Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Ok so my number one rule has always been "read the book before you see the movie". That being said, I just finished Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The narrator is eight year old Oskar Schell who can only be described as unique. He has many different talents and fancies himself as an entrepreneur in many different ways. He lives in New York City with his mother and father, and his paternal grandmother who lives in the apartment building across the street. Oskar endures a horrible tragedy when his father is killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Oskar is the last person to hear his father’s voice- he had called and left messages on their phone right before the tower collapsed. He keeps the tapes hidden from his own mother and grandmother, secretly out of shame. Finding it hard to deal with the death of his father, Oskar frequents his closet and lies in his old suits. He is looking through his father's things one night when he discovers a key with the mysterious label "Black" written on it. He sees the key as a challenge- find the person who it belongs to and learn more about their connection to his father. He uses the most practical method he can think of, visit every "Black" household listed in the phonebook in alphabetical order and ask if they knew his father.

What I really liked this book was that had a story within the story. Combined with Oskar's sorrow of 9/11 and losing his father to terrorism, the story mirrors the Dreseden fire-bombings which both of his grandparents were involved in. As Oskar is on his quest to find out what really happened to his father, we learn about his grandparents odd relationship and how Oskar's grandfather was an absentee father to his own dad.

I gave this book four stars. I couldn't put it down. The plight of Oskar's family was quite emotional and it made me rethink of how 9/11 affected so many people in different ways. However I have talked to people who said they didn't like the book. They thought it was pretentious and that Oskar's vocabulary was unrealistic for an eight year old. I really enjoyed this work of realistic fiction, but I'm not sure that they will be able to capture the essence of this bestseller in a movie.Whatever the case, I will be ready to dive into Foer's next novel!