Here I Am: A Novel

I only finished one half of the book and I had to force myself to get that far! I do not want to read about messy sex or a dysfunctional family. It did show a bit of promise after 50
% but I was so turned off I put it down to read Tom Friedman's book.

Let me first say that the writing was excellent. I am not one to write negative reviews, but I just want to inform others looking at this book about things they should know before purchasing. It has detailed and gross sexual content. It has a lot of Jewish words and traditions that are hard to understand if you are not Jewish. There is not a good flow to the story - he skips around all over time and place. And so, so depressing....All in all, I am sorry I wasted a lot of hours on reading it.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Great thumbnail of an imploding modern day Jewish family. (I am Jewish & survived such an implosion ) .They book does use a lot of biblical metaphor, especially toward the end, but if you are familiar with the author; that is how he writes. I noticed some recurring themes from previous books, having to do w/ the great-grandfather & have to wonder why that is. The theme of this book seems to be change & sacrifice; not only Biblical, but personal, professional and familial. You will just have to read the book to find out how this all applies to the protagonist, Jacob & his family.

Needs heavy editing. While witty and poignant, it is rambling and disjointed. Unnecessary vulgarity and porn, we get the idea without the author going on and on. Unfortunately this was a distraction. The last 100 pages were brilliant, but few (2?) and disappointing female characters.

This book would be better if it was about 300 pages and rambled less. I wish I could say I felt more empathy for the characters, who are self-absorbed and lacking any faith- disappointing because there is lots of discussion of Jewish traditions, religion, and culture.

This book made me so happy. And then so sad. And then so happy again! And then so sad. Dwight Garner in his NY Times review wrote that it "has more teeming life in it than several hundred well-meaning and well-reviewed books of midlist fiction put together" and I have to say I agree.

Thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin Books UK Hamish Hamilton for offering me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had not read any of Jonathan Safran Foer before, so I can’t really compare it to his previous work. I’ve checked comments about the novel, as I felt quite overwhelmed when I finished its reading and I wanted to check if I was the only one. The opinions by people who’d read his previous novels varied widely, although ‘ambitious’ is one of the words most often used in all the comment, positive and otherwise. Yes, the novel is ambitious. The story is about the disintegration of an upper-middle-class Jewish-American marriage. Jacob, the main character, writes a TV comedy, is married, with three children, a dog, and relatives both in the United States and in Israel. The story is told mostly from his point of view, although there are fragments also told from other characters’ viewpoint, like his grandfather, his wife, his oldest son… Later in the novel there are also inserts that purport to be news articles or news reports about an earthquake that affects most of the Middle-East and has terrible consequences for the region, resulting in what is referred to in the book as ‘the destruction of Israel’. The attempts at equating the family’s fortunes to that of Israel itself are clear when reading the book, although how successful they are it’s open to the individual reader (for me, the situation provides a good way to test the main character’s beliefs and is a good way of offering the reader a better understanding of him, but how literally we’re supposed to take it is a different matter).
This is not an easy book to read, for a variety of reasons. The quality of the writing is excellent, although I found it difficult sometimes not to get lost as to who is talking in very long dialogues with few tags (but I am aware that different readers feel differently about this). Although there is action in the novel, most of the time this is observed and described through the subjectivity of different characters, making it appear slower than in most books. All the characters are highly intellectual and articulate, even Sam, Jacob’s teenage son who does not want to have a Bar Mitzvah. Often, we see the same events from different points of view in different chapters and the actual time frame of the story might become confused.
Possible spoiler alert [I don't see this as a spoiler but perhaps some readers might so avoid this sentence if you're worried: Towards the end of the novel we discover that the famous TV programme Jacob has been privately working on is, in reality, a retelling of his family’s story, so I wondered if this was a book, within a book… ]
There are also many Yiddish terms used that although have been incorporated into English in the US might not be so familiar to readers in other places (although they might be known from TV, and if reading the electronic version there’s always the dictionary at hand).
The characters are easily identifiable but not necessarily that easy to empathise with and might not have much in common with a large part of the readership. They all try their best, but fail often, find excuses for themselves, give up, and are less than heroic. They also lie and feel sorry for themselves, but at times are truly amazing and insightful. Overall in the book there are funny and witty moments, there are sad moments, and there are moments that made me think. There are images and vignettes I don’t think I’ll ever forget, and reflections I’ll keep thinking about.
There are moments when reading this book that I was gripped by the power of the writing (and yes, at times it reminded me of other writers, like Philip Roth, but perhaps an older version of some of Roth’s earlier novels), and others when I wondered exactly where we were going, but I didn’t mind to be taken along for the ride.
This is not a novel for those who like functional writing that gets out of the way of the story and moves along at a good pace, rather than contemplating itself. But if you enjoy deeply subjective and introspective writing, and in-depth explorations of identity, relationship and what makes us human, I’d recommend it to you.

The 2 stars are just because of print issues. I got through 4 pages and had to give up on the paperback version. The font is so small, and the ink actually seems gray rather than black. I read all the time with 1.75 glasses--many formats, much variety in books etc. and have never had such a problem. So, I'll either return it or, more likely, donate it to our Little Free Library.

While it wanders a bit, there are many brilliant, classic lines. Reminds me of reading Letting Go by Phillip Roth back in 1962. All I could say was "wow", both then and now. Do you have to be Jewish to love this book? I hope not but it helps.

Knowing the great work the author previously produced, I was excited to read this when it was chosen for our book club. Within the first few chapters, though, it was clear the writing was more about shock value than depth into the subject matter at hand. It was certainly not a book I wanted my children to pick up off the coffee table or my night stand and begin reading. Approach this book with the knowledge that it has far more graphic material than was presented in any review I had previously read.

I expected so much more from this book after listening to an interview with the author. Was very disappointed. Did not complete the book. I was intrigued by the theme the book was supposed to explore, but it was simply kind of trashy.

The headline is from a famous American ad campaign of the sixties that featured an assortment of clearly non-Jewish characters - a black kid, a tall-hatted Peruvian, a beefy New York cop, a grinning Korean, a stout Italian mamma – each tucking into a rye bread sandwich. You get the picture.

So do you have to be Jewish to love Jonathan Safran Foer’s latest novel Here I Am? Well, I’m afraid I think you do. Not because of the fragments of transliterated Hebrew scattered through the book, nor because of the odd Yiddish phrase that pops up here and there (surprisingly rarely, in fact). You certainly don’t have to be Jewish to comprehend the anatomy of a happy marriage heading for the rocks. Nor to understand the impact this would have on the issue of such a marriage (in this case, three exceptionally bright sons). Or to follow Foer’s metaphorical trail of devastation: a child’s mangled hand, the discovery of a partner's obscene texts on a secret phone, the death of a patriarch, the death-throes of a marriage, an earthquake in the Middle East, the heralded destruction of the Jewish homeland, a dog’s dying days – even the accidental erasure of oldest son Sam’s avatar in his Other Life online game (Sam: “It is not a game.”) No, none of these would be deal-breakers for any reader.

But the soul of the book might be. Because here’s the thing. The deep-down consciousness, the guilty conscience, the very essence of Here I Am is perhaps something that can only be fully felt by readers who have been born into the religion. “Jewish Americans…will go to any length, short of practicing Judaism, to instill a sense of Jewish identity in their children.” This is Foer’s real Jewish Wry. And it’s a challenging read, whichever way you slice it.

Here I Am is the story of a modern Jewish family. The core family consists of a husband and wife, Jacob and Julia, and their three kids. Integral parts of their family include Jacobs parents and grandpa as well as his Israeli cousins. Argus the dog also plays a leading role in several chapters.

This review is going to contain a lot of spoiler alerts.

The scene opens with Sam, the eldest child, being reprimanded for writing a list of bad words. The rabbi accuses him, calls his mom and dad into a meeting, and threatens to cancel Sam’s barmitzvah unless Sam apologizes. Meanwhile, readers are witness to Julia’s inner dialogue, and confused as all get out. Julia jumps around, frustrated with her husband and the fact that she’s not enjoying her day off, but what is going on?

Foer delves into thoughts, jumping back and forth between characters’ desires, thoughts, feelings, and realities. I found it confusing and hard to follow. Why do I care about what the characters are imagining? On the one hand, it reveals their inner desires, but on the other hand, it spends time recounting information about a plot that never transpired, so readers are left wading through reality and sub-reality, the undercurrents of thought.

