Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

31 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 against another edition

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

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

nikkiisreading's review against another edition

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 against another edition

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

sylexlibris's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death of parent, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Grief

mdavis26's review against another edition

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

fatfrog's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Self harm, and Abandonment

laurenaf's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm

hannahmai's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm