very interested in irina. all we have is ilya's interpretation of her and, though children are definitely more aware of things than we often expect, he's such an unreliable narrator with regards to her.
she was almost definitely more than just "funny, beautiful, sad"—also a bit messy at the very least—but she died when Ilya was too young to hold all the sides of her. so we (and shane) can only access this odd sanitised and sanctified version of her that exists in his memory (in a way, quite similar to how he views Shane a lot of the time I would argue, at least at first)
and because of his estrangement from his brother and the general fissure between Ilya and the Russia of it all, Shane will never get more than Ilya's unreliable memory? and there's also a part of me that thinks he wouldn't even realise that there's more to it than that, or that Ilya is perhaps not able to completely accurately represent the past (if he even does at all, I think Ilya talks about Russia and Irina very little). and how all of these limitations to Shane's understanding almost reinforces ilya's alienation?
I guess, exile is still exile even if it's self-inflicted and overall the best option for your health and happiness