Extremely Loud Incredibly Close
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005)
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer, born in Washington DC in 1977, faced a challenge when writing ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’; he had to equal his acclaimed debut ‘Everything Is Illuminated’ (2002). He definitely succeeded; his second novel does not just live up to, but exceeds expectations. For the second time Foer has managed to create a work of genius.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close tells the story of Oskar Schell, a highly intelligent, single-minded, tenacious nine year old boy. Oskar often has ‘heavy boots’, the term he uses to describe feeling down; he is struggling with the loss of his father, who was a victim of the 9/11 attacks. His mother already has a new man in her life and Oskar feels she is moving on too quickly. As a result he feels disconnected from her, but he is very close to his grandmother who lives across the street.
A year after his father’s tragic death, Oskar finds a vase his father’s closet and when he accidentally breaks it, he stumbles upon an envelope with ‘Black’ written on it and a key …show more content…
I can hardly imagine any real nine year old seriously thinking about subjects like atheism and raisons d’être, realizing ‘I just couldn’t be dead any longer’ or asking a strange adult woman ‘Could we kiss for a little bit?’ However, Oskar’s charm and enchantment make you want to believe in him so much that you easily dismiss this implausibility and just indulge in his delightful, exceptional way of thinking. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry; he makes you think and he makes you care. Without a doubt, the most goose-pimple provoking aspect of Oskar’s story is his secret; he is the only one who knows about his father’s final messages on the answering machine. While his father called from the burning building, Oskar was home alone and afraid to pick up. Subsequently, he hid the messages from his mother wanting to protect
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer, born in Washington DC in 1977, faced a challenge when writing ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’; he had to equal his acclaimed debut ‘Everything Is Illuminated’ (2002). He definitely succeeded; his second novel does not just live up to, but exceeds expectations. For the second time Foer has managed to create a work of genius.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close tells the story of Oskar Schell, a highly intelligent, single-minded, tenacious nine year old boy. Oskar often has ‘heavy boots’, the term he uses to describe feeling down; he is struggling with the loss of his father, who was a victim of the 9/11 attacks. His mother already has a new man in her life and Oskar feels she is moving on too quickly. As a result he feels disconnected from her, but he is very close to his grandmother who lives across the street.
A year after his father’s tragic death, Oskar finds a vase his father’s closet and when he accidentally breaks it, he stumbles upon an envelope with ‘Black’ written on it and a key …show more content…
I can hardly imagine any real nine year old seriously thinking about subjects like atheism and raisons d’être, realizing ‘I just couldn’t be dead any longer’ or asking a strange adult woman ‘Could we kiss for a little bit?’ However, Oskar’s charm and enchantment make you want to believe in him so much that you easily dismiss this implausibility and just indulge in his delightful, exceptional way of thinking. He makes you laugh and he makes you cry; he makes you think and he makes you care. Without a doubt, the most goose-pimple provoking aspect of Oskar’s story is his secret; he is the only one who knows about his father’s final messages on the answering machine. While his father called from the burning building, Oskar was home alone and afraid to pick up. Subsequently, he hid the messages from his mother wanting to protect