Read, Run, Ramble

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an amazing book with rich characters and deep, interwoven stories. I enjoyed the book and its narrator (an intelligent, hurting, young boy searching for meaning in his father’s death as well as trying to keep him “alive”) from page one.

Oskar Schell is a smart, capable, lovable, precocious young man. He defines himself in many ways throughout the book, but readers will see a heart-broken little boy who needs answers and love.

Foer uses many non-traditional styles of writing to convey the thoughts, feelings, and personalities of his characters. I found these styles enriching to the stories he has created.

Readers will follow Oskar on his journey and will meet many diverse characters with many layers - their own pain; their own stories. Each connects to Oskar in a different, but meaningful way.

There are a few key elements that went unresolved for me. I’m not sure if I’m missing something or if the author did indeed leave them to the “imagination”; however, I felt they needed/deserved a little more clarification/attention. This is probably the one thing keeping me from going up to 5 stars.

Foer tackles more than one hard and ugly situation in his novel, but does so with clarity, humor, empathy, and caring. I’d recommend this book to anyone who can read - wonderful writing, incredible story, amazing characters, thoughtful author, and all of it together produces an excellent novel.