Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel
You can view this book's Amazon detail page here.
Tags: 9-11, coming of age, self-discovery
- Started reading:
- 20th February 2007
- Finished reading:
- 3rd March 2007
Review
Rating: 9
Bought this book off amazon.com, apparently from the Denver Public Library.
If youve never heard of this author, get this book and also his first novel, Everything is Illuminated, now a major motion picture. I didnt know it was a book, and only saw the movie, I wish I wouldve read the book before I saw the movie, I think I mightve gotten more out of it, but that was a pretty kickass movie.
This is Foer’s second novel, and it was pretty good. It is about a 9 year old boy, Oskar, whose father died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. In a vase in his dad’s closet, Oskar finds a key in an envelope. Searching for closure on his father’s death, he embarks on a journey around New York, trying to find the lock that the key belongs to, believing it will tell him more about his father.
I really liked this book. Like his first novel, this was a journey of self discovery involving a boy searching for his father’s spirit, despite the fact that both the boy and his father were atheists. The book does some bouncing back between present day and WWII Dresden, as his grandparents are survivors of the firebombing of Dresden. The characters are very well thought out, and the story all falls into place at the end. The book is much less about the key and lock, and is really a book about fathers and sons. A strong recommendation on this one.
