Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

55 reviews

noerlund's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

Don’t know about this rating. Some parts of the book I really liked - some parts I really didn’t. I did like Oscars character and point of view - especially his friendship with Mr Black. But part of the ending

(digging up his father’s grave)

kind of ruined it a bit for me. Why was that bit necessary? However I did like that the story didn’t have a typical happy ending,

and that there wasn’t a deeper meaning behind the key

The other POVs (Oscar’s grandfather and grandmother) really didn’t do anything for me. I just found it boring and kind of annoying; why was we supposed to feel so sad for his grandfather;

yes, Anna died, but seriously - he just decided to stop talking and ran away from his family and unborn son?

Overall not a completely bad read, but far from a five star read too. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Violence, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual content

Minor: Self harm

cute_emo_bookboy's review

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

It would be five stars if not the info dumping in some parts of the book :/
Still worth reading though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Self harm

emmaevns's review

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, and War

noura's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Self harm

corinnaxsophie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional lighthearted sad medium-paced

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

5.0

Ein berührendes Buch, das aber durch die “verspielte” Form einfach zu lesen ist. Mir hat die aufgebrochene Art sehr gut gefallen. 
Plot-bezogen blieb mir nur ein großes Fragezeichen bei der etwas seltsam angedeuteten Liebe der Großmutter zu ihrer Schwester, vielleicht kam das aber nur in der Übersetzung so angedeutet romantisch rüber (Ich kenne niemanden, der mit seinen Geschwistern küssen geübt hat?! lol)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent and Death

sejw's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent

Moderate: Mental illness, War, and Sexual content

nikkiisreading's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

First of all, I do not think this is a funny or lighthearted book. It's about grief and pain and all the unpretty things that life is made up of. Secondly, it's a very pretty book. The style is quite bizarre and unlike other books.

I remember reading this as an early teenager and not fully understanding everything. To he honest, there are still things that make little sense to me, yet the overarching themes and feelings hit very different now than during my first read-through. I do thoroughly enjoy the book and am happy to have reread it. 

[Small spoiler below]
One of the things that I find most impressive is the characterization of Oskar. He is obviously autistic, but because it's written from his perspective it is never explicitly mentioned and that's is truly beautifully done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Sexual content, Self harm, War, Xenophobia, Death, and Islamophobia

Moderate: Animal death, Sexism, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Bullying, Car accident, Cancer, and Incest

joshwild's review

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent and Self harm

frietje9's review against another edition

emotional funny slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

jessieanne11's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

I'm a slow reader and I read this in 3 days because I was so captivated. It's a beautifully heart wrenching story of generations of absolutely unfair trauma. Without giving anything away, it shows that the only way to get through grief and loss is for it to have never happened in the first place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, War, Death, Death of parent, and Sexual content