Everything Remains Dark

Browse Tumblr for more than 30 seconds, and I'll beat you'll come across some reference to Jonathan Safran Foer - most likely, a non-creative posting of cover photos of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close scrawled in bright vibrant letters. See cover here And, I must admit, the poppy type-art simplicity, was a good seller for me. While both novels continue to circle the Literary cult cultures with quotes and trendy 'likes' I'd be lying if I said I actually knew much of anything about this novel aside from the time I was ready to watch anything Elijah Wood was in and came across his smiling sunflower-glassed visage at Blockbuster. I never did watch the movie though, so it was blindly that I dove into the pages of Everything Is Illuminated this September with no frame of reference for plot, style or literary context.
Long story short - I had no idea what the book was really about, except that Lit-hips loved it.

Taking place in the Ukraine - which might explain the bright blue and yellow, at any rate, the novel follows two or three timelines that weave their way (occasionally connecting) through the rural Ukrainian villages. The first, most 'present-day' story is that of Sasha, a small town Ukrainian young man longing for America, and a life bigger than that which he leads. Manufacturing tales and encounters that boost his image, he rattles off depictions of his daily grand life with poignant humour and charmingly broken english. Capturing that fluent but not North American style of speaking and writing, Safran immediately gains the readers trust through the voice of Sasha, and establishes a relationship where the reader is firmly on his side, and rooting for his success and happiness.

Shortly into this we meet Jonathan Safran Foer the character - an American travelling through the Ukraine in search of one woman from an old photograph, and a connection to his past: the one who saved his father's life during the second world war.

And that's about where my comprehensive overview ends.

Weaving in and out of this present day story - which itself is told partly in the moment, and in part through recounting letters from Sasha to Jonathan after the fact - are tales of the past. The relatives Jonathan is seeking to gain knowledge of have their own chance to tell a story - a stumbling and halting history of their village, and the individuals and encounters which occurred there.

Though in theory the reader is able to keep histories separate, the manner in which each is introduced and revealed leaves much to the imagination, and tends toward simple confusion. I often found myself trying to decipher who was who and related in what way, what time period/frame of the novel I was in, and just what the heck was actually going on.

Because of this, the novel quickly became muddled, confusing, and frustrating. Though there were certainly moments where the reader could sympathize with the characters of the novel, the disconnect of the stories and the narrative style prevented continuity or emotional attachment at the level which the story needed. Without it, the weight of character's emotional baggage, war trauma, and inner turmoils fall flat, missing the reader all together on their downward spiral into muddled reality and confused plot lines.

Rather as though bits an pieces of the novel were left out, revelations and conversations would occur in the novel without explanation or backstory to provide either context or relevancy. As such, I often found myself frustrated with entire sections of the novel, unable to connect to one character or another, or piece together the significance of one story in relation to another.

While I could grasp at the thought that the miss-mash of stories is a commentary or depiction of the way in which history circles, or memories blur in the minds of both individuals and nations - pulling this all together in the collective frame of reference of Jewish life in the Second World War - I'd have to say that's the type of stretch more commonly found in the pages of a second year English Major's dashed together analytic essay. It's time to face the music. Parts of the novel held merit, but as a collective book, it fell short.

I'm not saying each and every aspect needs to be explained in full detail, or that backstories need be outlined for every anecdote, but when the reader is left with an overwhelming feeling of 'so what' or, 'how does this relate to anything again?' you know that something's missing. Finishing the novel with an overwhelming sense of frustration, I have to admit I was disappointed. Sure, Safran illuminates some honest, blunt truths here and there, but generally speaking, I found the very title of the novel a wild irony (the one thing I can say just may have been deliberate) and the resounding conclusion lingering darkness.
And I'm not really sure what to do in the dark.

Rant

Chuck Palahniuk, where DO you come up with these things?
Rant, the 'oral history' of one Buster (Rant) Casey, is a tale which is ever intriguing, wildly insane, and just once you think you've got the crazy concept, jumps up several notches into the exceedingly imaginative.
Now I realize that description does little to inform of the actual plot, synopsis or narrative modes of the novel, but that's just it with Palahniuk - he's genius in his very concepts.

The novel is written in the halting, broken style of accounts, or oral histories, whereby sections of interview or conversation are transcribed with little evidence of chronology, relevance of speaker, or merit. Aside from the brief description of each character in the form of tagline ex: (Party Crasher) , (Childhood Enemy), (Mother) etc, the story is in many ways about deciphering the credibility and biases of each speaker as much as it is unravelling the story of Rant himself.

From the get-go, it is clear that this is not your average tale. Rant is a teen with ambition, cunning and a plan. Outwitting his small town in under the table old-fashioned coin deals - the Tooth Fairy scheme - he inflates the entire economy of his tiny town by way of paying children in gold coins for lost teeth, thereby drawing attention away from his own pile of gold which would otherwise be deemed suspicious.
The parents lie, the children lie, and everyone gains.

This is the mindset of Rant Casey - reckless, rash and pleasure seeking. From the moment the reader hears of him stuffing his arm down holes and dens in the middle of the dessert just to see what might be inside, the image of Rant is solidified. He is insane, but wondrously and geniusly so.

As the story unfolds we read of thinks like PartyCrashing, and Night timers and Day timers concepts and phrases known not the the reader, and never fully explained. It is with a level of authenticity and completeness that Palahniuk leaves it up to the reader to piece together over time what exactly the world in which Casey lives is like, and what it means to be a 'night timer'. Accounts of Rabies epidemics and coin trades add to the mystery of who Casey is, and what really was all the interest in his life - was he a serial killer? Patient X, just a regular reckless teenage boy?

Palahniuk's style and poignant voice make his novels - and this is no exception - a mind bending experience. If you've ever seen or read Fight Club and thought, yes, that seemed exceptionally likely, maybe you're the one person who would not be impressed, but for the rest of us I'd have to say his creativity and careful unfolding of information and character development masterfully evoke not only intrigue, but suspicion and avid following. I was hooked. Rather confused, at times, but hooked. And once I hit the end - well - I was ready to call it down right genius.

It's an insane story, and certainly not meant for everyone - it's a pretty specific appeal as far as the style of writing and content go, but if you're willing, it's well worth the mind bend.

-Q