Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel

I don't think the film makes total strategic sense and it was definitely in comparison to the book. It takes away many of the moral ambiguities and dilemmas associated with the Holocaust. In the movie, I do not understand why Jonathon's family would want him to return to seek out Augustine to give her money for saving him.
A. It is offensive to many to equate saving a life with giving money so I don't think this is realistic.
B. As the film, changes he original story, Augustine is Jewish in the film, but it is not clear how she saved Safran nor how she escaped from the Nazi massacre of her village and the rest of her family (and is seen behind the firing squad). Maybe I am missing something, but the film causes the storyline to become less comprehensive. Insights?

B.

Who is Augustine? And how did Safran escape?

I just finished the book and loved it. I have difficultly keeping chronology straight and remembering what I read from session to session of which there were many... But I don't think it was ever explained how Safran was "saved". His story kind of abruptly ends with the flood and Nazi raid, doesnt it? How did he escape or how was he saved? Did I miss something? Was it mentioned early on?

And who was in the photo?

Was the story of Alex's grandfather different in the movie from in the book?

I was prompted to read the book because I was confused by the end of the movie. After reading the book, I am even more confused (see my previous question). And now I have the movie and book mixed up in my head.

My impression at the end of the movie (best I remember it) was that Alex's grandfather was a Jew from Trachimbrod who was in the firing line but not killed. Afterwards he got up, escaped and hid his past from his family. I thought the star of david on his grave at the end confirmed this.

But in the book he was not a jew, but a non-jew who lived in Kolki and was hiding the past because he exposed his friend, getting him killed.

Do I have this right?

help me understand

I don't think I fully understand this book. Maybe someone can help... how were Jonathan's grandfather and Alex's grandfather connected? How is it that on their search for Augustine, they found someone that Alex's grandfather seemed to be looking for. I feel like I am missing something. Is it just that they both had similar experiences during the war? Or is there a deeper connection that I am missing?

Alex is a homosexual?

I don't know if I was the only one who caught this or thought that way, but towards the end of the book he says something about being sure his father would kill him if he loved who he wanted to.

Did anyone else think Alex being gay was the intended meaning?

Wife and two children?

As an aside to the is-Alex-gay debate (I think I would have to agree with those who argue that he is, the subtlety of which is a real testament to Foer's writing), one point has been really annoying me since I finished the book. Early on, reference is made to the fact that Jonathon's grandfather lost a wife and two children in Trachimbrod before arriving in America and getting remarried. However (don't read on if you haven't finished the book yet!!) his wife is pregnant with their first child when both she and that child drown in the river. Is this another open end that Foer is leaving us to ponder, or am I misunderstanding something?

Some ideas I've had have been that his wife herself is only a child (I think she was 15 when she was married), or that the gypsy girl might possibly have had a child, though this seems unlikely given her suicide, or indeed that he might have fathered another child at some point during his legendary philandering. Or even that he lost his own childhood and became a man as he was meant to do at the Dial, although this might be reading into things too much altogether.

Any thoughts?

Brod drowns herself.

I read through the book several times, and did an in-depth character analysis for my English final last year, and the character I chose was Brod, because I found her to be rather intriguing.

One thing that I've been rather curious about though, is what happens to her.

If I recall correctly, her story is cut off right after she gives birth to her third child, aptly named 'Yankel,' as Shalom is on his death bed. We're told that her first two children die, and that Shalom's body is coated in bronze, and that he becomes a statue, ultimately being known as 'The Dial.'

But we are not told of what happens to her.
Later on in the novel, we are treated to a glimpse of 'The Book of Antecedents.'
One such entry that we are allowed to view an entry about the sadness of Brod.
Within that entry, it states that Brod's body was recovered, and that when they found her, a portion of the sadnesses had bled off of the pages of her diary and onto her body.

This suggests that water was in some way involved.
And, based off of her rather depressive nature, the assumption can be made that she killed herself.

I personally believe that she drowned herself in the Brod, the river of the namesake, the river of her origin.

I'd like to know though, what are your beliefs on this?
What fate do you think befell Brod?