My biggest complaint with this story is that Foer jumps around through unrealistic plot points so quickly. He goes through family life to affairs to this online video game called “Other Life” to a model UN to an earthquake leading to war in Israel. The plot is all over the place, and in the end, I’m left wondering what was the point of it all? In the end, everyone still continues on, except for Argus, who we all knew was dying. It’s a story of life and death, and it’s the truth of people just wanting to be seen.

I spent over 15 hours of my life listening to this audiobook, and I don’t think I would have read this book all the way through if I weren’t hiking all day every day. I also didn’t realize until after I finished that this author also wrote Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which I also didn’t like when I read it.

Anyone interested in literature could hardly have missed the success of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (aided by their associated movies). Somehow, however, I was never found my way to Mr. Foer and missed reading these books. I probably would have missed him again had my book club not chosen this novel. I had hoped reading this might point the way back to his earlier novels. Instead, I found myself hoping his earlier novels were better than this one.

That’s not to say this is a horrible novel. The prose is solid and readable. It just didn’t excite me very much. The focus of the plot is the disintegrating marriage of Jacob and Julia Bloch. Julia finds some sexts between Jacob and a co-worker (signs of an unconsummated affair) which ignites Julia’s reevaluation of their relationship. It turns out to be the spark that ends their coupling not with a bang but a whimper. Unfortunately, the whimpering does not lead to an engaging story.

To add some excitement to the proceedings, Mr. Foer adds some external pressures on the couple: irritating parents, a grandfather stuck in a home, a fictional war in Israel impacting another branch of the family, and three children, one of whom is in conflict with his upcoming bar mitzvah. Each of these events holds some interest—the teenage son, Sam, is a particularly well-drawn character—but it all comes across as trying to dress up the main story.

Still, when compared to much of what’s out there, this is a novel whose strengths outweighs its weaknesses. It is certainly doesn’t present any real challenges to the reader. On the other hand, it doesn’t make me anxious to go back and see what I missed in his earlier work.

Both father and son, Jacob and Sam, are in trouble because of words they’ve written. Jacob, a TV writer, has been sexting a colleague from work. When Jacob’s wife Julia discovers the texts on his phone, divorce seems imminent, and Julia becomes involved in a flirtation of her own. Unfortunately, the couple has three sons, all too smart for their own good, of which Sam is the oldest. Sam has been accused of writing dirty words during Hebrew school, and his bar mitzvah won’t take place unless he apologizes. Sam, however, steadfastly declares his innocence. Jacob believes him, but Julia does not. The family’s problems are amplified when an earthquake in Israel has catastrophic consequences. The novel also deals with two ailing characters, the family dog Argus and Jacob’s grandfather Isaac, a Holocaust survivor. Both are well-loved, and their suffering is heartbreaking and problematic. One of Jacob’s most upsetting memories is that of his father disposing of a dead squirrel. This incident has implications for Jacob’s decision regarding Argus, who may or may not be ready for euthanasia. Isaac’s quality of life is on the decline also, and many of us have grappled with how best to make a loved one’s final years comfortable. As is the case with Foer’s previous novels, this one is very introspective and also fairly long, so it’s not for everybody. Jacob, though, demonstrates his power with words in some very snappy and often hilarious dialog. He is the focal point of this novel—a mostly good man but definitely not heroic. In other words, he’s very human.

I freely would swap between the audiobook and printed versions of Here I Am. I recommend the audiobook, because this story is basically a combination of internal monologue and intimate conversations, and the voices bring these more to life. The reader conveys religious Hebrew prayers quite well.

This book I found maddening—so much writing talent but too many words. Sometimes I felt like the author was writing for himself or his intention was to show off to other writers. This sacrifices the thin plot as the story barely moves along. It also circles back frequently with repetition of the same phrases and scenes. That’s intentional, but indulgent on the authors part, as the scenes weren’t that significant to begin with, and neither was the quality of writing.

The part about Israel being attacked and the reactions afterward added very little of substance. The subplot seems quite unnecessary, even as a metaphor for the couple’s relationship.

I do think he captured the essence of a crumbling marriage, especially the impacts of having children over time. He also communicates the tensions of being Jewish in the 21st century quite well.

This would have been a great book if it was edited down to about two-thirds its volume.

This novel disturbed more than enlightened. The characters and story arc became more and more predictable as the story progressed, but the quality of the writing compensated for most of the missing depth. The most interesting characters were the children; the adults were rather cliched versions of contemporary Jewish archetypes (the brilliant but nebbishy husband, the creative post-feminist vaghuely dissatisfied wife, etc.)
The most immersive aspect of the novel was it's hyperrealism -- when I put down the book I found myself disurbed by the believablity of both the familial and geopolitical story lines.
The sexual imagery in the writing was a bit overwrought, in my opinion. I found it distracting, rather than illuminating.
Having read Foer's previous novels, I was expecting more nuanced and dazzling prose, along with singular characters. I settled for a lot less.

I spent many pleasant hours present with the writing of Jonathan Safran Foer is his latest novel, Here I Am. Over the course of almost six hundred pages, I laughed a lot, became annoyed regularly, and kept thinking about how much of life really does involve showing up and just being there. Along the way in this novel, we are bystanders as a marriage falls apart, precocious children come of age, older generations die, and (spoiler) a dog is finally put down. The separations are intense and the losses are deeply felt. On page 102, we learn about the title, a translation of the Hebrew word, hinemi, here I am, used in the biblical story of Abraham and the sacrifice of his son, Isaac, to mean wholly present. In the story, Abraham is present for God, and Abraham is present for Isaac. Protagonist Jacob is present throughout the novel, acclaiming that life is precious and he lives wholly present in the world, while often being clueless and inadequate. Jewish identity informs this novel and provides plot momentum involving a bar mitzvah and a threat to the survival of the State of Israel. Readers who enjoy the messiness of life, including virtual life that Foer also explores, and who delight in all the broken places that make up our reality, are those most likely to enjoy reading this novel.

Rating: Four-star (I like it)

The first sentence – “When the destruction of Israel commenced …” – my heart sank: it’s going to be one of those too clever by half books; and the rest of that first chapter seemed to bear that out. Among the verbiage and the non-sequiturs, you can make out that the book is about the relationships, marital tensions and generational battles in a very Jewish-American family. This mixture of plot and fancy continues for the next six chapters. There are some crude erotic scenes, and,, among the many interruptions to whatever narrative there is, coarse and gratuitous single-sentence paragraphs of sexual talk. So, after seven chapters of this (some 100 pages), I gave up. Lucy Unwin’s review (Sept.11, 2016) suggests that that there is much in the rest of the book that looks interesting and insightful; but I did not fancy toiling through the next 500 pages or so to dig out the possibly worth-while material from what is likely to be a lot of similar clutter.

It is a tragedy that Here I am is unlikely to make most types of readers unhappy because of its heretical nature on multiple fronts.

a. The language is repeatedly explicit and vulgar that will put off many serious readers.
b. There is content that could be claimed blasphemous beyond acceptable limit by some.
c. It plays with those raw things deep within us that we like being left alone rather than confront their ugly implications.
d. It is too funny in parts to be part of such a grim tale. Too philosophical for a light-hearted book. Too grim.

Too smart.

Too emotional.

This is one of the most wonderfully written and crafted stories I have read. It made me revolted and uneasy at times but it took me to the emotional and pondering heights that are rarely achieved by any. What is love (for your community, nation, religion, family, kids, spouse or even pets, not forgetting the self)? And what sacrifices or commitments it requires from people who are not perfect?

There are more than a hundred of those quotable quotes that make you wish you remember them forever. The characters are all so lovable that you almost live their failures and tragedies.

It is sad that this book will not be read by many who fail to appreciate that like in life, the best is not the prettiest.

I am a huge fan of Jonathan Safran Foer. Everything is Illuminated is a masterpiece, as is his oft-misinterpreted Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Since ELAIC, I have been somewhat disappointed. His new American Hagaddah is beautiful, but it is mainly a new translation and new layout of a text that already exists that he completed on a team. A great book, but not a sit-down-and-have-a-personal-experience book in the same way a novel is. Eating Animals was a huge disappointment for me. While I agreed with everything he covered in the book and he nailed the Logos of his argument, his Ethos became an entirely anecdotal execution of the book's Pathos which was heavy handed, brash animal abuse pornography. Yes, I agree with everything he said and try to practice it in my life, but he was writing to this audience – and if the goal is to be persuasive to an audience that should save the planet and stop mainly eating meat, it was completely ineffective. Tree of Codes is a beautiful, interesting idea, but I haven't picked it up because at $75 it has been outside of my price range where I am in my life and the library system just got a copy that I am waiting on.

