Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Nine year old Oskar Schell's father has died in the World Trade Center on September 11th. Oskar has a really hard time accepting his death and is desperate to understand his dad's last minutes. When he discovers a mysterious key in his father's closet he sets out on a quest to discover what it unlocks.

I've had a copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel by Jonathan Safran Foer on my shelves for years.  I got my copy from Paperback Swap shortly after I joined. I had read that it was by the husband of author Nicole Krauss, who wrote The History of Love , which I just adored. (Sadly for you, I read it pre-blogging, but you can see the lovely TRISH's picture of it up there in my header!) I had also heard that it had a similar writing style, something unique that made it not a straightforward plot, as with The History of Love. I was sure I'd love it. So my copy came and it sat there a couple years, and then Trish (same Trish) posted this review and I added it to my "Ok, now you GOTTA read it (mental) pile." And then some more time passed. And then we moved. And then we moved again. And then I started to read it and I just wasn't hooked. I read about half and frankly, Oskar annoyed me. His mother, who is very very hands off even when I felt she shouldn't be, bugged me. His grandparents have all this crazy, well, crazy. The book got buried under a pile of sewing while I read other things.

I decided I needed to finish it. I needed to see how it all ended and how it came together in such a way that left Trish so in love with the book. I took it with me one day to pick up the Pirate from school. I typically get to read about two pages while waiting in line (some days, this is all the reading I do.) Well. Something got my attention and I was hooked. I spent all my spare reading time on this one for the next few days, and finally when I had about 30 pages to go I just sat down and read to the end. And, I was a bit underwhelmed. In the end, it was more about Oskar than about his quest and I really wanted the quest to end differently, ya know?

Oskar is certainly very well defined. He has a distinct voice and personality. The quirkiness of the book- the pictures, the markings, the different fonts- fit in seamlessly and perfectly. The part about the bombing of Dresden is harrowing (That link is even more so. Gah.) The writing is terrific. But for me, I think I've decided I prefer plot to introspection. (Sorry, Trish.)

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Houghton Mifflin Company
2005
326 pages



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