Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

7 reviews

mdavis26's review

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Car accident, Sexual content, Violence, Bullying, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Islamophobia, Self harm, and Vomit

quinnpjd930's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Lots of super great emotional and poignant parts in this book, but I was pretty off-put by the frequent dropping of the R-slur, and casual references to incest, pedophilia, sexual trauma, and how shockingly fine everyone was with a nine year old walking around NYC alone? Part mesmerizing and part bizarre… I understand the hype but I feel this missed the mark for me a bit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Grief, Bullying, Mental illness, Child death, Car accident, Adult/minor relationship, War, Xenophobia, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Pregnancy, Pedophilia, and Miscarriage

augustst's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, War, Death, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm and Bullying

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Incest

abiveeke's review

challenging emotional hopeful sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Grief

gymbeannz's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death of parent and Self harm

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Bullying, Cursing, Incest, Suicide, and War

mikayla_ruth's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

After his father dies in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, nine year old Oskar embarks on a many-month quest throughout New York City searching for the lock into which the key left behind by his father fits. While not explicitly stated, it becomes apparent that Oskar’s municipal expedition is really an attempt to process his own inner trauma and grief. Intertwining two stories, Foer also depicts a couple dealing with, or perhaps avoiding, grief, relational complexity, and loss. The two stories come crashing together at the final point of Oskar’s  city adventure - his fathers grave.

I started this book anticipating a National Treasureesque story told in the voice of a nine-year old boy. Expecting an exciting, light-hearted, adventure story, I was left unsatisfied.

Instead, through the stories of those who are learning to grieve, are grieving, and have failed to grieve, Foer shows the heavy, sometimes inexplicable emotions that come with pain and loss. As an exploration of the emotional effects of crises on human hearts, I liked it more.

Why I didn’t like it:
- At times, some of the details about Oskar seemed unbelievable. He has a lot of freedom in a lot of city for a nine year old. And he has some thoughts that show more maturity than nine years would give. Maybe I would have trusted his process more if he were eleven or twelve, but this made the story less believable for me.

-The couple’s sub plot is sad, dysfunctional and, at times, frustrating. While it does seem plausible if you followed some poor decisions out to their end, I personally am unsure if it made me want to read the book.

-  While not a hard read, it is not fast paced and can be hard to follow.

Things I liked:
- Foer utilizes various voice styles, page layout methods, and artistic tools throughout the novel to capture the story’s emotion.

- The ending resolves the story and does not. It leaves you with emotion more than conclusion. I liked it.

- Fore’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is unique in its voice and purpose. It was not my favorite book to read and I don’t think I would reread it. But after finishing the book and processing its entirety, I appreciate it more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content, Self harm, Mental illness, and Adult/minor relationship

skudiklier's review

emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Grief, Self harm, Violence, Animal death, and Bullying

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Cursing

Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Islamophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia