Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Critics

• A nine-year-old and 9/11

  Extremely Loud and Terribly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer hamish Hamilton £14.99, pp320 Jonathan Safran Foer has marked out for himself the territory of literary prodigy. His first novel, Everything Is Illuminated, conceived while an undergraduate, w ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

• A tower of babble

  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer 356pp, Hamish Hamilton, £14.99 Just as the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center instantly epitomised the clash between Islamic fundamentalism and capitalist hubris, the writing of Jon ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

39 Reviews

• 7 people find this helpful

  

  Reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

  This novel from Jonathan Safran Foer (recently named one of Granta Magazine's best young American novelists) deals directly with the aftermath of 9/11 and its effect on the lives of those who were touched by the tragedy. The story is (primarily) told from the viewpoint of youngster Oskar Schell, who ... (continue)

  This novel from Jonathan Safran Foer (recently named one of Granta Magazine's best young American novelists) deals directly with the aftermath of 9/11 and its effect on the lives of those who were touched by the tragedy. The story is (primarily) told from the viewpoint of youngster Oskar Schell, whose father was killed when the World Trade Center collapsed. Oskar, who was closer to his father than any other person in the world, tries to make sense of his loss. When he discovers a vase with a key inside of it in his father's closet, Oskar makes it his mission to understand what his father had to do with the key and with a mysterious person named Black. To that end, he sets out to meet every single person with the last name in New York City.

  Along with Oskar, the story is also revealed through the journals of his grandfather (a man who cannot speak and must write everything down - he left his wife and unborn son many years ago) and letters of his grandmother.

  The book might be a little too precious for some - Oskar is a brilliant young mastermind with great knowledge of certain things but who is clueless on other subjects. There are also several "devices" used to further the plot that some might find annoying, but I rather liked.

  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close actually comes to a bit of an abrupt end - as if Foer got tired of writing and just decided to wrap it all up. Even so, it's easy to get wrapped up in Oskar's story and see it through to the end.

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  moogle said on Mar 28, 2007 about the Hardcover edition | 1 feedback

• 5 people find this helpful

  

  "I spent my life learning to feel less.
  Every day I felt less.
  Is that growing old? Or is it something worse?
  You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness."

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  StealYouAway said on Oct 29, 2008 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 4 people find this helpful

  

  AWESOME, no matter what some people say...

  Some say soppy, some say complacent, some say not original.
  Yes: the starting point is 9/11 and the fall of the towers.
  Yes: Foer plays with the language e modifies the standard book.
  And yes: he's not the first one to do that.
  BUT we should be able to read it with no prejudice, as a good writer can ... (continue)

  Some say soppy, some say complacent, some say not original.
  Yes: the starting point is 9/11 and the fall of the towers.
  Yes: Foer plays with the language e modifies the standard book.
  And yes: he's not the first one to do that.
  BUT we should be able to read it with no prejudice, as a good writer can talk about a tragedy without being soppy, play with his medium without being complacent, or do something that's already been done without just repeating but on the contrary creating something new and valuable.
  And in fact the result is AWESOME!
  Delicate, witty, funny. Characters both complex and interesting, as complete and interesting are their connections one to the other. A tragedy seen through the eyes of a child, who no matter how smart and mature gets only as much.
  So rich and on so many levels to be sometimes hard to follow.

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  maCmq said on Jul 10, 2011 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

• Dolore

  Questo libro mi ha disidratato dalle troppe lacrime

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  Sara said on Jan 31, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  It surely is a well made book but in the end it was so predictable.
  Why you Safran Foer!

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  River said on Jan 23, 2012 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Uno dei libri più belli che io abbia mai letto, sia per la profondità della vicenda che per il personaggio particolare che per lo stile. Me lo avevano consigliato e avevano ragione.

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  Graziagiro said on Jan 12, 2012 about the Paperback edition | 1 feedback

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Book Details

• Rating:
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• English Books
• Audio CD
• Edition: Abridged Ed
• ISBN-10: 0007213212
• ISBN-13: 9780007213214
• Publisher: HarperCollins Audio
• Pub date: Jun 06, 2005
• Also available as: Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Library Binding, Others and eBook
• In other languages: other languages 繁體書, Livres Français, Deutsche Bücher, Libros en Español, Livros em Português, Libri Italiani, Nederlandse Boeken, Svenska böcker

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