Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer: A review

The Bloch family of Washington, D.C., are very annoying people. They embody the worst of all the traits that "flyover states" right-wingers mean when they scathingly refer to "East Coast liberals." On a personal level, they are all wise-cracking, fast-talking smart-asses, except for five-year-old Benjy who still manages to retain an aura of sweetness.

Jacob and Julia Bloch are an enlightened liberal Jewish couple. Jacob is a novelist turned writer for a successful television series. Julia is a frustrated architect, with big ideas for structures that she never gets to build. They have been married for sixteen years and live with their three sons (Sam, who is on the brink of becoming bar mitzvah; Max, who is nearly eleven; and the aforementioned Benjy) in a posh townhouse in a posh neighborhood in Washington.

They see themselves as special people. They are essentially living in a bubble. A bubble that encompasses Washington and Israel. But there are plenty of problems lurking underneath that bubble.

Sam is resisting the whole idea of bar mitzvah and has recently been accused of writing racial epithets on a paper at his Hebrew school. He denies having written them. His father chooses to believe him. His mother does not. The first sign of a rift perhaps.

Then Julia discovers sext messages sent to another woman from Jacob's phone. He says they were just words and that he never acted upon them. The rift widens.

Julia is attracted to another father of one of the students at Hebrew school. Jacob senses the attraction and is jealous. A little wider still.

The family's old dog, Argus, has become incontinent and Julia is constantly having to clean up his messes. She had never wanted a dog in the first place and yet she's often the one caring for him. Another tiny fracture.

The Blochs receive a visit from two of their Israeli cousins who have come to be present for Sam's bar mitzvah. In the midst of their visit, a massive earthquake hits the Middle East, causing enormous destruction and casualties in Israel and neighboring countries. All air traffic to Israel is halted and the cousins cannot go home.

The earthquake disaster leads to a predictable humanitarian crisis. Israel chooses to withhold assistance from its neighbors, essentially closing its borders and hoarding medical and food supplies. The humanitarian disaster leads to a war against Israel by its united neighbors and the Israeli government puts out a call to all Jews of a certain age group to come to Israel and defend it. Will Jacob answer the call?

The main action of Here I Am takes place over a period of four weeks in the present. It's a period during which the Blochs wrestle with the disintegration of their marriage and the potential destruction of Israel. The author explores the questions of what it means to be a Jew in modern America and what are the ties that bind such a person still to the country of Israel. How does one reconcile the conflicts inherent in familial duties and religious identities and an international crisis?

Here I Am is a jigsaw puzzle of all these pieces and it is a credit to Foer's talent that he is able to piece them all together as well as he does. He gives us a thoughtful and understanding account of how history affects families, even to the third and fourth generation, as we see the effects of the Holocaust on the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of the survivors. It feels like a very personal novel on many levels, particularly at the end.

I did not learn to love most of the Blochs, but at least after reading the book I understood them a little better. They are just another family, broken by the events of history and trying to piece themselves together in a way that makes sense to them. In that, their story is universal.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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