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Here I Am: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Jonathan Safran Foer (Author), Ari Fliakos (Narrator), Macmillan Audio (Publisher)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 2,669 ratings
Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction
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A monumental new audiobook from the bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer's Here I Am

In the book of Genesis, when God calls out, “Abraham!” before ordering him to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham responds, “Here I am.” Later, when Isaac calls out, “My father!” before asking 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 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 meaning of home—and the fundamental question of how much aliveness 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 novelist who has fully come into his own as one of the most important writers in America.

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  1. Listening Length
    16 hours and 59 minutes
  2. Author
    Jonathan Safran Foer
  3. Narrator
    Ari Fliakos
  4. Audible release date
    September 6, 2016
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Macmillan Audio
  7. ASIN
    B01JPHS6LI
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 16 hours and 59 minutes
Author Jonathan Safran Foer
Narrator Ari Fliakos
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date September 06, 2016
Publisher Macmillan Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B01JPHS6LI
Best Sellers Rank #175,055 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#260 in Jewish Literature (Audible Books & Originals)
#1,163 in Jewish Literature & Fiction
#6,091 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
2,669 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book thought-provoking and engaging. They praise the writing quality as clean, crisp, and beautiful. The dialogue is described as witty and irreverent. Readers are deeply moved by the well-developed characters and their realistic emotions. They appreciate the portrayal of modern Jewish culture as superbly drawn and close to home. However, some found the book disappointing, boring, and difficult to read in parts.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

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Thought provokingWriting qualityHumorCharacter developmentJewish culturePacingReadabilityDifficulty to follow
139 customers mention "Thought provoking"99 positive40 negative

Customers find the book poignant and thought-provoking. They appreciate the author's ability to portray the characters' minds and feelings in a clear way. The book provides new insights into relationships, parenting, and the search for an authentic life.

"...humor, deep sadness, high emotions, the strength of family, love beyond humans, pride of religion and culture, history, discovering self or not, and..." Read more

"...He has a great ability to present the states of mind, mixed feelings, and confusion of his main characters--adults, the elderly, and children..." Read more

"...give a book five stars only when, in addition to achieving superlative elements of plot, character, creativity, consistency, it is an exceptional..." Read more

"...Not all books are inspirational." Read more

100 customers mention "Writing quality"75 positive25 negative

Customers find the writing quality engaging. They praise the clean, crisp dialogue that moves quickly. The writing is described as beautiful, lyrical, and incantatory. Readers appreciate the thought-provoking lines and depth of character portrayal. They also enjoy the author's attention to detail and wisdom imparted through the dialogue and narrative.

"...I was so deeply moved by each character, the depth that the author depicted them, that I felt like I knew them, not just as I read about them, but..." Read more

"...The writing is often beautiful--lyrical and some times incantatory--he will repeat phrases and engage in wordplay to emphasize moments of deep..." Read more

"jSF has an amazing ability to parse,articulate and debate all the unspoken and spoken thoughts of modern life that his very urbane metro-sexual..." Read more

"...There was a certain coarseness to the words, themselves, that created friction in the reader, not the least of which was manifest in the gut...." Read more

57 customers mention "Humor"51 positive6 negative

Customers find the book's humor engaging and witty. They describe the dialogue as entertaining, with fantastic turns of phrase and lyrical writing. The writing is also described as provocative and insightful.

"...It breathes life, death, love, joy, incredible humor, deep sadness, high emotions, the strength of family, love beyond humans, pride of religion and..." Read more

"...The writing is often beautiful--lyrical and some times incantatory--he will repeat phrases and engage in wordplay to emphasize moments of deep..." Read more

"...Yet despite his constant pouting out of ironies he is also tender and sweet and painfully aware of that which is good and true and sincere and..." Read more

"...It is a jewel.The book is funny and very moving. It is honest stuff and fiction wielded by a young master of the art," Read more

48 customers mention "Character development"34 positive14 negative

Customers find the characters well-drawn and relatable. They appreciate the realistic emotions and human experiences depicted in the book. The book explores themes of love, relationships, and humanity through a thoughtful and heartfelt perspective.

"...I was so deeply moved by each character, the depth that the author depicted them, that I felt like I knew them, not just as I read about them, but..." Read more

"...to present the states of mind, mixed feelings, and confusion of his main characters--adults, the elderly, and children equally...." Read more

"...The characters are unsatisfying. The children are just too precocious. The grownups are so self-absorbed it's hard to care about them...." Read more

"...only when, in addition to achieving superlative elements of plot, character, creativity, consistency, it is an exceptional example of literature,..." Read more

26 customers mention "Jewish culture"21 positive5 negative

Customers find the book's portrayal of modern Jewish culture insightful and close to home. They say it's a classic in American Jewish literature, and that the authentic self is richly layered against a backdrop of what it means to be a Jew.

"...It's also suffused with deep meditation on Jewish identity and community...." Read more

"...It could be uncomfortable—even clumsy—at points, and beautiful and insightful at other moments...." Read more

"...the search for an authentic life and an authentic self is richly layered against a backdrop of what it means to be a post holocaust middle class..." Read more

"...for me began at the funeral, which is one of the most evocative descriptions of Jewishness -- not the religion, but the state of being Jewish --..." Read more

32 customers mention "Pacing"18 positive14 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book. Some find it engaging and moving, with intense and introspective passages that resonate. Others feel the pacing is slow and meandering at times, making it frustrating to read initially. Overall, opinions are mixed on the pacing, which is considered not light reading.

"...This book so tightly grabbed me emotionally that is transcended the need for consistently outstanding literary style...." Read more

"...The characters do this and so does the narrator. The pace is slow and meanders, but the scope defined by the comparison of the life of a single..." Read more

"...It is clear, inventive, moving and (at times) hilarious...." Read more

"...then..... oh jeez. Tedious, skipping all over the place and just over mentalizing like the neurotic nature of his main character...." Read more

48 customers mention "Readability"0 positive48 negative

Customers find the book difficult to read and not engaging. They describe the story as weird and gimmicky.

"...This was a terribly difficult book to read, but almost as difficult to put down...." Read more

"...This novel was NOT exquisite NOR innovative, but it WAS certainly far more pertinent and real...." Read more

"...The last third of the book was overwrought and veered into storytelling that was difficult to follow...." Read more

"This is not a great or profound book. Safran Foer has written a book of stereotypes. The two main characters, Jacob and Tamir, are stereotypes...." Read more

33 customers mention "Difficulty to follow"4 positive29 negative

Customers find the book difficult to follow. They find the storyline confusing and hard to understand if you are not Jewish. The book is described as long and meandering, with constant digressions. While it's engaging, some sections can be confusing.

"...This was a terribly difficult book to read, but almost as difficult to put down...." Read more

"...This is not an easy, casual novel. This is one of the deepest dives into character and family study I’ve jumped into...." Read more

"...It is filled with maddening arguments in which the thinnest of hair are split by knives so fine as to be invisible...." Read more

"...the book was overwrought and veered into storytelling that was difficult to follow...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • carilynp
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Book of the Decade
    Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I am not sure where to begin. I am in such awe of this book. It is Jonathan Safran Foer’s HERE I AM. I feel like a book like this comes along only once in, well, maybe a decade. I don’t want to try to compare HERE I AM to another book or categorize it. This great work cannot be labeled. It breathes life, death, love, joy, incredible humor, deep sadness, high emotions, the strength of family, love beyond humans, pride of religion and culture, history, discovering self or not, and the here and now. I was so deeply moved by each character, the depth that the author depicted them, that I felt like I knew them, not just as I read about them, but before the book. I didn’t want to let them go. I needed to re-read numerous passages to make sure that I didn’t miss anything, forget messages or dialogue. When I would pick up the book again each night, I started the previous chapter again. Each time, hoping I could stretch the story out a little longer.

    HERE I AM is the story of Jacob and his wife Julia and their three boys. It is also about Jacob’s father and grandfather and their family history. Their relatives in Israel and being Jewish in America. It is about a fictious catastrophe in Israel and how it affects Jacob’s family as things between he and his wife begin to unravel.

    While I am reading a book, if I have not previously read any of the author’s other work, I try not to find out too much about him/her, so that my opinion is not blurred in any way. I was so enraptured by Foer while reading. I wanted to know who he was. What possessed him to write this story. Was any of it from his own life. I am still so curious. I could not help but wonder what it takes to create a story so well told, so real, with such poignancy, where you bring your reader to laughter and big tears.

