Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer

This is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. Over the course of 3 weeks in present-day Washington DC, 3 sons watch their parents' marriage falter and their family home fall apart. Meanwhile, a larger catastrophe is engulfing another part of the world: a massive earthquake devastates the Middle East, sparking a pan-Arab invasion of Israel.

4.5
a good book.
i did not connect with it as much as i did with Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close but i did enjoy the story and safran foer's writing. i love overlong messy books about children who are quirky almost to a point of it being ridiculous and sad middle aged people trying to be normal, sue me. the parts of this book that explore the jewish and american jewish identity were very interesting to read, although i am not jewish and wonder how it would feel to read those passages having the actual cultural background.

What a disappointment after Foer's distinctive and poignant earlier books, [book:Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 4588] and [book:Everything Is Illuminated 256566]. This book was one long boring slog through a fictionalized version of Foer's own divorce. I hated every character - not that a good book requires likeable characters, but if you're going to hate them they at least need to be interesting, and these were not. None of the three kids talked like real kids, there was way too much discussion about masturbation and the whole thing ended with a whimper. Gets one extra star for making me think a little about my own relationship as a Jew to Israel and how I would react if it were threatened.