post date:** [September 29, 2002, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-just-finished-a-great-book/130078/3 "2002-09-29T18:36:22Z")

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I haven’t read Everything is Illuminated yet, but I read one of Jonathan Safran Foer’s short stories in the New Yorker magazine a few months ago and was quite moved.

I don’t remember the title of the short story but the style was unique: He used punctuation marks to express unsaid, underlying feelings. It was a very moving story and would be worth a trip to the library to find a back issue of the New Yorker to read it. Reading it will explain some of the blurbs on Everything is Illuminated’s jacket cover.

I was so intrigued by the short story that I googled him and read his bio. What an amazing young man!

Thanks for reminding me about him. I will pick up Everything is Illuminated on my next trip to the bookstore and share my views once I’ve read it.