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awhiteline
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Hello! I found this community because I was in the midst of re-reading EII and felt like discussing it with someone, as I am left with a few questions.
Like - what did the Well-Regarded Rabbi's twins really see? Somewhere in the book it's mentioned that never told anyone what they saw when the wagon went down in the river Brod. What was it?
Or when She-who-is-not-Augustine shows them a photo of a Eli and Hershel, the best friends from Kolki, and tells them how Eli had to kill Hershel, did she know that it was Alex's Grandfather? And why is Alex's Grandfather called Alexander if he really is Eli, did he change his name afterwards? And what do you think Alex's Grandfather and She-who-is-not-Augustine spoke about when they sent Alex and Jonathan out?
While outside (after dehusking the corn, was it?) Alex and Jonathan speak about memories and Alex also reads a few pages out of Jonathan's diary, and the excerpt we get to see is exactly the same as the bit in Grandfather's letter to Jonathan at the end. Is this because Jonathan is actually busy writing the book while on the journey, and it's a sort of odd time warp?
And Safran, Jonathan's Grandfather. It's said how his dead arm saved him from saving his one true love in the river Brod, and later it's confirmed that Zosha's baby is meant. And how he didn't love his mother, or the Gypsy Girl, or Zosha, because he thought he could love only one. Jonathan said that was why he couldn't tell his Grandmother about the search for Augustine, because following that logic, his Grandfather wouldn't have loved his Grandmother either. But if Zosha's baby was Safran's one true love, then why did Jonathan think he would have loved Augustine?
Of course, the flashbacks are all Jonathan's imagination but still.
There's that moment when She who is not Augustine recounts what happened to "her sister" when the Nazis came, and how all their neighbors turned from here when she cried for help, out of fear for their own family. And Alex's Grandfather says he would try to forgive them, he's adamant about it, and she is sure she can't. And then you find out why they think that way, and it explains Alex's Grandfather so well. I'm not sure why they had to make him into a Jew in the movie, though that works well too.
Then there is She-who-is-not-Augustine - Lista P, in other words. She recounts the story of "her sister" and how she was pregnant. We can safely assume that she was also the widow, the first virgin who slept with Safran and that Lista was the pregnant one, not her sister. But then, by whom is she pregnant by? It had been years since she and Safran slept together, after all.
And I'm always upset when the book ends so abruptly because we never really find out about how Safran escaped the Nazis and how Augustine saved him. But in a way that's also what makes the book so intriguing.
Then there is Yankel D, The disgraced usurer - did I completely miss why exactly he was disgraced, or was that not mentioned?
As to the movie, I'm always a bit confused by the part where Grandfather is just about to be killed by the Nazis and Lista is standing behind the soldiers watching. Was she not also a Jew? How did she manage to escape and come to live in that house of memories? In the movie, she and Baruch know each other, they're from the same shtetl, so how did it come to pass that he is about to shot and Lista is not, and she quietly watches even though she knows him? That scene always gives me the idea that they were strangers, though apparently they are not.
I love how Alex writes. Not just the funniness of it, but every now and then there are a few lines that make my heart ache because they are so beautiful (such as you are the only person who has understood even a whisper of me, and I will tell you that I am the only person who has understood even a whisper of you. p. 218) and it's so sad (yet fitting to the tone of the book) that he and Jonathan end their relationship. In a way, I hope that they break that promise to each other also.
I'm sorry if this has all been discussed previously, I only just joined.
Like - what did the Well-Regarded Rabbi's twins really see? Somewhere in the book it's mentioned that never told anyone what they saw when the wagon went down in the river Brod. What was it?
Or when She-who-is-not-Augustine shows them a photo of a Eli and Hershel, the best friends from Kolki, and tells them how Eli had to kill Hershel, did she know that it was Alex's Grandfather? And why is Alex's Grandfather called Alexander if he really is Eli, did he change his name afterwards? And what do you think Alex's Grandfather and She-who-is-not-Augustine spoke about when they sent Alex and Jonathan out?
While outside (after dehusking the corn, was it?) Alex and Jonathan speak about memories and Alex also reads a few pages out of Jonathan's diary, and the excerpt we get to see is exactly the same as the bit in Grandfather's letter to Jonathan at the end. Is this because Jonathan is actually busy writing the book while on the journey, and it's a sort of odd time warp?
And Safran, Jonathan's Grandfather. It's said how his dead arm saved him from saving his one true love in the river Brod, and later it's confirmed that Zosha's baby is meant. And how he didn't love his mother, or the Gypsy Girl, or Zosha, because he thought he could love only one. Jonathan said that was why he couldn't tell his Grandmother about the search for Augustine, because following that logic, his Grandfather wouldn't have loved his Grandmother either. But if Zosha's baby was Safran's one true love, then why did Jonathan think he would have loved Augustine?
Of course, the flashbacks are all Jonathan's imagination but still.
There's that moment when She who is not Augustine recounts what happened to "her sister" when the Nazis came, and how all their neighbors turned from here when she cried for help, out of fear for their own family. And Alex's Grandfather says he would try to forgive them, he's adamant about it, and she is sure she can't. And then you find out why they think that way, and it explains Alex's Grandfather so well. I'm not sure why they had to make him into a Jew in the movie, though that works well too.
Then there is She-who-is-not-Augustine - Lista P, in other words. She recounts the story of "her sister" and how she was pregnant. We can safely assume that she was also the widow, the first virgin who slept with Safran and that Lista was the pregnant one, not her sister. But then, by whom is she pregnant by? It had been years since she and Safran slept together, after all.
And I'm always upset when the book ends so abruptly because we never really find out about how Safran escaped the Nazis and how Augustine saved him. But in a way that's also what makes the book so intriguing.
Then there is Yankel D, The disgraced usurer - did I completely miss why exactly he was disgraced, or was that not mentioned?
As to the movie, I'm always a bit confused by the part where Grandfather is just about to be killed by the Nazis and Lista is standing behind the soldiers watching. Was she not also a Jew? How did she manage to escape and come to live in that house of memories? In the movie, she and Baruch know each other, they're from the same shtetl, so how did it come to pass that he is about to shot and Lista is not, and she quietly watches even though she knows him? That scene always gives me the idea that they were strangers, though apparently they are not.
I love how Alex writes. Not just the funniness of it, but every now and then there are a few lines that make my heart ache because they are so beautiful (such as you are the only person who has understood even a whisper of me, and I will tell you that I am the only person who has understood even a whisper of you. p. 218) and it's so sad (yet fitting to the tone of the book) that he and Jonathan end their relationship. In a way, I hope that they break that promise to each other also.
I'm sorry if this has all been discussed previously, I only just joined.