Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

When I first started reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer I thought it was going to be the best book I'd read in the last few years. Between the author’s unique style (something I always appreciate) and a story that immediately peeked my interest, it really had that kind of potential. And you can probably see where this is going, but by the time I finished the book it fell short of being an all-time great. That said, I did still enjoy the story and it’s well worth recommending.

The book’s narrator is Oskar Schell, a highly intelligent, but quirky nine-year old boy living in New York with his mother and paternal grandmother (who actually lives in the building next door). Oskar’s father died in the 9/11 tragedy a year before, and early in the story Oskar finds a mysterious key in a vase in his father’s closet. The young narrator then embarks on a quest to find out what the key opens. On this seemingly impossible journey around New York (since the key doesn’t fit any obvious locks) he meets a cast of characters, but to his frustration they also have no idea what the key unlocks.

The other story in the book is told in the form of letters from both Oskar’s grandmother and his grandfather, who abandoned his wife and unborn child (Oskar’s father) many years before. The grandfather’s story is also one of tragedy as he lived through the Dresden bombings during World War II and lost everything that was dear to him. He ends up in America shortly after the war, but has become a mute. He meets Oskar’s grandmother and they end up married, but his inability to let go of the past eventually spells their doom.

I thought that the parallels between Oskar’s obsession over his father’s death and how his grandfather holds on to what he lost were interesting. The grandfather’s story shows that you have to move on or you’ll ruin the life you still have to live. Oskar doesn’t want to move on and especially doesn’t want his mother to move on (or start the new relationship she's in), but we see the consequences of that behavior through his grandparents. The other part of the book that I thought was powerful were the voicemails that Oskar’s father left on their home answering machine as he was trapped inside the World Trade Center. The book is not overly filled with 9/11 imagery, which is a good thing because it’s a topic that’s still a bit tricky to work into fiction. But the voicemails, which are slowly revealed throughout the book, bring the reader back to that day, and while incredibly sad, show us where Oskar’s mindset is as he struggles with his loss.

My main critiques of the book all come with a SPOILER ALERT. First, I thought the payoff with the key was a little weak. I think I get where the author was going, but it was less than rewarding for Oskar to discover it was just a random key that was left in a vase his father bought. I also had some problems with the grandfather’s character, who I don't think was developed very well, especially once he comes back into the picture. The whole mute thing and having to write everything in notepads was a little to gimmicky for me. And despite my comment in the beginning about liking the unique style, I did think that it began to be a little much. Like Safran Foer (do I need to use both names?) was trying a little too hard to be different.

On a related note, the movie based on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was recently nominated for an Academy Award for best picture. I find this surprising 1) because I think that many parts of the book wouldn’t translate very well to film, and what makes the book good is probably going to be lost on screen and 2) the kid playing Oskar has the most annoying voice in the previews, which means we'll probably skip this one.

Next Up: The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan