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Dec 20, 2014Chapel_Hill_KenMc rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Foer's complex novel is an admirable achievement in tackling themes of memory and complicity in the Holocaust. But his attempt to synthesize two very different styles, each written by a different character--one of whom is Foer himself--falls short. The historical sections that delve back to the 18th century history of a Ukrainian village are written through a veil of magical realism, while the absurdist narrative provided by the novel's modern-day Ukrainian guide is a hilarious gem of cross-cultural miscommunication. The two alternating styles never really blend together. The film version wisely sticks to just the latter part of the novel.