Might Just Be A 'Forever Favourite.' |
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Normally, when one of my quirky, somewhat friends (more of an acquaintence, really) tells me that there is a book out there that I really should read, I kind of take it with the proverbial grain of salt. Well, Austin (NOT Chef Austin) came into the shoppe and told me that I would probably enjoy the author Jonathan Safran Foer. "Who is Jonathan Safran Foer?" I asked. "He's the guy who wrote 'Everything is Illuminated,'" Austin replied. Granted I own a bookstore, I don't know everything, and every book, and every author, and I didn't know Jonathan Safran Foer, or 'Everything is Illuminated,' so he could just as easily have answered, 'elephant, big bird, jimmy-jimmy,' and made as much sense. I'm sorry. I really do try. I know I should know everything, but I don't. I guess I just enjoy dry reds too much. And while we're tangenting, I'm not a psychologist, contrary to popular belief. Okay, I'm getting nowhere with Austin, so I look up Foer's catalogue, and there it is, 'Everything is Illuminated,' along with 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.' After a few more minutes of random conversation, it is decided that I will start with 'Extremely..,' because starting with the author's second book, the one that hasn't won any awards, made no sense what-so-ever. Oddly, this is how my life works. You know, I don't even know if I like the world I live in, or if I'm just too dysfunctional to live in any other world as a result of spending too many years in this one. Tragic? Yes, but funny as well.
So, here goes...
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the story of Oskar Schell, age nine, and his search for a lock. A simple premise, yet not so simple. Oskar lost his father in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Towers. Six months after his father's death, Oskar discovers a vase on the top shelf of the closet in his father's study. And this is odd, because Oskar is a weird little boy.
I was never able to figure out for certain, but there is something wrong with Oskar. He's pretty much a genius, especially to be only nine years old. He's an inventor, a jewelry designer, and he knows the most obscure facts and histories of just about everything. Oskar is also exceptionally precocious, yet has social inadequacies. He is fearless, yet refuses to take public transportation, he will not ride in elevators, go above a certain number of floors, cross bridges, or do any number of daily routines that one is expected to do in Manhattan. I guess I should have mentioned that Oskar lives in Manhattan, so that the public transportation, elevator, floor numbers, and bridges thing might make more sense. It's almost as if Oskar is an autistic savant, but something tells me he's not. He lists what emotion he's feeling at the time in a book, crossing out the one before. He keeps a book of 'stuff that's happened to me' filled with pictures printed off his computer. He gives himself bruises when he's done something wrong or stupid. He counts his lies. When he's depressed, he has heavy boots. When things are good, they're a hundred dollars. So, I'm guessing he goes to a school for the weirdly gifted and emotionally challenged. Another odd little thing, Oskar writes to famous people (he even sent Ringo Starr a pair of bullet proof drumsticks that he invented) and when things get to be 'too much' he re-reads a Stephen Hawking form letter he has memorized. I told you that Oskar was a weird little kid.
Okay, back to the story. Oskar discovers a vase on the top shelf of a closet in his Dad's study. This is weird, because it's the sort of thing that Oskar would not have overlooked all this time. Inside the vase is an envelope with the word 'black' written in blue ink, and inside the envelope is a key.
'Extemely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the story of Oskar Schell's search throughout New YorkCity for the lock that takes the key that he has found, by visiting every person in New York City with the last name 'Black.'
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is also the story of a man who can not/will not talk, who's in love with a girl named Anna, but marries her sister instead. And (yes, I know, yet another 'and') it's the story of Oskar's Grandmother.
Not a difficult read, but a challenging one that is tough in places, as it is three different stories, narrarated from three different voices, all in first person. Now, Oskar's story is told sequentially, whereas the other two narratives are told out of sequence. And all three stories are shuffled together. If this doesn't get confusing enough at times, there are also blank pages, pages of nothing but numbers, pages of scribbles, corrected pages, pages from a mute's notebook, pages that are utterly and completely illegible, along with the fact that you have go back and forth...a lot.
All in all, 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is an amazing read that will take you into the mind of Oskar Schell and the hearts and homes of New York City. You'll witness first hand the Dresden FireBombings, the nuclear strike on Hiroshima, the attacks upon the World Trade Towers. "Extremely...' is a story of love, a story of betrayal and abandonment, a story of obsession, and many stories of pain and heartache.
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' Is the story of Oskar Schell and his search for a lock that he hopes his key will unlock, so that he can find out exactly how his father died, so that he can, finally, stop inventing all the ways his father could have died.
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the story of Oskar Schell...Inventor.. who does not want to be hospitalized.
While I was reading this novel. I was thinking that it was one of the more enjoyable books I had read in a few years. Upon completion, it turned out to be one of the best novels I have read...ever.
I guess there was a reason why I started with the second novel.
Thanks Austin...my quirky friend.
So, here goes...
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the story of Oskar Schell, age nine, and his search for a lock. A simple premise, yet not so simple. Oskar lost his father in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Towers. Six months after his father's death, Oskar discovers a vase on the top shelf of the closet in his father's study. And this is odd, because Oskar is a weird little boy.
I was never able to figure out for certain, but there is something wrong with Oskar. He's pretty much a genius, especially to be only nine years old. He's an inventor, a jewelry designer, and he knows the most obscure facts and histories of just about everything. Oskar is also exceptionally precocious, yet has social inadequacies. He is fearless, yet refuses to take public transportation, he will not ride in elevators, go above a certain number of floors, cross bridges, or do any number of daily routines that one is expected to do in Manhattan. I guess I should have mentioned that Oskar lives in Manhattan, so that the public transportation, elevator, floor numbers, and bridges thing might make more sense. It's almost as if Oskar is an autistic savant, but something tells me he's not. He lists what emotion he's feeling at the time in a book, crossing out the one before. He keeps a book of 'stuff that's happened to me' filled with pictures printed off his computer. He gives himself bruises when he's done something wrong or stupid. He counts his lies. When he's depressed, he has heavy boots. When things are good, they're a hundred dollars. So, I'm guessing he goes to a school for the weirdly gifted and emotionally challenged. Another odd little thing, Oskar writes to famous people (he even sent Ringo Starr a pair of bullet proof drumsticks that he invented) and when things get to be 'too much' he re-reads a Stephen Hawking form letter he has memorized. I told you that Oskar was a weird little kid.
Okay, back to the story. Oskar discovers a vase on the top shelf of a closet in his Dad's study. This is weird, because it's the sort of thing that Oskar would not have overlooked all this time. Inside the vase is an envelope with the word 'black' written in blue ink, and inside the envelope is a key.
'Extemely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the story of Oskar Schell's search throughout New YorkCity for the lock that takes the key that he has found, by visiting every person in New York City with the last name 'Black.'
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is also the story of a man who can not/will not talk, who's in love with a girl named Anna, but marries her sister instead. And (yes, I know, yet another 'and') it's the story of Oskar's Grandmother.
Not a difficult read, but a challenging one that is tough in places, as it is three different stories, narrarated from three different voices, all in first person. Now, Oskar's story is told sequentially, whereas the other two narratives are told out of sequence. And all three stories are shuffled together. If this doesn't get confusing enough at times, there are also blank pages, pages of nothing but numbers, pages of scribbles, corrected pages, pages from a mute's notebook, pages that are utterly and completely illegible, along with the fact that you have go back and forth...a lot.
All in all, 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is an amazing read that will take you into the mind of Oskar Schell and the hearts and homes of New York City. You'll witness first hand the Dresden FireBombings, the nuclear strike on Hiroshima, the attacks upon the World Trade Towers. "Extremely...' is a story of love, a story of betrayal and abandonment, a story of obsession, and many stories of pain and heartache.
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' Is the story of Oskar Schell and his search for a lock that he hopes his key will unlock, so that he can find out exactly how his father died, so that he can, finally, stop inventing all the ways his father could have died.
'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close' is the story of Oskar Schell...Inventor.. who does not want to be hospitalized.
While I was reading this novel. I was thinking that it was one of the more enjoyable books I had read in a few years. Upon completion, it turned out to be one of the best novels I have read...ever.
I guess there was a reason why I started with the second novel.
Thanks Austin...my quirky friend.
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