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A review by cat_book_lady
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
5.0
Such, SUCH an incredibly powerful, quirky, somber, depressing, funny, poignant book about a boy on the spectrum who travels around NYC to find the lock to a key that his father "hid" for him (a game they used to play). But, his father died during the 9/11 bombing, so this becomes more about a search for Oscar's connection to his dad and forgiveness towards himself more so than just trying to solve a puzzle.
I have never been struck speechless more so than by this book, and at one time I had to pull over from driving because I couldn't stop weeping. The audiobook, btw, is spectacular and I highly recommend it because you will hear all the accents, the voices, the sounds of Oscar's speech patterns, and you will not want to stop listening until the final word is read.
In his search, Oscar literally knocks on nearly every door in NYC that has the last name "Black" so he can find someone who knew his dad, and you get to hear all their stories - some are fun, others are heartbreaking, terrible narratives from Hiroshima, from the Dresden bombings, and finally 9/11. Yet you will also read about love, what it means to LIVE, to be afraid, and to take chances. You will also get into the mind of a child on the spectrum that can't possibly fathom the existential crisis into which he is invariably thrown.
This book is not exactly hopeful, but Foer did such a phenomenal job with making this vividly raw and real, and at the end I feel that Oscar found some semblance of peace amidst his mourning.
Please read this book and never forget that this is one story out of thousands of souls that perished on that day. It is one that brings 9/11 back to remembrance where it should stay, and not only that day - but this powerful novel - will haunt you.
I have never been struck speechless more so than by this book, and at one time I had to pull over from driving because I couldn't stop weeping. The audiobook, btw, is spectacular and I highly recommend it because you will hear all the accents, the voices, the sounds of Oscar's speech patterns, and you will not want to stop listening until the final word is read.
In his search, Oscar literally knocks on nearly every door in NYC that has the last name "Black" so he can find someone who knew his dad, and you get to hear all their stories - some are fun, others are heartbreaking, terrible narratives from Hiroshima, from the Dresden bombings, and finally 9/11. Yet you will also read about love, what it means to LIVE, to be afraid, and to take chances. You will also get into the mind of a child on the spectrum that can't possibly fathom the existential crisis into which he is invariably thrown.
This book is not exactly hopeful, but Foer did such a phenomenal job with making this vividly raw and real, and at the end I feel that Oscar found some semblance of peace amidst his mourning.
Please read this book and never forget that this is one story out of thousands of souls that perished on that day. It is one that brings 9/11 back to remembrance where it should stay, and not only that day - but this powerful novel - will haunt you.