    The laughter brought me to tears. I thought of my father and how much he would have loved and appreciated this book. The inside Jewish humor and family history, it felt like stories I have heard before. It was bittersweet. Without spoiling anything about the ending, I won’t share my emotions, so I will just say that it was perfect.

    It goes without saying that I loved, loved and loved HERE I AM.
    91 people found this helpful
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  • Anj510
    4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully (sometimes too beautifully) written depiction of familial breakdown
    Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Had seen the praise for the book, so I read it, my first Foer. The writing is often beautiful--lyrical and some times incantatory--he will repeat phrases and engage in wordplay to emphasize moments of deep emotion or meaning for his characters. It's also suffused with deep meditation on Jewish identity and community. He has a great ability to present the states of mind, mixed feelings, and confusion of his main characters--adults, the elderly, and children equally. The struggles in the Blochs' marriage are presented in great complexity, as painful, full of mixed feelings, disappointment and dashed hopes.
    I do agree with some commentators on Foer's work that he sometimes lets his skillful use of words get away from him: for example, in dialogue that is almost impossibly witty, and with passages that could be said to be overly impressed with itself and overly self-conscious--his authorial presence becomes too large and essentially breaks the frame between him and the reader. In the end, though, I think it's well worth reading.
    One person found this helpful
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  • G. Davids
    5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional Whirlwind
    Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    It stands to reason that this book was recommended to me by my cousin, Rich, a therapist, who possesses more than a fair share of understanding of human emotions and psychology, and in particular, my emotions and psychology. He really nailed it with this recommendation for me.

    This was a terribly difficult book to read, but almost as difficult to put down. It was fraught with gut wrenching human (and some canine) pathos, but presented just along the edge of despair so that it was enjoyable reading. I generally give a book five stars only when, in addition to achieving superlative elements of plot, character, creativity, consistency, it is an exceptional example of literature, thrilling the sensibilities of the reader with the majesty of the word. The more concrete elements are all there in this book, but not truly the literature. Foer is not Dickens or Ann Patchett, or Hemmingway. Yet I chose to give this book five stars because it grabbed me in such a visceral way that my emotions churned throughout the whole process of reading it, including the breaks in between reading sessions. This book so tightly grabbed me emotionally that is transcended the need for consistently outstanding literary style.

    Loathe as I am to provide spoilers in my reviews (and I will not do so here) I can only try to communicate the level on which this book reached me. Why it grabbed me so, I am not sure. There were so many themes that called out to me either from personal similar experiences, or from personal fears or anxieties. That it is a profoundly Jewish book provided roots for me that were unshakable, leaving me at the mercy of the plot and my reaction to it.

    The style is compelling. Sometimes the reader is not sure what layer of the story is being discussed until well into a discussion. But this only strengthens the notion that there are only so many themes in life (life/death, love/not love, age/youth, happy/sad, for example), and living is reacting to, and re-defining these themes to fit. There was a certain coarseness to the words, themselves, that created friction in the reader, not the least of which was manifest in the gut.

    On a practical note, the characters were beautifully written, consistent, unusual, interesting. I cared about each (main) character as if he/she were a member of my family (ok…only on a cerebral level, and only until the book ended). There was potent foreshadowing that created a suspense level that buzzed just under the general anxiety this book created in me.