But it has been eleven years. I was hoping the wait would be worth it. Here he was.

Here I Am is the first book that I would put on the same trajectory, scope, and execution as Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. What's more, it is tied to the various public elements of his life (thematically) that have uncovered strangely reported private happenings with his divorce... and evidently something and nothing to do with Natalie Portman (who my wife assures me would lead us to the same gruesome end if either of us were in JSF's shoes. Let's be honest... True or not, she's right) and a twitter storm of people discussing things that are none of their business. So aside from what I consider to be his failed (in my opinion and to my expectations) nonfiction narrative about carniverousness, this is the first novel he has written in ten or eleven years, and my expectations ran high awaiting its release.

The wait was well worth it for a hundred reasons, but mainly this book came into my hands at the exact moment it needed to.

The book tells the story of the end of a marriage, and intertwined are the ends of lives, the beginnings of lives, and the destruction of Israel. Through a variety of characters with immensely satisfying three-dimensional complexity and relationships, Foer deconstructs the ideas of what we expect when we examine marriage, faith, communication, life, death, family, parenthood, relationships with others in every context, fulfillment, satiation, time, investment, and just about everything else a middle-aged man struggles with on a regular basis. With the destruction of Israel (this is not a spoiler – it is practically on the first page), so is the allegorical destruction of the core of everything we believe in when we examine ourselves. It is no surprise that the dome of the rock is vandalized (one of the holiest of holy sites, the center of faith in religion as family, reproduction, love, and marriage is the center of faith in living), war is declared (hundreds of wars are declared and fought both in the home and in Israel), the wailing wall crumbles (as do the emotional walls between our characters), and everyone is looking for something to fight and sacrifice everything for (but who the enemy is and what matters to fight for are equally unclear and often not what should be).

I am at the age when this book happens. I have two children and a wife. I am a writer. I "wrestle," and the wrestling as portrayed and explored in this book is so eerily and beautifully and at times it is word-for-word my story, my life, my conversations. It is my story in my youth and my adulthood and my spousehood and my parenthood. This book has taken the reality of modern marriage and of what we do to one another and created a hyper-realistic portrait of not what we wish it to be – but of what it is. I found my eyes opened to the needs of myself and what that looks like in terms of the needs of everyone else. I found myself understanding what my issues are, and how those are contributing to those in the family dynamic. It made me see so much... and in many ways is saving my patience, my mind, my work, my family as if it was a mirror reflecting back on myself. By the end, it had become this cathartic whisper to just me, even though I know it is all about the modern living none of us are willing to recognize or talk about... The modern life that is ruining us, our dreams, and our families. The walls, the locks, the destruction, the questions.

In every way, this book is thematically about all of the things that his other two books that I loved are about. But now his work has matured into the man that I like to think we both are. His work is the work of all of us, maybe. It isn't things that we want to acknowledge or tease apart, but as he cracks open my ribcage to expose my rotten heart amidst his pages, I can only think that I am so thankful for him to do it. Jonathan Safran Foer, once again, has spoken clearly and silently directly to me and said everything I needed to hear. For that, I am thankful this book and his work exists.

I have no idea how the production of Here I Am (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2016) by Jonathan Safran Foer transpired, but I can imagine the editor throwing up his hands and saying, "Fine. You win." It's difficult to tell if the structure of this Modern Family American Jew tale is intentionally chaotic or accidental slippage into stream of consciousness at times. Get this: in one chapter you have a beautiful story of two boys sneaking into the National Zoo in the middle of the night to brave the lions' den. Another chapter discusses nationalism and whether true allegiance to your motherland requires that you live there. And then there are the introspective chapters on—simply put—self-obsessed dirty talk.

The writing is superb. You're left with the perception that every member of this extended family here allows you to go as deep as you want intellectually, but there is a resistance against going too deep into the spirit—and all of this is culturally induced, somehow. Here I Am is that musical performance you attend because there is that one instrumentalist or vocalist who makes the entire concert worthwhile, even though the band as a whole could have been fined tuned a bit more to your liking.

—Tom Field

I picked up the book on the spur of the moment at my local public library, added it to the ever-growing to-be-read stack, and then speed-read through it a couple days before the due date when I saw a hold was placed by another patron. The extraneous time constraint added some urgency to the reading, and perhaps made me enjoy it all the more. Jonathan Safran Foer has proven to be a very wise writer, and Here I Am offers some touching insights into the human soul, as the different characters struggle with self-knowledge and finding their place in their family and their culture. He strikes a fine balance between tenderness, humor (often pointed at the Jewish culture), and political commentary (in the form of fictional, somewhat grotesque, although not entirely improbable scenario). As in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Foer's greatest skill is depicting the workings of the mind of a precocious child (in a way, all characters are precocious children, even the adults whose recollections and sensibilities are often those of a keen intelligence discovering the world for the first time). A childlike perspective is what lends the story a certain semi-magical quality: the ability to imbue the most ordinary situation with an unexpected, original insight, as if shelling an unsuspected secret concealed at the heart of the real like a golden nugget. One such wonderful moment comes, not without the participation of children, in the funeral eulogy given by a young rabbi, who, retelling the story of the finding of baby Moses in the reeds by an Egyptian princess, zeroes in on her exclamation, "Look, a crying Hebrew baby." The rabbi wonders why she uses the word "look", rather than "hear." One child, Benjy, suggests that perhaps "he was crying in Jewish."

" 'How would one cry in Jewish?,' the rabbi asked. ...
'I guess babies don't really speak.'
'Do tears?'
...
'Look. She saw that he was crying, but didn't hear.'
...
'She knew he was a Hebrew because only Jews cry silently.'
...
'Let's say we have two choices, as Jews: to cry silently, as your mother has said, or to cry in Jewish, as you said. What would it sound like to cry in Jewish?'
...
'Maybe like laughing?' Max suggested.
...
Sometimes, [when his son was hurt], if there was visible blood, Jacob would even say, 'It's funny.' And his son would believe him, because sons have no choice. But sons do feel pain. And the absence of expression of pain is not the absence of pain. It is a different pain. When Sam's hand was crushed, he said, 'It's funny. It's funny, right?' That was his inheritance.
...
'What was Moses crying about? [the rabbi continued] Was he crying for himself? Out of hunger or fear? Was he crying for his people? Their bondage, their suffering? Or were they tears of gratitude? Perhaps Pharaoh's daughter didn't hear him because he wasn't crying until she opened the wicker basket.' "

This subtle exegesis of Moses's tears and his rescue continues later on, with the realization that perhaps the princess was deaf and so needed to see the baby cry. In a short passage, Foer manages to say a lot about the human condition, the Jewish human condition (and its Holocaust inheritance, with the allusion to the experience of hiding beneath floorboards and learning to be invisible and mute in order to survive), family bonds, parent and child bonds, and pain that accompanies our everyday lives.

The multifaceted close-reading is another facet of Foer's penchant for enumeration and quasi-archival lists. All characters compulsively index their experiences, likes and dislikes, names, events, what-ifs, what-nots, possibilities and impossibilities. As with the Moses story, turning their catalogs of emotions and memories over and over, they discover something about themselves, and by extension also about us.

I need a rating lower than one star. I didn't think the ramblings of this author would evernend. Certainly was a waste of my time reading it and will never get back that time in my life for something constructive. Wow, what an expensive disappointment!

This is probably JFS's most straightforward work to date. Perhaps because of some of the scathing reviews his previous efforts have received, he seems to ease up on his employment of modernist / post-modernist and visual writing techniques.

So much of the book is brilliant and revelatory, forcing introspection and drawing tears.

But don't mistake 5 stars for perfect. A lot of the dialogue is unrealistic, especially when it comes from the kids. Some portions were too weighty, over-explained, which I suspect was due to the semi-autobiographical content. Towards the end, I sometimes felt like I couldn't wait for it to end, and much of my emotional investment had expired before the last 75 pages.

Overall, I'm glad I finished, but I think 100 pages could have been removed.

Really exceptional novel with some of the best dialogue I've ever seen on the written page. Foer is a master of character conversation on par with a fine playwright. These characters are especially insightful when it comes to understanding how their own brokenness contributes to the challenging situations in which they find themselves, particularly when a surprisingly large crisis occurs midway through the book.
I was most impressed with the powerful theological wisdom on display from what are essentially atheistic characters. This passage, spoken by a young boy at his bar mitzvah, is an excellent example: "Jacob wrestled with God for the blessing. He wrestled with Esau for the blessing. He wrestled with Isaac for the blessing, with Laban for the blessing, and in each case he eventually prevailed. He wrestled because he recognized that the blessings were worth the struggle. He knew that you only get to keep what you refuse to let go of."
I will be thinking about this fine novel for a while. This one will definitely stick with me.

"Why do I have to have a Bar Mitzvah?" "Because that's what we do. In the same way that not eating cheeseburgers is what we don't do. Even though we do sometimes eat real crab California rolls even though it's what we don't do." So goes the dialogue of a secular Jewish family in Jonathan Safran Foer's novel, Here I Am. There are many themes entwined in this novel, maybe too many. There is the conflict of leading a secular Jewish life, ("I don't believe any of it, but I believe in it") the closeness of a family, the demise of a marriage, Israelis' connection to Israel vs. American Jews' connection of Israel. The novel even explores what would happen if Israel was destroyed by a massive earthquake. I really liked this book, particularly the clever dialogue. "What are they gonna do? Pinch my nose until I expel my haftorah?" laments the 13-year old Sam resisting becoming a Bar Mitzvah. The novel could have been limited to one aspect - the massive earthquake that destroys the Middle East bringing the world to a subsequent war with Israel. It would have been sufficient to digest and contemplate without the other themes. In any event, I recommend the book. I highly recommend it to any secular Jews questioning belief and observance.

This is my first experience with Jonathan Safran Foer’s writing (he’s written two previous novels, the most famous of which was turned into the Tom Hanks same-titled movie Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). He’s good. He’s very, very good. This book is about a Jewish family falling apart as the parents’ marriage crumbles. It’s empathetic and poignant and truly, distinctly hilarious.

My favorite quote from the book: “It’s easy to be close, but almost impossible to stay close. Think about friends. Think about hobbies. Even ideas. They’re close to us—sometimes so close we think they are part of us—and then, at some point, they aren’t close anymore. They go away. Only one thing can keep something close over time: holding it there. Grappling with it. Wrestling it to the ground, as Jacob did with the angel, and refusing to let go. What we don’t wrestle, we let go of. Love isn’t the absence of struggle. Love is struggle.”

HERE I AM, the first novel by Jonathan Safran Foer since 2005’s EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE, is big. Sure, it is a physically big book at just under 600 pages, but more than that, it is full of big ideas, events and characters. It chronicles the end of the marriage of Jacob and Julia Bloch as their three young sons begin to come of age, as the patriarch of the family dies, and as Israel suffers from a cataclysmic earthquake and terrible war. The results of each --- the breakup of a marriage, the new autonomy of the boys, the sorrowful death of Jacob’s grandfather, and the threat to the Jewish state --- give each character (though Jacob is given a special voice), the opportunity to philosophize, ponder and suffer, trying to understand love, family, identity, responsibility and, not in the least, happiness.

Jacob and Julia have been married for 16 years when Julia discovers that Jacob has been sexting with a co-worker. Though the affair was never physically consummated, the discovery finally fractures their routine and increasingly passionless union. Jacob wants to stay married but Julia does not, and readers are privy to their understandably confused reactions and responses to the situation and to their long history together. But HERE I AM is hardly concerned with the logistics of the split. Instead, it is the story of an even more profound dissolution as Jacob wrestles, every biblical allusion explicitly intended, with his self-image and self-understanding, his Jewishness, and his place in his family and in his family and tribal history.

Swirling around Jacob are his three sons, father Irv and grandfather Isaac, as well as his cousin Tamir. Each man is a Jewish type: Isaac, the lonely Holocaust survivor whom the family aims to protect from further hurt; Irv, the self-important and raging bigot; Tamir, the hyper-masculine Israeli cousin; and, of course, Jacob, the wounded and emasculated good guy. The women are often just shadows of the men, figures that reflect back the male needs or foil them. Julia is depicted as both caring and fearsome in the unreliable assessments of her sons and husband. The three Bloch boys --- Sam, Max and Benjy --- are compelling, intelligent and charming, and all are strangely earnest and deeply philosophical. Sam may be the novel’s best character.

The inevitable divorce is set against the backdrop of the Bloch family’s growing concern that Isaac won’t live long enough to see Sam become bar mitzvahed, a ritual Sam himself is ambivalent about. Then a devastating earthquake in Israel threatens the very existence of the Jewish homeland, and Jacob must decide if the call “home” is strong enough to leave his family and fight for Israel. As each danger, from the personal to the spiritual to the geopolitical, piles on, Jacob must confront his identity as a husband, father, son and Jew.

HERE I AM is sprawling yet precise, encompassing a vast emotional landscape. Foer does a great job capturing the particular Jewish-American banter that brings his characters to life and is also successful plumbing the depths of inherited cultural trauma. He seems to more broadly want to capture the American Jewish experience as a whole: its agnosticism, complicated relationship to Israel, survival guilt, and degree of assimilation. But in doing so, the novel privileges an insider perspective into a cultural and religious minority with which not all readers will be familiar. This is not necessarily a negative and is perhaps less troubling than the writing style that often flirts with pretension.

There is much to admire and enjoy in this incredibly smart book, and there are moments of great sorrow and wonderful humor. It is realistically messy, and the characters are nicely flawed. At times, however, it feels as if Foer is writing for himself, or for such a small audience that the book has the potential to alienate others. Still, Jacob’s swiftly flowing and generally narcissistic introspection has some universalities that transcend Jewishness. Complicated and ambitious, HERE I AM gives readers lots of big ideas to wrestle with.

Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

"The problem is, you don't have enough problems."
I listened to the audiobook - it was fantastic! The narrator, Ari Flaikos is exceptional and I think I'll search out books he has read for (he also did an excellent job with Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Book Store).
So this was a downer of a storyline; the slow dissolution of a marriage and family, each person so involved in themselves. Yet the writing is so totally fantastic and real to life, I couldn't help but enjoy the book and its flawed, interesting, and sincere characters.
I mean, Jacob - what an a$$h0le. But I really like him and all his idiosyncrasies. As many mistakes as he made, I find myself shaking my head at him with a bemused smile and a sigh of affectionate exasperation.
Foer has this amazing ability to capture the nuances of life and relationships. So while there were things I felt didn't quite work (the whole earthquake/Israel thing), I enjoyed and appreciated the read.

I am so thankful I got this book from the library and didn't spend any money on it. It is a work of fiction. The first fiction is on the cover. It says, "'The funniest literary novel I have ever read' The Times."

I don't know who the reviewer was, but I can only presume this is the first novel, literary or otherwise, that he read. It was anything but funny.

The protagonist, Jacob Bloch, was not a likable character.

Perhaps I'm too old, or maybe too young. Perhaps I'm too Israeli, or maybe too American. Perhaps I'm too religious, or maybe not religious enough.

The book earned one star, for two reasons. First, there were the speeches--three of them taking place at approximately the same time. There was a speech by the Ayatollah, threatening to destroy Israel. There was a speech by the Prime Minister of Israel who was dealing with an impending war in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake. It was so realistic, I could actually picture Bibi Netanyahu's making that speech. Finally, there was Sam's Bar Mitzvah speech. They were wonderfully interwoven so as to prevent any of them from becoming boring.

The other reason it gets a star is because of a beautiful observation. The family is preparing for Sam's Bar Mitzvah. They are planning on snow globes as party favors. Jacob makes the following observation, "There are more wars than snowfalls in Israel, but the Chinese are smart enough to know that Americans are dumb enough to buy anything. Especially Jewish Americans, who will go to any length, short of practicing Judaism, to instill a sense of Jewish identity in their children."

So true!

Jonathan Safran Foer is a perfect example. Anybody who practices Judaism knows that Jews get buried in a shroud, not married in one. Further, after a funeral is a mourner's meal, not a kiddush.

His lack of knowledge of Judaism is appalling. And perhaps someone can tell me what I was supposed to find funny about a family that was falling apart, the death of a Holocaust survivor, and the destruction of my home.

I would not recommend this book to anybody for any reason.

This is one of those novels where no action seems to take place, but at the same time so much is happening. It's the story of a Jewish family as it slowly falls apart. You see the perspective of every member of the family, so you understand that everyone and no one is to blame for all of the problems they face. The writing is fantastic, and Foer subtly weaves history and culture into the family dynamic in a way that helps those of us with no connection to Israel and the Jewish religion feel as though we belong there.

