Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer features a character named Jonathan Safron Foer who expiriences the change of innocence to experience throughout his journey. His journey is to find the town his descendants lived in. He goes through the journey with a funny Ukrainian, his tour guide Alex. He may not be a teen in the book, but he's certainly still coming of age. Alex leads him through weird and new circumstances and toughens as well as opens him up through experience. Also, Jonathan learns to be misunderstood, which helps define himself as a man.
At first Foer was unhappy and generally shocked about the gross car and Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. I found him sort of snobby. However, later he accepted these quarks as part of the adventure. He turned into a nicer guy by hanging around rougher, stranger conditions.
Jonathan learns to be proud of who he is. At the begining, he seems held back and shy. I think that people misunderstanding his culture made him proud of who he was. For example, he fought hard explaining why and how he was a vegetarian to Alex. He was not embarrassed, it was part of him.
I am just about half way done with this book and I really like it. Although it can be weird and at times extremely boring or confusing, its a very interesting book. I look forward to reading the rest.
