1.

summary

The plot, it would seem, is simple - an American came to the land of his ancestors, to look for any
information about his relatives who died in a Ukrainian village during the Holocaust, and took a Ukrainian
boy as his escort, who speaks poorly but smartly in English. But this description explains what is happening
in a very generalized way. An extravaganza awaits you under the cover - the text passes from eye to eye,
from mouth to mouth, not only of different people and of different years, but of fictional and real ones.
“Everything is illuminated ” evokes enthusiastic surprise. At first, everything that happens is perceived as a
comedy. As the action progressed, the book became more and more twisted, the plot became cooler, and
there was less and less funny in it. In the end, you can burst into tears not only from the suddenly
emerging tragedies, but also from the general sincerity and wisdom of the work.

2. sketch of grandfather

The definition of war as a space that destroys the human "I" is realized in the image of Grandfather. The
problem of self-identification turns out to be as important to him as it is to Jonathan. Grandfather is forced
to return to the past, which he tried to forget. And when he returned, he was forced to go through the
execution again and decide for himself who he was - a victim of Nazism or a traitor. Having survived the
death of fellow villagers, Jews, he really wanted to forget that he was a Jew himself. He longed for it with
such force that he hated the very word "Jew". This hatred burst out of him: I hate Lvov. I hate Lutsk. I hate
the Jew in the back seat of this car that I hate… [Foer 2005]; “Sammy Davis, Junior was a Jew.” “This is not
possible,” I said. “Sammy Davis, Junior was not a Jew!” he hollered. “He was the Negro of the Rat Pack!”
[Foer 2005]. Most likely, the motive of historical unconsciousness is associated with the image of
Grandfather in J. Foer's novel. In the postmodern novel, for which historicism is generally contraindicated,
history and human destiny suddenly come to the fore.
For many decades in a row, Grandfather pushed that episode out of his memory, but history overtook him,
and now, like all readers of the novel, he is tormented by one thought: "How to live on with the burden of
tragedy?" In the end, suicide becomes inevitable and the only way out for him: I know what I have to do
and will do it.

3. passage in standard English

“I have heard this. Do you have many motorcycles in America?” “Of course.” “And fax machines?”
“Everywhere.” “Do you have a fax machine?” “No. They’re very passé.” “What does it mean "passé" ?”
“They’re out-ofdate. Paper is so tedious.” “Tedious?” “Tiresome.” “I understand what you are telling me,
and I harmonize. I would never use paper.. It makes me a sleeping person.” “It’s so messy.” “Yes, it is true,
it makes a mess, and you are asleep.” “Another question. Do most young people in America have
impressive cars ? Lotus Esprit V8 Twin Turbos?” “Not really. I don’t. I have a real piece-of-shit Toyota.” “It is
brown?” “No, it’s an expression.” “How can your car be an expression?” “I have a car that looks like a piece
of shit. You know, it stinks like shit and looks shitty like shit.” “And if you are a good accountant, could you
buy an impressive car?” “Absolutely. You could probably buy almost anything you want.” “What kind of
wife would a good accountant have?” “Who knows.” “Would she have rigid boobs?” “I couldn’t say for
sure.” “Probably, although?” “I guess.” “I dig this. I dig rigid boobs.” “But there are also accountants, even
very good ones, who have ugly wives. That’s just the way how it works.” “If John Holmes was a top-notch
accountant, he could have any woman as a wife, couldn't he ?”
4. essay

For Jonathan, Augustine represents a window into the real and imagined past; for Alex, Augustine
represents the possibility of redemption for the past he has inherited.
Eventually, Jonathan, Alex, and Alex’s grandfather find Trachimbrod, Jonathan’s grandfather’s village,
where they encounter a woman, Lista, who is the sole survivor and living repository of Trachimbrod’s
history. Though she recognizes both Augustine and Jonathan’s grandfather in the photograph, it is not the
victory Jonathan or Alex had been hoping for. Lista’s stories of Trachimbrod force Jonathan to confront
Augustine’s photograph in a way he is not prepared to do. Whereas once Augustine’s photograph
represented heroism, survival, and love, after listening to Lista’s stories, the photograph comes to
represent violence and loss.
The woman talking about the miraculous rescue of her seriously wounded older sister does not even
suspect that another living participant in this tragedy is standing in front of her. Already at the very end of
the novel, Alex's grandfather, the very comic character characterized by inappropriate behavior, reveals his
secret to his grandson in a suicide note. He tells that he was a resident of a village next to Trakhimbrod and
during the Nazi massacre he betrayed his Jewish friend in order to save the life of his own family. In this
episode, the author uses the "stream of consciousness" technique - there are no capital letters or
punctuation marks in the narrative, as if the protagonist's grandfather is in a hurry to express quickly what
he has been silent about for many years, to get rid of the burden that weighs upon him.
Thus, the story, which began as a fun adventure, gradually takes on an increasingly serious tone. Here Foer
quite consistently follows the tradition of Jewish humor, the so-called "laughing through tears," using the
comedy as a means of protection from the horrific reality.
Without the idea of Augustine—that is the idea that the past can be overcome, if not forgotten, and new
relationships can develop—a personal disintegration occurs; Jonathan chooses not to continue his
friendship with Alex; Alex’s grandfather, having confessed how his treatment of his Jewish friend Herschel
led to Herschel’s death, dies by suicide; and Alex, who had once considered emigrating to America, decides
to stay and becomes the head of his family after kicking his abusive father out of his home. For better or
worse, Augustine’s photograph is an elegy that cannot be had or cannot overcome.
The Augustine of Jonathan, Alex, and Alex’s grandfather exists in the past, present, and future. She is
American, she is Ukrainian, and she is Jewish. She is a reminder of the Holocaust and offers release and
redemption from its memory. But this “Augustine” is an impossibility, and despite producing many
questions, at the end of the journey the characters are still left with a silent photograph of a past that
Jonathan has inherited and cannot or will not overcome. In ending his relationship with Alex, he chooses
the idea of Augustine rather than the reality she represents. Augustine’s photograph contains too many
possibilities, too many perspectives and stories.