Here I Am

by Jonathan Safran Foer

** spoiler alert **

Here I Am is another page-turner by Jonathan Safran Foer.

It follows a Jewish-American family of five living in Washington D.C. in the approximate present day. The principal character is Jacob Bloch, the young father of the family. To a lesser extent, the reader will follow Julia, Jacob’s wife, and Sam, the eldest child.

“Your only problem is you don’t have enough problems” interjects Tamir, Jacob’s cousin, during a rare visit from Israel. He thinks that the Bloch family, with nothing important to worry about, makes problems for themselves. But for all of the seeming tranquility, the Blochs are confronted by pivotal and even tragic events throughout the novel. Among them, the suicide of the family patriarch, Sam’s becoming a man, and the eventual divorce of Jacob and Julia.

Foer uses the Bloch family and its antipodal side, the Blumenbergs to elicit the meanings of presence, family, and home.

The writing can be playful. The loving puns between Jacob and Julia for example, or the flowing arguments between Jacob and his father. Or, Foer will make your mind resonate with the disparity of Abraham’s “Here I Am” as his son is bound on the altar, and Jacob’s non-presence while killing his own son.

Some scenes will stay with you for their beauty and significance, nighttime holes in daytime skies for example. Or for their disagreeableness: dog shit matted to dog fur, picking up a dead squirrel in a plastic bag. This is what I call art, it’s stimulating and poignant.

Here I Am is moving, and tragic, and splendid. Pick it up for emotions and humor and reflection.

Did you read Here I am? Are you a fan of Foer? Please leave a comment if so.