This book is about the story of a Jewish family in the time when Israel was in danger of being destroyed. The book alternates between the family drama endured by each of the family members, and the events surrounding the war in Israel. The long reflective passages are often torturous to get through. The self pity of the main character is also hard to stomach. The author is able to craft well written sentences, but the book as a whole just did not do it for me.

Here I Am, Jonathan Safran Foer, author; Ari Fliakos, narrator

What is the point of Foer’s book? Is he comparing American Jewry to Israeli Jewry, America’s position relative to Israel, regarding the rest of the world’s opinion, the underlying reasons about why America supports or doesn’t support Israel, the perception of Israel if perceived as weak vs. strong, the world’s possible reactions to either scenario, including America and its own Jewish population’s reaction, the loyalty of American Jews vs. the loyalty of Israeli Jews toward the Jewish homeland? Do American Jews have any loyalty toward Israel other than a shared religion? Was he trying to show the immaturity of a country like America that attributes more responsibility to words used than actions taken when compared to a country fighting the heinous actions of those who are name callers and enemies in the Arab world, those who often translate their words into terrorist behavior? The book posed lots of questions but provided few answers for me.
The novel is somewhat interesting, but I believe it would have been far more interesting if it simply contrasted American Jewish reactions to Israeli reactions in the face of the possibility of catastrophic events in Israel. Contrasting Israeli Jews with American Jews by comparing their lifestyles, religious perspectives, family values, and feelings of loyalty toward Israel and each other did not have to include a highly dysfunctional family with idiosyncratic behavior I never experienced growing up, in a world inhabited by many Jews, in a world that would be called a Jewish ghetto. I found it difficult to complete the book, at times, because the language and subject matter was so crude, for no reason that I could possibly justify. It was often actually painful to listen to the narrator, and I had to turn off the audio to remove myself from the vile, lewd scenes and words. I kept wondering why it was necessary to include such filth in the book when it seemed to serve no purpose other than to shock the reader, paint the Jewish characters with a broad brush of bad behavior, and divert from the actual meaningful elements of the story. I wondered why a fellow Jew would use his voice to denigrate the people and culture he is a part of by focusing on utterly disgraceful behavior as he characterized an earthquake, which caused the Arab world and then almost the entire world to perceive them as weak, an attribute which caused the enemies of Israel to mount a war against them, with no other intent but to cause its compete destruction, to finish what the earthquake left undone. I thought that someone reading this book might get the unfair and unjust opinion that every Jewish man is a pervert, every Jewish woman is either at first preoccupied with her family and/or herself, ultimately, eventually putting herself first, and overall, Israel and the Jews were without compassion for their enemies, enemies intent on their complete destruction. Yes, their enemies were in need of the same supplies and medical care as they were after such a devastating natural event destroyed so much infrastructure in the Middle East, but to help their enemies would have meant neglecting their own citizens. Their own were fighting for their survival while their enemies ultimate goal was their destruction; for their enemies to expect their help defied common sense. They would only come back to fight them once again.
To be fair, Foer also seemed to try to depict the deep love that fellow Jews have for each other, emotionally and almost genetically, but it also showed their lack of understanding of each other’s homelands and the events that each considered a major crisis. In one country, surviving in a bomb shelter was of utmost importance and, in the other, the idea of euthanasia for a pet was a priority. Foer also made it seem like Israeli Jews resented American Jews and American Jews were simply unable to fully grasp the dangers that Israeli Jews were forced to endure on a daily basis. It made some Jews seem very shallow and without real substance. The one truth it did stress, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was that the world finds it very easy to use the Jews as scapegoats because of the enormous power that lies in the hands of the oil rich Arab countries, because of their self-righteousness perhaps, as well, because of the Israeli belief that they are better and deserve to be respected and protected. It stressed the fact that although the “powers that be” might want to destroy Israel or sacrifice Israel, to satisfy the demands of these Middle Eastern countries, for political and economic reasons, Israel seemed to be destined to remain a viable democracy in the Middle East.
From marriage to divorce, from infidelity to sexual misconduct, this book traversed a twisted route to reach a cataclysmic event, which shook the world. A terrible earthquake that caused devastation throughout the Middle East with only one country able to handle the tragic events, led to a war; a Bar Mitzvah led to epiphanies for many as a child led the way to a larger meaning and understanding of life and purpose, but the book simply seemed to often lose focus, and certainly it lost mine, often making my mind wander away from its message. An event would suddenly be brought up and then just as suddenly be submerged, only to later rise back to the surface as the author simply assumed that the reader’s memory would be able to reengage and remember which subject had been dropped.
Every aspect of life was included in this narrative, from the trivial to the most serious, from how we treat life to how we face death, from the young and the old to sickness and health, from plagiarism to sexting, from sacrifice to compassion, from American Jewish ideas about life to Israeli Jewish ideas about life, and all of these conflicting ideas created a void between all of the concepts raised, that often became unbridgeable.
The family of Jacob and Julia Brooks, extended and immediate, all seemed to be in crisis, all seemed to be living through, and with, some type of dysfunctional situation. Jacob seemed to be channeling Anthony Wiener, Julia seemed to be channeling the sexually deviant behavior of our rich and famous, and their eldest son, Sam, is supposed to be channeling Abraham’s son, Isaac, coincidentally the name of his grandfather. Between the American Jews and the Israeli Jews, there was no shortage of faults. Although the Israelis seemed to be living on a somewhat higher plane, at first, on the surface, one only had to scratch beneath to find similar problems existing in their worlds as well. There was an abundance of deviant behavior, lies, secrecy and arrogance to go around.
From Sam Brooks desire to avoid his Bar Mitzvah to his finally understanding its importance after Israel comes very close to destruction, the reader is invited to experience the doubts and insecurities of American and Israeli Jews, both of whom are living in a world of enemies. The book is about conflict, conflict in families, conflict in cultures, conflict in ideologies, conflict between feuding countries and conflict between one Jew and another.
How much responsibility do Americans and American Jews owe to Israel? What priority should Israel occupy in the scheme of things? How much sacrifice is enough? How much compassion is necessary? All of these questions arise and go unanswered. I was disappointed with the book and truly found it hard to complete. Perhaps a more scholarly person would appreciate its symbolism more than I did; I found it a bit insulting to the Jew and the Judeo-Christian culture.

Man, JSF really writes well. He's funny and clever, and knows how to describe scenes and situations. Unfortunately, this time out it's really hard to care about any of his characters, however well they're depicted. Also, a book the size of a shoebox should contain at least a little action and this one does not. Lastly, I can't imagine non-jews identifying with this book. The guilt, the stereotypes, the materialism, the odd yiddish tossed in -- it's almost embarrassing for this tribe member.

Something about this book just melted me. I felt like it was a homecoming for disparate Jews everywhere. Read it and weep for what has been lost, except for great writers like Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer. For one thing, never mind this book, ALL his books are genius. He changed me overnight into a vegetarian, and I love the way his words kind of scamper across the page. There is a lightheartedness to his sentences. I always feel that, despite the hurt or despair that inevitably follows great sorrow, in his characters there is an upturning toward a Higher Power after a struggle. Yes, Jonathan Safran Foer is a dancer, of words.

I think this is one that folks will either love or hate. I'm in the former category. This is one of the most profound explorations of what it means to be an American Jew that I can recall ever having read. The That being said, if I weren't Jewish and didn't otherwise fit a similar demographic profile to that of both the author and the narrator, I'm not sure how much I would have enjoyed the book. The story goes on at least 50 pages more than necessary, the flashbacks grow tiresome at points, and the characters aren't all that redeeming. If you're a fan of Foer's writing or interested in delving into the modern Jewish psyche, however, this is a must-read.

In this long but absorbing book, “Here I Am”, Jonathan Safran Foer chronicles four eventful weeks in the life of a Washington, D.C. man, his marriage and family, and his relationship with the state of Israel. During this time, the family patriarch is in failing health and about to move from his home to a supportive facility, the prospect of his eldest son's bar mitzvah ceremony is in doubt, his marriage is in trouble, the family's senior dog's health is also failing, and the state of Israel undergoes a natural disaster which results in a political crisis. A contemporary cousin of the protagonist is visiting during this time, providing intimate contact with the Jewish state during this time.

That these events all occur concurrently allow exploration by the author and consideration by the reader of what it means to be a less-that-religious American Jew, and the place (and necessity) of Israel and its Biblical symbols in our lives.

