Here I Am

 
　　這是一個瀕臨崩裂的家庭在面對生存危機時的故事。這個故事的中心主角是雅各與茱莉亞夫婦一家：雅各是電視劇作家，茱莉亞是建築師，也是三個孩子山姆、麥斯與班吉的媽。但在三個星期中，三個孩子看著父母親的婚姻動搖，自己的家庭面臨土崩瓦解。
 
　　在此同時，更大的一場災難正席捲世界另一個角落：一場大地震摧毀中東國家，激起泛阿拉伯國家入侵以色列。隨著故事背景中全球動盪與國內情勢劇變，作者帶領讀者思考何謂家庭的真正意義？一個人是否能真正調和他身為丈夫、父親、兒子的多重角色？怎樣的生活重壓又是一個人的忍耐極限呢？（文／博客來編譯）

　　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, “My 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, and son; wife and mother; child and adult? Jew and American? How can we claim our own identities when our lives are linked so closely to others’? These are the questions at the heart of Jonathan Safran Foer’s first novel in eleven years--a work of extraordinary scope and heartbreaking intimacy.

　　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 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 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 Am is 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.