Everything Is Illuminated

Alex, Jonathan, and Grandfather are on their journey to Lutsk. Grandfather gets lost in Lvov trying to find the superway to Lutsk, but they eventually get on their way. It is a five-hour trip, with Alex speaking Ukrainian with his grandfather, English with Jonathan, and moderating conversation between the two. As Grandfather insults and curses Jonathan, Alex offers up meaningless tour guide information in English instead of translating.

While they travel, Jonathan explains that he is looking for a girl named Augustine, who helped his grandfather escape the Nazi attack in which his wife and child were killed. Jonathan has not told his grandmother he is in Ukraine—she escaped during World War II, and her family were all killed. When Alex is surprised that no Ukrainians helped her escape, Jonathan tells him that Ukrainians were terrible to Jews during the war. Alex tells him he must be mistaken, but Jonathan refuses to agree. Alex then tells Grandfather the story, and Grandfather gets very sad. He looks at the picture of Augustine and together, they resolve to find her.

When they arrive at the hotel, Jonathan insists on going inside with Alex, who tells him not to speak so as not to give away that he is an American. Jonathan makes a fuss with the clerk. As a result, he is charged double, but Alex does not tell him. At the hotel restaurant, Jonathan tells them that he is a vegetarian and orders a piece of meat to get the two potatoes that come with it. One of the potatoes falls on the floor. Grandfather picks it up, cuts it into four, and gives a piece to each of them and one to the dog. They all laugh and share a moment of connection.

Alex and Jonathan discuss his career as a writer, and Alex forces him to accept the label of “writer,” even though Jonathan is very wary of labeling himself as such. Alex presses Jonathan for information about being an accountant in America, as this is the profession he hopes to pursue. Alex and his grandfather get a drink before bed and afterward, Alex lets the dog into Jonathan’s room. Grandfather wants to start early the next morning, and neither of them sleeps well that night, both thinking about what Grandfather did during the war.

In Trachimbrod, the women all reject Brod and even turn their children against her. As she gets older, the men all desire her. She cuts her own hair and makes her own clothes. Yankel still hasn’t told her that he is not her father, partly because he doesn’t want her to know that Trachim was her father or that Trachimday is about his death and her birth. Brod is always challenging herself, reading and learning, but she is lonely and sad, always feeling the need to justify her existence. She has great love inside of her but nowhere to put it.

Yankel was 73 years old when he adopted Brod. When Brod turns 12, Yankel begins to worry about what will happen to her when he dies. He is older and in much more pain than she knows, and she will still be too young to take care of herself when he dies. He hides signs of his deterioration by writing his memories on the ceiling above his bed, where he can read them each morning.