The family dynamic and the incorporation of the pervasive on-line life in our lives is also explored, but it is the Yiddishkeit of this book which makes it unique.

While the author's previous work of fiction Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close dealt with the aftermath of 9/11, this New Yorker found "Here I Am" to be the depressing one, as the disasters are invented and therefore a very sad surprise.

I'm about two thirds of the way through and I'm still trying to find Jonathan Safran Foer.
His first two novels were brilliant, beautiful, hilarious, heartbreaking, poignant, powerful, and unique. They had a voice, they had a life, they were a joy.
This one just feels like a disappointing, uninspired punch to the gut with a storyline so blah and characters so unappealing, it's just hard to give a s***.
Jon, you say, 'Here I am'. But the question I have is, where are you? And for the sake of everyone who loves you, when are you coming back?

I really enjoyed listening to the Audible version. (And loved the voice actor!) Complex, deep and moving thoughts and ideas with a deeply flawed but mostly sympathetic protagonist. When it came to a close last night, though, I was deeply traumatized by the final scenes. Symbolic, perhaps, but so emotionally fraught for me, that I didn't really reflect on the totality of the work at the end. Too busy trying to pull myself back together over the one scene - not digesting the whole story.

"Here I Am", is one of those type of books that is likely to receive every possible rating......depending on the readers perspective. Readers can easily justify their options, positive or negative.

Rather than get tangled with debates about this novel--controversy chit chat....
These are 'my' suggestions ---[take them or leave them]---if on the fence about reading this book.

If not clear:
Good reasons 'not' to read this novel:
......unrefined and vulgar dialogue
......off-putting characters are off-putting to 'you'.
......Graphic sex descriptions might have you shaking your head.
......If you already know you can't stand reading authors such as Jonathan Franzen,
Philip Roth, or Shalom Auslander...then you might not like this book either.

Good reasons 'to' read this novel:
......You love Philip Roth, Jonathan Franzen, and Shalom Auslander
......You are a fan of painfully hilarious profound observations.
......American-Jewish upper middle class contemporary family stories get your juices going. Off-putting characters are part of your DNA so much you love them: ( feels familiar).
....... You love witty, intelligent, reflective, articulate, screwed-up characters
.......You enjoy reading sentences and dialogue that not only make you pause--you
'must' re-read them -and discussions about them excite you. You know your partner will get a thrill out of the book, too ( half the fun is reading parts together)...even if "shaking your head"...."ITS SO WRONG", Paul says... Then laughs - He loves it!
......You simply enjoy devilishly funny 'taboo' fiction
.......You don't offend easily.
.......Quick & pretentious dialogue 'some-how' feels satisfying
......A part of you likes frustrated aloof pathetic personalities in novels.
......You're willing to invest your time with a hefty 600 page book. --- KNOWING NOT ALL OF IT IS GOING TO HOLD UP TO A 5 star rating... ( you can 'feel' the downhill slide coming)

Jacob and Julie are the parents of three boys: Sam, Max, and Benji.
Sam is in Bar Mitzvah preparations at the beginning of the book. He's accused of
a 'NO-NO' in Hebrew school. His 'crime' is bad enough that both parents are called in to speak to the Rabbi. Sam says he didn't do 'the naughty crime'. Jacob believes him- Julie doesn't. Much friction continues - at home - around whether or not Sam is guilty or innocent.
Problems are beginning to surface in Jacob and Julie's marriage also. The kids notice- everyone is observant in this family - even the youngest peanut of a child.
The grandparents and great-grandpa, ( Holocaust survivor), are all involved....( everyone has an opinion).....
In the meantime Sam doesn't want to have his damn Bar Mitzvah.

Here's Sam's first Torah commentary: -part of it- ITS ACTUALLY MUCH LONGER: 3 LONG PAGES...( this is only the first paragraph)...
"It is with a sense of history and extreme annoyance that I stand at this bimah today,
prepared to fulfill the so-called right of passage into adulthood, whatever that is. I want to thank Cantor Fleischman, for helping transform me, over the past half year, into a Jewish automaton. On the extreme off chance that I remember any of this a year from now, I still won't know what it means, and for that I am grateful. I also wish to thank Rabbi Singer, who is a sulfuric acid enema. My only living great grandparent is Isaac Bloch. My dad said that I had to go through with this for him, something my great grandfather has never, himself, asked of me. There are things he 'has' asked, like not to be forced to move into a Jewish Home. My family cares very much about caring for him, but not enough to actually care, and I didn't understand a word that my chanting today, but I understand that. I want to thank my grandparents Irv and Deborah Boch, for being inspirations in my life and always urging me to try a little harder, dig a little bit deeper, become rich, and say whatever I want whenever I feel like it. Also my grandparents Allen and Leah Selma, who live in Florida, and who's mortal status I am only aware of thanks to the Hanukkah and birthday checks that haven't been adjusted for cost-of-living increases since my birth. I want to thank my brothers Benji and Max, for requiring great portions of my parents attention. I cannot imagine surviving and existence in which I bore the undivided brunt of their love".
THE SPEECH CONTINUES .....could give a Rabbi a heart attack!

As we can see-- Sam is not just a rebellious, aloof, young teenage kid---his speech expresses anger, frustration, and sadness. --even some 'truth'.
He's not the only one breaking down. Jacob and Julie's are splitting at the seams - plus, there is a major earthquake disaster in the Middle East... which becomes the fuel for "The Destruction of Israel". [This is that downhill slide in the book I was talking about]

The first half of the book which focuses on the Bloch family is stronger than when the story shifts to theology- Israel - and politics -"The war of God against the enemies of God will end in triumph!" Oh vey! I wasn't sure what the hell to make of this section.

I clearly chose to read this 'hefty book'. The parts I loved...I LOVED A LOT!!!
The parts I didn't care for-- I didn't feel emotionally connected.... or particularly understand.

I enjoyed the FAMILY STORY... and brilliant witty dialogue! Great humor. Overall - at least 50% of this novel was OUTLANDISH!!!
---The other 50% wasn't 'as' exciting... but I let it sly....( and made Paul read it)... BAD WIFE AS I am... ( made him explain it to me). The later part was still mumble jumble...
HOWEVER....
I LOVE WHAT I LOVED!!! ... and THAT my friends was good enough for me!!!

So, definitely not for everyone....yet - for me - I'm glad I read it. I don't think I'll forget Jacob, Julie, Sam, Max, Benji, and even the dog Argus! :) I liked this family - pimples and all!

As for our author, Jonathan Safran Foer: I'm aware of the street talk about him. I'm not completely naïve--( well sometimes) I've yet to read one review or utube or interview --- I've stayed away. Now that I 'have' read it... I'll explore a little - read what others have to say.
Me: I have NO PROBLEM with Foer as an author or a human being. As an author....I'm more than 'ok' with him.

I used to say, (shhhh), that he and Nicole Krauss, where the hottest, most attractive brilliant couple - of authors around. I wanted to know them both - hang with them both.... ( just a groupie- book reading crush fantasy)....
I only 'heard' through the grapevine, that he and Nicole split. This makes me a little sad! I wish them both the best!

Elyse Jody

HERE I AM took me much longer to read than normal because I was always stopping to ask myself what meaning I might be missing. I did not want to let anything that was beyond the written words slip by. Sometimes I just stopped in awe of a sentence or the dialogue. The questions the store asks about the plot seem almost beside the point. HERE I AM is philosophy, psychology, religion, and, above all, humanity. There is so much emotion and depth to the characters. I loved being with them as they questioned themselves, each other and the world. And the writing ... Foer is a master. Be prepared to think, fee, questionl and very often, to laugh.

THIS is one of the best books I read in 2017, and it is on my list of favorite books ever read. Although the family in question is Jewish, you don't have to be Jewish to become immediately engaged with the characters. Four generations and their struggles as individuals are at the forefront, and much of the text is quite humorous, especially from the mouths of the youngest children.

There were parts of this book that were awesome and perfectly described a situation and emotion. I felt that it was speaking to me on many levels. And then there were other parts that were clumsy and awkward - like, "huh" what is happening.
The main character was as confused as most of us; his wife was not developed at all. The kids were wise way beyond their stated years. It became a distraction.
So, the good was great and worth the LONG read. The not-good was scanable.

