"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Review

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

(Please note: this review is listed as "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
on My Bookshelf to the right because Blogger would not
allow me to use an ampersand in the posting label)

By Jonathan Safran Foer

10/10

My Synopsis:

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the story of nine year old Oskar Schell.  Oskar and his mother live in an apartment across the street from his grandmother.  Oskar’s father was killed in the Twin Towers on September 11^th, 2001.  Oskar misses his dad dearly.  When he happens upon a key in an envelope marked “Black” in his dad’s belongings, he conjures the great idea that finding the lock that fits the key will bring him closer to his dad.  So Oskar sets out on an amazing journey and meets some equally amazing people along the way.  Will he find the lock he’s looking for and unlock the details of what happened to his father?

My Opinion:

Ding! Ding! Ding!  Ladies and gentlemen we have a winner.  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a haunting tale.  It doesn’t start off that way though.  It starts off rather slow.  In fact, I almost completely stopped reading it numerous times because I just couldn’t see the direction and purpose of the book.  I actually thought “Wow, what a way to exploit an American tragedy!” at the beginning.  But that was just the beginning.  It was the humor and the eternally inquisitive character of Oskar that kept me coming back and boy, am I glad I did.  Somewhere in this book, and I’m not exactly sure where, possibly where the aforementioned humor meets the overwhelming sadness, is an intensity hereby unrivaled in books I have read.  The colorful characters are all wonderfully written and their interaction with Oskar is magnificent.  Seeing the world through his eyes was a revelation and makes the Twin Towers tragedy and depression in general all the more real.  The post-traumatic stress disorder Oskar suffers from is sweetly sorrowful.  All the actions, emotions and recollections you read throughout the story come together in the end in a surprising and satisfying way.  Rarely does a book bring me to tears as this one did but I can honestly say that I will never look at that fateful day in American history the same again.  Although it gave me “heavy boots”, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is extremely intense and incredibly memorable.  10/10