Well written, but a little too psychological for my taste. I read nonfiction primarily to be entertained and this was mostly just depressing. I couldn't decide if I was meant to like the protagonist or not. Characters were well developed, just not my cup of tea ( )

This is a big book about a family falling apart. The parents are struggling with failed communication, crumbling family rituals, philosopher children asking difficult questions, a geriatric dog who is past time to put down, and a religion they can no longer embrace. You constantly want to shake some sense into these people... once you stop laughing.

When it comes to sheer aesthetics, you can rely on Foer to string together some beautiful, playful sentences. And he has some careful, thoughtful things to say about marriage and family and home, and how they come together and fall apart. I am always humbled by how a writer can create something out of nothing, an entire world from words, scenarios that teach me something about life. JSF did so for me in this big messy book. ( )

A story about the appetite for courage in general and in particular the courage to connect. This didn't have the natural exuberance of Everything is Illuminated...keep reading Foer trying to experience that again but it just doesn't happen. It lacks empathy and mostly leaves its characters embarrassed rather than understood, and it was uncharitably long. But anyway, there were a couple of corner-benders to preserve:
- 171 "Only the weakness is persuasive" ...about being able to forgive misdeeds but not overcome loss of respect
-328 "perhaps the explanation for his addiction to it: it was an opportunity to be a little less ethical, and a little less of a coward"
-379 "...it wasn't too late in life for happiness...When..would it be too late for honesty?"
-457 "I made a mistake. I thought the worst thing to say was the hardest thing to say. But it's actually pretty easy to say horrible things...it's even easier because we know exactly how bad the words are. There is nothing scary about them. Part of what makes something really hard to say is the not knowing...The hardest thing to say isn't a word or a sentence but an event...It requires the hardest person, or people, to say it to."

The concept of an 'eruv' in cities to allow carrying on the sabbath was kind of neat also.

On the cover this says the funniest literary novel I have ever read so I was expecting a laugh. Instead this novel often seemed sad, troubled and doom-laden. There are moments of mirth in the family which are nicely observed and portrayed and there is a lot here that is sensitive and well done. The big thing is big when it happens and comes from nowhere but it is the family story that is really important in this book. It has depth and is thoughtful. It is full of dialogue and this is mixed, sometimes brilliant, sometimes clumsy. An interesting read. ( )

Many things drew me to this book. It has a great reputation, a gifted author, and an intriguing title. Here I Am is the English translation of the Hebrew word Hineni. This is a word of my childhood. At the end of a long fast ending the holiest of the High Holidays, Yom Kippur, everyone is chanting Hineni this Hineni that, on and on and on. It's like call and response but it's the clearest indication that this ordeal is almost over. More recently Leonard Cohen wrote a song called Hineni for an album where he clearly knows he is dying and he wants everyone to know he's ready. What the chant recants is the story of Abraham talking to God who has asked Abram to bring his son as a sacrifice. Abraham is saying Here I Am…..

Initially I was impressed as the author displays an intricate knowledge of Jewish family life. While Jewish family life comes in a multitude of forms the author seems to hit all the bases. There are aspects that will resonant with anyone who had any degree of experience in that vein. There are the rights of passage, the patriarchy, the guilt, the pride, the strengths, the weaknesses, the characters, the obligations, the pets, the concerns, the introspection, etc., etc. For two hundred pages or so this was more than enough to keep my attention. Eventually however the real story begins to emerge. We are seeing a marriage, a family that's imploding. This is not going to end well.

The self awareness of the central character, Jacob slowly becomes self absorption, remoteness, lack of empathy, narcissism, denial. He never seems to know what he really wants. Yes she has her faults but this is really being driven by him. The downward spiral becomes more obvious with every page. I was totally disappointed. I slogged through the last three hundred pages hoping this would end on some brighter note. The author ends our torment by putting down the family pet who has been in the same decrepit condition since page one. But now it's time to move on.

Sadly I can't recommend this book. A major disappointment. I can only imagine how the author would react when after the Jacob might say "Here I Am" the most likely response would be "Who Cares."