I really enjoyed Jonathan Safran Foer's other books. Everything is Illuminated is on my favorites list, but I must admit that I didn't love this as much. I couldn't bring myself to care about the two primary characters, Jacob and Julia, maybe because I didn't find them very likeable and was often annoyed at their penchant for self-sabotage. The characters of their children and Jacob's father and grandfather were more appealing to me. However, overall I'd recommend this book just on the basis of the author's considerable storytelling skills.

The story itself is easy reading, enjoyable. I stumbled somewhat on the Jewish references...almost as if this awareness requires a Jewish-trained reader; I was unable to procure several definitions from my online dictionary. I was a Catholic in a Jewish high school, dated several Jewish peers and my first internship was in a Jewish nursing home so I am somewhat aware. I felt it bogged down in one area...but this is minor. This is a story from the heart.

I really enjoyed Jonathan Safran Foer's other books. Everything is Illuminated is on my favorites list, but I must admit that I didn't love this as much. I couldn't bring myself to care about the two primary characters, Jacob and Julia, maybe because I didn't find them very likeable and was often annoyed at their penchant for self-sabotage. The characters of their children and Jacob's father and grandfather were more appealing to me. However, overall I'd recommend this book just on the basis of the author's considerable storytelling skills.

The story itself is easy reading, enjoyable. I stumbled somewhat on the Jewish references...almost as if this awareness requires a Jewish-trained reader; I was unable to procure several definitions from my online dictionary. I was a Catholic in a Jewish high school, dated several Jewish peers and my first internship was in a Jewish nursing home so I am somewhat aware. I felt it bogged down in one area...but this is minor. This is a story from the heart.

Foer has a wonderful wit and way with words. His storytelling is insightful and many of his observations are unique and insightful. Quite a few passages had to be shared aloud.

Yet,at times, Foer's cleverness overwhelms the story and thin plot. The novel then seems more autobiographical and, yes, tedious. Also, the warping of current Israeli 'history' was so incongruous that it diminished the points the author was (or wasn't?) trying to make. I was surprised to discover that this is not his first book.

Still, so much of the novel is so enjoyable and wry that I gave it 4 stars.

My 30 something son recommended this to me. And I loved it. From beginning to end - the insights into the complexities of our relationships with each other, our pasts, our futures. I laughed out loud several times, I bookmarked and highlighted often. Foer does a wonderful job with multiple themes. Best of all, my son and I discussed it and I hope it gave us insights into each other just a little. Highly recommended.

Unashamedly Jewish in ways that would make Woody wince. There's a lot going on here with one kid studying for his barmitzvah, a marriage breaking down, a major tectonic catastrophe and the entire Muslim world declaring war on Israel. There might be too much going on.

For example there's an extended riff on shopping in IKEA that shows up right near the end of the novel. It's just an idea too many that could have been left out. It's funny stuff, but there's enough funny stuff here without it.

But with all the worry, it's worth remembering that Safran Foer is a genuinely funny novelist. With proper jokes.

So, overstuffed, culturally super-specific, sad, but also funny.

I agree somewhat with those who did not like the book but I also agree that if you stick with it, it gets much stronger in the end. He is very honest about the thoughts and feelings people have and how they connect with each other. But it can get very slow at times and I agree it could probably have been cleaned up some. It definitely feels the author pouring his heart into writing this book and for that I am appreciative. I did not connect with the characters as much as I have in the books I would rate 5 stars. I do not believe it will be liked by everyone, but the book has a power to it and I am glad I read it.

Incredibly written by an author of rare talent. Beautiful. Sad. Funny. Tortured. Honest.

A capture of truth through a life. This book demands to be read out loud. Slowly. For my money, the best writer in America who isn't Stephen King.

This book would benefit from a good editor to half its heft and dispense with much of the rambling. There is some fine writing and observations to be found but wading through the endless conversational tangents was mind-numbing. I ended up scanning the last half of the book (something I rarely do) to find out what happened to the mostly unsympathetic characters. However, if I had kids, were Jewish or in a troubled marriage, perhaps I would have related more.

I am a big fan of JSW-- Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close both hit very close to home for me, as I am of Polish Catholic descent (going back to the homeland and retracing roots) and of the age Oscar Schell was in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

In this work, JSW, while still writing ornately and beautifully, tries to equate the crumble marriage of a DC-based family with a cataclysmic earthquake in Israel, and, all political opinions aside-- he just fails. He tries to weave these stories of aging, existence, longing, with terrorism in the Middle East, and, frankly, I don't care about the characters or the political situation he drags up. It's just kind of mundane and boring and uninspired.

I loved Foer's other two books--they were incredibly moving, they brought me into the story in a way 95% of other books I'd read in my life hadn't. I expected this novel to be the same, but was pretty disappointed. I could see what he was doing, but this book was long-winded and self-indulgent at times. It seems he took what worked in his other two novels stylistically and tried too hard with this one. If you're reading Foer for the first time, go first to "Everything is Illuminated" or "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

Another reviewer wrote: "The Book of the Decade". I like Foer as a writer, but I think a comment like this is a very bad service to him, especially if this is the work of 10 years. I repeat, I like Foer, and will continue to buy his books, but I will try to be sincere in this review. The main plot is rather trivial, and a lot of unnecessary pages and side stories are added only to add volume to the book (as nowadays a huge book seems "more important"). I think Foer is having an involution, from the wonderful and magic "Everithing is Illuminated", to the good but less brilliant second one, and to this so and so novel, which seems terribly forced. I really do hope he finds his inspiration back (and I'm looking forward for it)!

I wish I could bring Argus into my own home, set up a miniature colony for incontinent old puppies. But, as usual, Foer has painted such an incredibly vivid and beautiful and ugly picture of people that I know they must be real, that half the time I want to choke them and the other half I'm torn between wanting to slap or hug them. I was not disappointed with Here I am, even if I was disappointed with the people created by it at least 45 percent of the time and even if I wish Isaac and Argus could come home with me.

I hung in there gamely for the first quarter and then I slogged to halfway before I finally quit reading, which is a rare thing for me. I often will finish a book I don't care for. It's extremely intelligent and well written. However, I just didn't care about any of the characters in the book. Life is too short.

I had previously been a fan of Jonathan Safran Foer's work, but this book was very disappointing. Totally disjointed and at times boring. I had difficulty getting through it. I forced myself to finish it and then was very disappointed in the ending.

This was a painful read. Not because of the breakup of a long marriage and not because of deaths/diseases that were depicted. It was poorly organized, the themes weren't fully realized, the dialogue was at turns ridiculous and the humor was lacking. I only finished it as a requirement for my book club. I am drawn to the themes in the book, but they have been better explored by authors like Roth and Bellow. When you are competing with these giants, you need to work harder. Maybe Foer is a lightweight. This is the only book I've read by him, I'm not sure.

Being a reader of long books... just finished 4321..fabulous, length has never been my complaint. Even though the writing is excellent, after 3/4 of the book it was just painful and couldn't wait to get it over with.
Eliminate the ramblings and 100 pages ad this would be 5 stars

I am not a jewish man. However, I grew up in the NYC area on LI where all my friends were jewish. We grew old together. Foer has hit the nail on the head in his portrayal of the modern jewish family today.

There is some great writing here- some incredible insights into the " human condition" for an upper-middle-class Jewish family. The question for each reader is: can you identify? Can the book move you? Does Here I Am have a center, a soul? The book sometimes overwhelms and I got lost in the never ending drama and talk, talk, talk. It's so darn pessimistic. The writer seems a bit show-offy as are some characters in the book. " Look at me, I'm so ironic!", the book screams.
There is no humility in Here I Am -- there is no sense of admitting " powerlessness" as is stated in the First Step of AA--
a concept anathema to this work. Notwithstanding the last sentence there is much to admire (and very funny parts) in Here I Am.

I have searched all summer to find a book that I just couldn't put down. Jonathan Safran Foer has clearly produced his best work yet through his truly exquisite writing. The characters leap off of the page. He is adept at not only creating fascinating dialogue in real time - and is extraordinary in his ability to be up to date with social networking dialogue! His writing allows you to know each character as though you're truly in the room with them. The dialogue is brilliant. But the book also takes us into each character's personal world by sharing us what the person is thinking while they're interacting! While some have said that it is "sad", I would suggest that it is truly depicting the inner psychic world of everyday people who are struggling to find meaning. I recommend it highly. You won't be able to stop reading it!

"Here I Am" is an annoying, vacuous, ego-maniacal book. I completely side with Alexander Nazaryan
in his review of the book titled "With joyless prose about joyless people, Jonathan Safran Foer's 'Here I Am' is kitsch at best" in LA Times.
Do not waste your time.

