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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel
 
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel (Paperback)

by Jonathan Safran Foer (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 18.95
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel + Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel + History Of Love
Total List Price: CDN$ 53.95
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Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

In this excellent recording of Foer's second novel, Woodman artfully captures the voice of nine-year-old Oskar Schell, the precocious amateur physicist who is trying to uncover clues about his father's death on September 11. Oskar—a self-proclaimed pacifist, tambourine player and Steven Hawking fanatic—is the perfect blend of smart-aleck maturity and youthful innocence. Articulating the large words slowly and carefully with only a hint of childishness, Woodman endearingly conveys the voice of a young child who is trying desperately to sound like an adult. The parallel story lines, beautifully narrated by Ferrone and Caruso, add variety to the imaginative and captivating plot, but they do not translate quite as seamlessly into audio format. Ferrone's wistful growl is perfect for the voice of a man who can no longer speak, but since the listener actually gets to hear the words that the character can only convey by writing on a notepad, his frustrating silence is not as profound. Caruso's brilliant performance as an adoring grandmother is also noteworthy, but the meandering stream-of-consciousness style of her and Ferrone's sections are sometimes hard to follow on audio. Although it is Oskar's poignant, laugh-out-loud narration that make this audio production indispensable.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.


From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Oskar Schell is not your average nine-year-old. A budding inventor, he spends his time imagining wonderful creations. He also collects random photographs for his scrapbook and sends letters to scientists. When his father dies in the World Trade Center collapse, Oskar shifts his boundless energy to a quest for answers. He finds a key hidden in his father's things that doesn't fit any lock in their New York City apartment; its container is labeled "Black." Using flawless kid logic, Oskar sets out to speak to everyone in New York City with the last name of Black. A retired journalist who keeps a card catalog with entries for everyone he's ever met is just one of the colorful characters the boy meets. As in Everything Is Illuminated (Houghton, 2002), Foer takes a dark subject and works in offbeat humor with puns and wordplay. But Extremely Loud pushes further with the inclusion of photographs, illustrations, and mild experiments in typography reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions (Dell, 1973). The humor works as a deceptive, glitzy cover for a fairly serious tale about loss and recovery. For balance, Foer includes the subplot of Oskar's grandfather, who survived the World War II bombing of Dresden. Although this story is not quite as evocative as Oskar's, it does carry forward and connect firmly to the rest of the novel. The two stories finally intersect in a powerful conclusion that will make even the most jaded hearts fall.-Matthew L. Moffett, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel
74% buy the item featured on this page:
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel 3.9 out of 5 stars (23)
CDN$ 13.83
Everything Is Illuminated: A Novel
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CDN$ 12.78
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History Of Love
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Customer Reviews

23 Reviews
5 star:
 (8)
4 star:
 (6)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (23 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "It's always necessary", Jun 15 2006
By J. Borhi - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a beautifully written book about loss & recovery, and expression & humanity within relationships. The way we do & do not communicate with each other. The last few chapters & the ending will pull you by the heart & will not ask for mercy, it is so fulfilling.

There are two types of books: when finished a book & someone asks you how it was, you tell them what it was about; the second type of book, when finished, you can only describe how it made you feel.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is the latter.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Imaginative and wide in scope and emotion, Aug 23 2009
By J. Tobin Garrett (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
As with Foer's first novel, Everything is Illuminated, he uses multi-character narratives and weaves them together to create a disorienting, but ultimately connected set of stories that culminate in a great ending. Although some may call Foer's writing gimmicky with its use of letters, historical bending, images, and stylistic flourishes, he manages to use these for a purpose rather than simply as a way to show off his Writing 101 skills. I'm not sure if he can sustain this for a third novel, as it would be nice to see him evolve.

The story follows the aftermath of a boy who loses his father in the 9/11 towers, but also includes scenes from WW2 and the history of the boy's family. The boy finds a key from his late father and goes in search of what the key opens. In this way the story has elements of a mystery, kind of an elementary detective story with a child as the protagonist. We meet a huge cast of quirky and oddball characters, who have charming conversations and strange personalities. Reading this novel is like piecing a puzzle together, where in the beginning there are so many pieces that you're sure they can't all belong to the same puzzle image, but sure enough as you piece them together and keep going a strong and united image emerges.

A better novel than his first one, I would say. More daring and authentic. Heartbreaking as well as hilariously funny in parts. It has been a novel I have thought about well after finishing it, and I'm sure I'll read it again one day.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Sadly Hilarious, April 16 2009
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was a book I picked up and put back in bookstores several times before a well-timed stint with the flu created the opportunity (ie: time and boredom) for me to read a friend's library copy. I've never been so grateful for the flu.

Foer's charming nine-year-old character was an absolute delight to fall in love with, even though your heart broke for his idealistic innocence. His self-awareness, geekiness and inner commentary will keep you turning pages on an otherwise mediocre storyline. This novel isn't about the mystery of the key - it's about a child's journey through the grief of losing a father in a public tragedy, and the guilt of the secret he's been hiding from his mom.

This book reignited my interest in reading, and I haven't hesitated in recommending it to anyone who loves a good book!
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars My favourite book of all time
I had to read this book for a english class on the fiction of 9/11. I fell in love with it. I am an avid reader and I have yet to read a book that has moved me like this one has... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Heidi Murphy

4.0 out of 5 stars Another demonstration of Foer's skill.
There's a lot to be said for an author like Jonathan Safran Foer, who (if his first two novels are any indication) can break a reader's heart times over and rebuild it with the... Read more
Published 18 months ago by The Rogue Ninja

4.0 out of 5 stars Has its place
By this same author who wrote EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, comes a tale that just had to be told. I can only imagine that critics who have called EXTREMELY LOUD exploitative or... Read more
Published on Jul 23 2007 by Barry Zebrowski

4.0 out of 5 stars Extremely close
Sometimes an author has a theme running through all of his writing -- in the case of Jonathan Safran Foer, it seems to be a quest of the soul. Read more
Published on Mar 25 2007 by E. A Solinas

4.0 out of 5 stars My recent Amazon purchase
I purchased this book, along with the book ME TALK PRETTY by Sedaris, and loved them both. Oskar is the protaginist in this compelling novel by Foer, the author that gave us... Read more
Published on Jan 28 2007 by H. MIller

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely Good and Highly Recommended
Considering Foer's relatively short time spent as a published novelist, this new endeavor should be proof positive that if there are any short comings in his writing they are very... Read more
Published on Dec 28 2006 by J. Ross

2.0 out of 5 stars Bad book
This novel relies too much on the conceit that a 9-year-old boy can be so a) brilliant (ie, he's into physics) and so b) self-aware. Read more
Published on April 16 2006

4.0 out of 5 stars Very artistic
(...)

At any rate, I enjoyed this novel because it was unique and fresh. I was more interested in the grandpa and grandma's story but Oskar's story was interesting as well. Read more

Published on Mar 12 2006

3.0 out of 5 stars Calculated Kitsch?,
The following is excerpted from the rave review in the New York Times Book Review:

''Unless,'' Oskar wonders, ''nothing was a clue. Read more

Published on Aug 3 2005 by clefpalate

5.0 out of 5 stars Calculated Kitsch?
The following is excerpted from the rave review in the New York Times Book Review:

''Unless,'' Oskar wonders, ''nothing was a clue. Read more

Published on Jul 19 2005 by clefpalate

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