    I loved this book and will now include it among my favorites, though I doubt I will put myself through the discomfort of reading it again. But this is the true measure of literature, the profound effect it has on the reader, and this book is a rousing success in that respect.
    9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Oona
    5.0 out of 5 stars Mind-blowingly good book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I absolutely loved it. Big themes of family, humanity and identity but also funny moments and enough plot to drive it forward. Arrived on time in good condition.
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  • Laura Alcantara Duque
    4.0 out of 5 stars Domesticity
    Reviewed in Mexico on January 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    It was surprising to find interest the history or an ordinary family funny and rousing. However, at some point the novel feels really long and some parts are whether boring or repetitive.
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  • Silvia de la Cruz
    4.0 out of 5 stars Muy bueno, pero...
    Reviewed in Spain on January 1, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    JSF vuelve a cautivar con su prosa, sus infinitos detalles y sus historias dentro de historias. La novela fluye rápida y te captura, tiene grandes momentos y, por supuesto, frases memorables y reflexiones sobre la vida que todos nos podemos aplicar. No obstante, a veces me parece que sus personajes son un poco demasiado inteligentes, el cliché de la persona interesante y de los diálogos profundos en cualquier momento; cargados de significado y guiños casi imperceptibles a lugares comunes. Y todo eso lo hace un poco menos convincente. Crea una distancia que preferiría que no estuviera.
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  • David Santos
    5.0 out of 5 stars necessary title
    Reviewed in Canada on November 26, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Emotional... touching...reliably funny... relatable... intellectually stimulating... ingenious at times... disheartening at others... witty... what else must be said...peremptory... worthwhile read... Art as it should be... your consciousness... or lucidity... whathever you call it... will be more "illuminated" by the reading of this book... for at least a moment afterwards
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  • G. S.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Das Ende der Beliebigkeit
    Reviewed in Germany on January 21, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Israel ist wie nie zuvor von der Zerstörung bedroht und das sich ankündigenden Ende der Ehe der Eltern ist nur eines der Probleme, mit dem die Familie Bloch zu kämpfen hat - doch diese großen Ereignisse sind nicht das, was Here I Am zu der Lektüre machen, die einen all die Tränen vergießen lassen, die eigentlich für das eigene Leben bestimmt wären - wenn man es denn als Buch lesen könnte.
    Es sind die scheinbar kleinen Momente und Emotionen im Alltag einer Familie, deren Beschreibung Foer so gut gelingt, das man selber zum Familienmitglied wird; Mitglied einer liberalen, jüdischstämmigen Mittelschichts-Familie in Washington DC. Diese Parameter sind aber letztendlich egal, denn die wirklich interessanten Themen sind die, die über Religion, Kultur oder Milieu hinausgehen, und die sind überall und immer für alle Familien, egal wo auf der Welt, die gleichen: Liebe, Hass, Angst, Freude, Trauer, Abhängigkeit, Freiheitsdrang, Stolz, Scham - diese Liste ließe sich so lange fortsetzen, bis man wieder bei Liebe ankommt. Oder eben bei Hass.
    Jacob, der als Vater im Zentrum der Erzählung steht, ist nicht nur nicht der, der er sein will, sondern weiß noch nicht mal, wer er sein will. Diese große Ratlosigkeit dem eigenen Ich gegenüber, die doch eigentlich jedem menschlichen Wesen innewohnt, wobei lediglich die Erscheinungsformen variieren zwischen Narzissmus und Selbstaufgabe, wird in dem Netz aus Jacobs Verbindungen zu seinen Familienmitgliedern manchmal gelindert und noch öfter verstärkt. So oder so erlaubt der Kontext der Familie ihm aber gar nicht, das indifferente Selbst wirklich zu leben, das er meint, zu haben, genauso wenig wie er im Nah-Ostkonflikt neutral bleiben kann, dem er sich in der ein oder anderen Weiße stellen muss. Seine Handlungen zeichnen für den Leser das Bild von dem, der er ist - ein Wille zum sein ist hierfür gar nicht nötig. Und das macht Jacob Bloch für mich zu mehr als einer Romanfigur - er wird zum Inbegriff meines Lebens als Suche - scheinbar. Die Suche ist nämlich immer nur für mich selbst eine Suche:
    Während ich noch meine zu suchen, handle ich fast permanent. Jedes über den Kopf streicheln, jedes gesprochene Wort, jeder Blick, selbst die Gedanken, die meine Gegenüber im Leben, egal ob es die eigenen Eltern, Kinder oder Lebenspartner sind, in meinem Kopf richtiger oder falscher Weiße vermuten, haben Folgen.
    Auch Jacob handelt (unfreiwillig) permanent und mit trotz seiner Unentschlossenheit erstaunlicher Wucht: als Vater seiner Söhne, als Mann und Exmann seiner Frau, als Sohn seines Vaters und Enkels seines Großvaters.
    So entsteht dieses Bild von ihm und seiner Familie, das mich am Ende vor die Frage stellt, warum das Leben trotz aller scheinbaren Beliebigkeit zwischen Abspülen und Mails checken doch vor allem eins ist: So krass.
    Oder mit Casper ausgedrückt: „Der Sinn des Lebens ist Leben“ - das wars.
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