Finishing Up the Illumination...168 pages

From my last post, I've read much more of the novel. The book has gotten really good, as a mysterious reference was made to Grandfather's past. It made me feel the need to read on until I knew exactly what Grandfather had been hiding. As Alex, Grandfather, Jonathan and the dog are travelling Ukraine, which is the main story of the book, I learned more and more about each character and their past. The story Jonathan is writing is also continued, however, the story combines realistic events with events that make me question whether or not he is really recounting his past through his first known ancestor. For those of you who would rather read the book and find out what happens, stop reading here. The three men finally find the woman in the photograph, Augustine, while looking for the city Trachimbrod which everyone they encounter claims to have never heard of. The woman is confusing and claims she is actually not Augustine, then takes out photographs and upsets Grandfather. The whole scene is pretty confusing, but the woman agrees to take them to the city, Trachimbrod, that they're searching for but that she insists does not exist. The novel then switches back to the perspective of the story Jonathan is writing. Previously in the story, I read about Jonathan's grandfather who is about to be married, but is in love with another woman. The woman is mysterious until I learned she is the younger sister of his new wife, who he sleeps with DURING his wedding reception...What a jerk. Anyways, the last chapter I read I found very strange and somewhat confusing. The chapter continues with Safran, Jonathan's grandfather, not being ashamed of cheating on his new wife with her sister. It also talks about how he was malnourished as a child, which lead him to have one arm shorter than the other. This deformity made him lucky, in that he avoided being drafted for the army, boarding a ship of immigrants that is later sent to a death camp and many other unfortunate situations. I stopped here because I felt like the story was only getting more strange, and I did not desire to read on. However, if this is the kind of book you think you would be interested in, go for it and enjoy the well written novel!