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Quote by Jonathan Safran Foer

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Everything Is Illuminated

In this novel, a young man named Jonathan Safran Foer embarks on a journey to find a woman who saved his grandfather during World War II. The story is told through a combination of fictional and real historical elements, weaving together personal and collective narratives to create a rich tapestry of storytelling. more

Author

Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer

Jonathan Safran Foer is an American writer known for his unique narrative style and profound insights into social issues. His works often blend historical, literary, and philosophical elements, exploring themes such as family, memory, and identity. more

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“Or perhaps a widow found him and took him in: brought him an easy chair, changed his sweater every morning, shaved his face until the hair stopped growing, took him faithfully to bed with her every night, whispered sweet nothings into what was left of his ear, laughed with him over black coffee, cried with him over yellowing pictures, talked greenly about having kids of her own, began to miss him before she became sick, left him everything in her will, thought of only him as she died, always knew he was fiction but believed in him anyway.”

KidsFacesNightFoundLeftEasyBlackFictionMorningGrowingMissingChangedSweetHairBedEarsSickDiedCoffeeChairsLaughedEvery NightCriedEvery MorningWidowsSweatersHaving KidsBlack Coffee
Author:Jonathan Safran Foer
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“You will remember when a bird crashed through the window and fell to the floor. You will remember, those of you who were there, how it jerked its wings before dying, and left a spot of blood on the floor after it was removed. But who among you was first to notice the negative bird it left in the window? Who first saw the shadow that the bird left behind, the shadow that drew blood from any finger that dared to trace it, the shadow that was better proof of the bird's existence than the bird ever was?”

FirstsRememberLeftBehindsExistenceSawsBloodDyingBirdShadowNegativeWindowWingsFingersProofSpotsRemember WhenLeft Behind
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“Suddenly Yankel was overcome with a fear of dying, stronger than he felt when his parents passed of natural causes, stronger than when his only brother was killed in the flour mill or when his children died, stronger even than when he was a child and it first occurred to him that he must try to understand what it could mean not to be alive -- to be not in darkness, not in unfeeling -- to be not being, not to be.”

TryingFirstsMeanChildrenFeltCausesParentNaturalDarknessAliveDyingBrotherOvercomingDiedStrongerMillsFlourUnfeelingFear Of Dying
Book:Everything Is Illuminated
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“She spent an afternoon staring at their front door. Waiting for someone? Yankel asked. What color is this? He stood very close to the door, letting the end of his nose touch the peephole. He licked the wood and joked, It certainly tastes like red. Yes, it is red, isn't it? Seems so. She buried her head in her hands. But couldn't it be just a bit more red?”

EndsHandsSeemsBitsWaitingDoorsFrontsColorTasteRedWoodsNosesStaringBuriedAfternoonFront DoorsPeepholes
Book:Everything Is Illuminated
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“Some make their worlds without knowing it. Their universes are just sesame seeds and three-day weekends and dial tones and skinned knees and physics and driftwood and emerald earrings and books dropped in bathtubs and holes in guitars and plastic and empathy and hardwood and heavy water and high black stockings and the history of the Vikings and brass and obsolescence and burnt hair and collapsed souffles and the impossibility of not falling in love in an art museum with the person standing next to you looking at the same painting and all the other things that just happen and are.”

WorldPersonsArtBookHappensFallUniverseThreeNextBlackWaterKnowingPaintingHairEmpathyStandingFalling In LoveGuitarHeavySeedsPhysicsHolesKneesToneMuseumsWeekendPlasticImpossibilityVikingsBrassStockingsEarringsBathtubsEmeraldsObsolescenceDriftwoodSouffleNot Falling In LoveHardwoodSkinned Knees
Author:Jonathan Safran Foer
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