I hated the book from the get-go. Maybe if I'd gotten past page 50, it would have picked up, but I disliked those pages so much that I just wasn't willing to commit my limited reading time to that mess.

Every once in a while, a novel hits you so deep it wakes you the hell up in your own damn life. Here I Am can't help but hit you deep. And Foer sure as hell can't help but wake you up out of your contemporary accustomed cultural malaise. Because Foer's voice is sensitive (while also comedic, but also poignant), you experience a way to see the world and the everyday confusing agony of being a human and a lover and a parent through beautiful prose you only wish you could have running through your own head everyday. Safron Foer proves he is a philosopher. A funny one. A kind one. One that makes you feel like you're not the only with that little hole deep inside us - because even the wise, and eloquent philosopher admits he feels it too. Beyond the inspired existential crisis and opportunity to feel and see the world through silver-tongued sentences, I laughed a lot. I cried too. I felt good in that I Am But A Fragile human way that only a fantastic novel can make you feel. Oh, and did I mention it's very sexy? Because it's very sexy.

First of all I have to say that I consider "Eating animals" the best book I read by Foer, so you can probably understand why I struggle to get to the end of all the others. I can understand there is something very good in the way he writes: the deconstruction of a marriage and of Israel; still it was almost painful for me to read all the pages. Mostly because the humor, that should be Jewish humor, is far from mine, mostly because I come from Italy :) Second because the two parts of the book are really far from one another and it was as I have to resettle and read a new book, to be precise my idea was like going from Roth to Chomsky, if you catch my meaning. So I would recommend this book to somebody who is already in love with this author, that can forgive him his endless plot and discussion, but I don't think it's for everybody to appreciate it.

Prima di tutto devo avvertirvi che io considero "Eating animals" il miglior libro di Foer e l'unico a cui sono arrivata in fondo senza grossi traumi, quindi ora magari potete anche capire perché questo é stata un'ennesima battaglia. Posso capire che ci sia qualcosa di geniale nel suo modo di scrivere: il mettere in parallelo la decostruzione di un matrimonio e dello stato di Israele, ma resta comunque pesante. Forse perché lo humor ebraico é per me poco conosciuto e diverso da quello a cui sono abituata e secondo poi perché le due parti del libro in qualche modo sono cosí diverse tra loro che mi sono dovuta "riadattare", un po' come passare da Roth a Chomsky se capite cosa intendo. Quindi consiglierei questo libro solo a chi conosce giá Foer e riesce a leggerlo senza problemi, peró non penso sia per tutti.

First of all I have to say that I consider "Eating animals" the best book I read by Foer, so you can probably understand why I struggle to get to the end of all the others. I can understand there is something very good in the way he writes: the deconstruction of a marriage and of Israel; still it was almost painful for me to read all the pages. Mostly because the humor, that should be Jewish humor, is far from mine, mostly because I come from Italy :) Second because the two parts of the book are really far from one another and it was as I have to resettle and read a new book, to be precise my idea was like going from Roth to Chomsky, if you catch my meaning. So I would recommend this book to somebody who is already in love with this author, that can forgive him his endless plot and discussion, but I don't think it's for everybody to appreciate it.

Prima di tutto devo avvertirvi che io considero "Eating animals" il miglior libro di Foer e l'unico a cui sono arrivata in fondo senza grossi traumi, quindi ora magari potete anche capire perché questo é stata un'ennesima battaglia. Posso capire che ci sia qualcosa di geniale nel suo modo di scrivere: il mettere in parallelo la decostruzione di un matrimonio e dello stato di Israele, ma resta comunque pesante. Forse perché lo humor ebraico é per me poco conosciuto e diverso da quello a cui sono abituata e secondo poi perché le due parti del libro in qualche modo sono cosí diverse tra loro che mi sono dovuta "riadattare", un po' come passare da Roth a Chomsky se capite cosa intendo. Quindi consiglierei questo libro solo a chi conosce giá Foer e riesce a leggerlo senza problemi, peró non penso sia per tutti.

I could not bring myself to read this book once I had tasted the "look at how clever I (the author) AM. Foer's near hypomanic show-off writing is more exhausting than engaging. What a shame that he cannot simply relax and entrust his intelligence to the creative muse. Maybe next time.

This is a complex and deceptively simple book. It has something often forgotten thee days is Art, subtext. It is a gift to be able to watch a writer mature and expand their work. Jonathan Safran Foer is a rare writer in todays world, brave and fearless. Who else takes the risks of writing such a complex novel that embraces human foils that others would never expose. I read other reviews where people were disappointed by the masterbation and the comparison of a humanitarian dilator with upper class problems. I imagine these readers never experience either of those moments in life, or spend time thinking about how does one deal with the mundane while the world is in trouble. This is a difficult book if you are open to think about the implications it presents, it is also a joy to be presented with a work of Art that is both challenging and giving.
Great Art isn't always easy , this book is funny, sad and contains magic passages from a unique imagination.

A masterpiece. Jonathan Safran Foer is prodigiously talented--one of our best and most essential writers--and this long-awaited novel was well worth the wait. His depiction of family is funny and true, the dialogue throughout is crisp and spot-on, and his portrayal of the dissolution of a marriage is absolutely chilling. With HERE I AM Foer has fully come into his powers as a novelist. This big, messy, ambitious, hilarious, heartbreaking book is must-read for anyone interested in contemporary American literature.

I really struggled with this novel and after almost 600 pages, it left me entirely unfulfilled. The promise of a catastrophic natural disaster in the Middle East kept me motivated through the first third, but the threat of the destruction of Israel was almost an afterthought for the latter half of the book.

Let me backtrack. This is the story of the Bloch family, whose patriarch was a Holocaust survivor. His grandson Jacob is plodding through a stagnant marriage to his wife Julia. Julia is fearsome to her husband and three sons, while Jacob himself is pretty spineless: “…that dichotomy of depth and fun.” The entire family is unhappy and I didn’t find a single one of them particularly likeable. They wallow in their own self-pity and have rambling conversations that don’t achieve anything. 250 pages in, when Israel’s enemies vow to destroy her in the wake of a devastating earthquake, I thought, OK, now maybe something will actually happen. But the portrayal of the tragedy’s aftermath is vague, like a TV news channel left on in the background. And still the Bloch’s bicker and lament.

Am I to understand that this is Safran Foer’s great tribute to his Jewish heritage? Is he attempting a grand reflection on his religion and its history? Because it wasn’t engaging let alone entertaining. And were three dense pages detailing 13 year-old Sam’s masturbation exploits really necessary? I wanted more about the international calamity and less about the trivialities of Bloch’s day to day existence. To add insult to injury the final pages were something no dog-lover would want to read. Needless to say, this turned out to be a massive (literally and figuratively) disappointment.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.

I LOVED this book. Got an early copy, and now buying for family and friends. Wickedly funny and deeply moving. Foer captures the struggle of daily family life in a way that's familiar and bittersweet. This is a book that is full of both recognition and wonder. Brace yourself!

I'm fortunate that I checked this out of my public library so I didn't pay good money for it. I'm amazed at the positive reviews of this book. It's the most boring fiction I've attempted to read in ages. I kept trying to get interested, then started dreading picking it up again. I finally quit at page 54 and will return the book to the library. This book should have a black box warning "Extremely Boring; attempt reading at your own risk. I can't imagine trudging through 571 pages of Jewish family trivia. I would sooner read the cereal boxes in my pantry. This author obviously has lots of people snowed, but not me. IMHO Jonathan Safran Foer should be arrested for impersonating a writer.

571 pages of a Jewish family bickering, and all the family's neuroses examined with the greatest minutiae. I couldn't stand it and couldn't stop reading it. It was like not being able to turn your head away from a car wreck. I can't believe how they spoke to one another. As they said in the book, Oy Vey.

There was something very disturbingly wrong with the kindle version of the book I received. Intermittently, there were individual sentences of really disturbing pornography. I have tried to contact the store about this, but since I have not yet heard back from them, I wanted to post this before anyone else has the misfortune to read this electronic version.

I am forever a fan of Foer. "Everything is Illuminated" had been in my top five favorite books since I first read it about 15 years ago. "Here I Am" is not as good, in my opinion, but it is still very Foer. It is filled with very thought-provoking lines. His syntax and diction never cease to amaze. Like his other fiction, this book is really about humanity. At its worst, at its best. Long, but worth the read.