AP Literature: Everything is Illuminated discussion

I felt that we did not have a space to comment more informally about the book and so I decided to create this space, where we can talk about what we like, dislike, or other thoughts about the book. I would like to know which story you are liking more. By this I mean the one Safran is writing (about the past), the one Alexander is writing (the one about their search) or the one consisting of the letters. While reading the book I feel as if I was reading three different smaller books whichs' stories are all connected with each other. And as it if normal when you read, there is always a book you enjoy more than others. So far, I have really enjoyed the one Jonathan is writing about his family's past. I really enjoyed reading the story about Brod because of the mystery around her, the peculiar events that occurred, and because it (yes, this sounds cliché indeed) was somehow about love. On another part, I really enjoy reading Alex's parts on how their search went because of how Alex expresses himself. I don't find this story so interesting but I laugh so much because of how Alex expresses in English that I really enjoy reading it. Lastly, there are the letters. I don't like that much what they are about but they are very helpful to understand the other two stories and how each one of them is writing them. Finally, what are your thoughts on the stories within the book?
-APB3 Camila Vásquez

Good idea. Thanks.

My favorite story within the book is Alex writing, which is addressed to Jonathan. I believe that through these letters, readers can understand Alex’s life and the things that have occurred since Jonathan left Ukraine. Alex is one of the main characters of the story, who is the soul of the book and makes me laugh every time I read his letters. The way he misspells some word and his awkward verb English conjugation makes me more involved in the reading. The author used this Ukrainian character to connect the readers with the story. As I read the book, I felt as if I was talking directly with Alex and I felt that I knew him. It is noticeable that Alex expresses freely to Jonathan recounting him things about his family, his feelings and mostly about his grandfather. The fact that I know Alex, everything about him, the things that he tells Jonathan through the letters, made me feel connected with the story and its characters, and made keep reading. As Camila pointed out before, I also enjoy reading Sanfran’s stories about his ancestors and his past. Unlike Camila, I didn’t like Brod’s story so much because I felt that he was being unrealistic and that he was mythologizing her story, even though she was his great great great great great grandmother. On the contrary, I really enjoyed reading his grandfather’s early life and his bizarre sexual appetite for older woman. I still ask to myself about how is it possible that women felt attracted to his dead arm, taking into account that he was very young for having sex with those widows. I also loved reading the part when his grandfather dated the Gypsy girl and the way that they loved each other, but do to their different religion, they couldn’t be together. Finally, I also find Alex’s story (the one about their search) very entertaining, because as I said before, I love when Alex expresses himself and he is capable of transmitting his bare personality to the readers, without hiding anything. I believe that the three stories complement themselves and if the reader doesn’t understand something in one of the stories, the author would explain it in other story the reader is always engaged and never gets lost.

APB2
Valentina Balcazar

Camila wrote: "I felt that we did not have a space to comment more informally about the book and so I decided to create this space, where we can talk about what we like, dislike, or other thoughts about the book...."
I find the book really interesting. It has a twist and its compleatly unconventional. The stories within the book add something to the story but they end the book in a very violent and cruel tone. I think the end of the story Jonathan is writting really ties up with what Jonathan is living at the time and so i enjoyed it but also the way it describes the way the people die on the lake is really cruel. But it also is a little unclear and I found it dificult to tie the facts together.
Maria Luisa Angel

Im not sure wich one i like the most. I kinda like all of them because they are all different and show different perspectives of the what happens at the different times. I would have to say that Alex telling us the story when he travels through Ukraine are the best because they have so much humor and because Alex talks in a really characteristic way and he used the language that I feel i can relate to him. ITs also interesting because it engages me more into the reading. Although i must admit that at first I ejoyed it more than i do now because you get tired of it at the end because you want to read more and more and understand but Alex is just kind of slow, i still like it a lot. I was hoping they would find Agustine in the end, because it would have been a nice closure to the story but they never do, however i found the whole part of this story very interesting and easy to read and thought it added a lot to the story.

My favorite story is the one of Brod. I like it because I find it extremely important in the story and I like it because it has elements of magic. I really like the historical background of the story and how it ends. Although it is rather tragic and sad, I don’t know why I love it so much. Maybe its because I find the way the Jonathan ties together reality with fiction so amazing. The way that the river illuminates relates to the title of the book “Everything is illuminated” and the fact that it happened while celebrating when they found Brod links the whole story together. It illuminated suddenly because of all the Nazi bombs that were dropping. The people in fear ran to the lake where everyone drowned because of the cluster of people. I think the baby trying to survive is a key element because it relates to Brod and the baby that floats up at the beginning of the book.
APB3- Manuela Restrepo

My favorite story of the book is the one of jhonattanS grand father, I really enjooed reading about his overwealming and disturbing adventures. It always makes me laugh. I find the story strangely atractive. I just didnt wanted them to end. I think that the fact that the story has a strong sexual content makes it interestimg to the reader because it is a topic that everyone can relate to some way or another. What I do find wierd is that old widows are interesting and willing to have sexual
relationships with a 12 year old. This at list to me seems a littel disturbing
And what my mind cant conceal if the fact that women actually find his grand fathers dead arm as something atractive. It makes me shiver with disconfort.

Mariana Calle APB2

My favorite stories within the book, are all. I liked very much from the first one that was the wagon falling into the river, when Brod was born, to the last when the Nazis attack Trachimbrod. It is not perhaps a very reliable story since in their letters, Jonathan and Alex made us know that they distorted the truth. Throughout those stories, there are many themes shown, innocence and how it disappears as one gets older, also the twisted truth or lying, like as much as Yankel loved Brod, he couldn't bare telling her he was not her father. Moments like these made me fall in love with this novel, even though there are like three parallel realities, it is really easy to follow through and understand them in particular but also in a general sense.
MARIANA VELÁSQUEZ TORO

My favorite story in the book is the letters between Alex and Jonathan. I believe that this was the most interesting thing in the book because with this we can actually see the process of growth that Alex has. We can observe this changes through out the letter because this is the moment were Alex feels more truthful and were he shows his true self .This letters also help us understand what the present actually is and it helps us connect the facts of the story and the events that happen with reality.I also liked the writing in this part of the story because it is very different and interesting compared to the other two methods of writing.
DANIELA ARANGO ISAZA

Valentina wrote: "My favorite story within the book is Alex writing, which is addressed to Jonathan. I believe that through these letters, readers can understand Alex’s life and the things that have occurred since J..."

He was definitely mythologizing the story. But I think that's a big part of this story. Eventually, all stories turn to myth. We omit boring details, exaggerate the good ones until the story slowly evolves into something unrecognizable from the original. When my grandfather used to tell stories most of us knew that 80% of it was bullshit, but that wasn't the point. The point was to listen to a good story. That's why "truth" in this text is so flexible. Truth is secondary to the story.

I don't have a favorite story within the book. But I have several favorite sections, many of which I find ironic and comical. One of them is when Alex describes two types of American Guards. He says the first type loves Americans and treats them well because he has dreams about America, the other has lost hope and "This guard knows he will never go to America, and knows that he will never meet the Ameri- can again. He will steal from the American, and terror the American, only to teach that he can." (JSF 33) I find his criticism to the idealistic view of people around the world when visualizing America extremely funny and it is only one of the many things that Alex says that made me laugh throughout the whole book. Every time there's grammar mistakes in the book that are evident to almost anyone who can speak a normal english, mistakes that sound hyperbolic even, like saying "I do not make to understand. Speak more slower, please." or "Do you comprehend what I signify?" (JSF 143) I get a strange feeling that I love the book too much, it makes me not only smile but actually laugh inside.
-Manuela Navarro APB1