Here I Am

In the book of Genesis, when God calls out, "Abraham," to order him to sacrifice his son Isaac, Abraham responds, "Here I am." Later, when Isaac calls out, "Father," to ask him why there is no animal to slaughter, Abraham responds, "Here I am." How do we fulfill our conflicting duties as father, husband, son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we be fully present to ourselves when we owe so much to others? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer's first novel in eleven years. Unfolding over three 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 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 pan-Arab invasion of Israel. At stake is the very meaning of home--and the fundamental question of how much life one can bear. Showcasing the same high-energy inventiveness, hilarious irreverence, and emotional urgency that readers and critics loved in his earlier work, Here I Amis Foer's most searching, hard-hitting, and grandly entertaining novel yet. It not only confirms Foer's stature as a dazzling literary talent but reveals a mature novelist who has fully come into his own as one of the most important writers of his generation.