Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer was nothing at all what I expected, even after reading the description.

Here I Am Amazon Description

Unfolding over four tumultuous weeks in present-day Washington, D.C., Here I Am is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. As Jacob and Julia Bloch and their three sons are forced to confront the distances between the lives they think they want and the lives they are living, a catastrophic earthquake sets in motion a quickly escalating conflict in the Middle East. At stake is the very meaning of home―and the fundamental question of how much aliveness one can bear.

My Review

Note that no where in the Amazon description does it warn you about the extent of sexual content. It threw me for a loop when one of the first few chapters was full of it. I stuck with it though and I realized it’s part of the overall story. But, if you don’t like that sort of thing, then this is not the book for you.

If you can get past the sexual content, the rest of the book is really intriguing. All the characters in the Jewish family, from the kids to the grandpa, have quirks and issues that drive their behaviors. Their secrets come out as the book goes on.

It is 500+ pages long, but the chapters are relatively short. I like to read before bed and if I look ahead to the next chapter and see it’s 25 pages long I often opt for Instagram scrolling instead. The shorter chapters also work well in this book because some of the content is HEAVY. NPR said it most accurately in describing it as dazzling and draining.