Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

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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fatfrog's review

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emotional sad 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? Yes

4.25

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lulu_readsalot's review

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sad slow-paced

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

2.5

Written in a very slow flow, you can feel this kid's pain, but like also talking with a kid, it has a very pronounced roundabout way, which prevented me from connecting with the characters and the plot. Everything was extremely this or incredibly the other, I know it is the title, but I don't need to read it every other page.

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laurenaf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

This gave me heavy boots. This book is about loss, pain, and the grief of losing someone you love unexpectedly. Set from the perspective of an 8 year old makes it that much sadder, because at that age you still don’t fully understand death or typically have to experience it, and to read that is just gut wrenching. I enjoyed all the characters because they all seemed pretty well developed. I think the use of multiple points of view is interesting, but at times the grandpas perspective vs. the grandmas was confusing and/or slow, I much preferred Oscars adventures. That being said I do understand that the multiple stories was to show the multiple ways of loss and how people handle it differently which was interesting, it just could have been done a little better. There were also some details through which were strange/uncomfortable. I feel like being written in 2005 some of the language was acceptable then but has since been deemed disrespectful from society (i.e. stereotypical thoughts and phrases regarding different races and people w disabilities). I also found the relationship between Oscar and Abby Black a little uncomfortable- specifically the parts where the 40 year old woman wanted to kiss the 9 year old?? That just felt strange and unnecessary. Overall I enjoyed the main story but the other parts distracted me from loving this book entirely.

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hannahmai's review

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

A book with the most unique format I've ever read, which sometimes made it really confusing, but it all coming together at the end made it completely worth it. The writing was so clever and you really got a rich image and look into the characters minds.

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lily_eames's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

This is one of the most unique, interesting books I’ve ever read. The structure is unlike anything else. Can I honestly say that I enjoyed every part of it? Nope. I was even severely uncomfortable at times. However, it was still incredibly well written.

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