Title: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (354 pages) Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Published: 2005
After reading and reviewing Everything is Illuminated last semester, I decided I would be on a continual mission to read anything from Foer as soon as possible. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was hardly a disappointment. It lived up to my expectations fully, and now I would like to pass it on to you.
Without mentioning it directly for quite some time, this book addresses the 9/11 tragedy and one boy’s method of coping with the loss of his father. Oskar and his family are of French heritage, and though he has quite a firm grip on the English language for a pre-adolescent, fans of Alex in Everything is Illuminated will be pleased with the subtle linguistic inconsistencies that he manifests. They are comical, at least, and utterly charming, at best. Oskar is a boy of many talents. His business card describes him as:
Inventor, Jewelry Designer, Jewelry Fabricator, Amateur Entomologist, Francophile, Vegan, Origamist, Pacifist, Percussionist, Amateur Astronomer, Computer Consultant, Amateur Archaeologist, Collector of: rare coins, butterflies that died natural deaths, miniature cacti, Beatles memorabilia, semiprecious stones, and other things.
When he discovers a couple of clues in his late father’s bedroom, he begins a nearly year-long search of New York City for answers. Of course, there is no real question, but the searching is his way of reconciling his father’s death. It allows Oskar to reclaim some proximity to him, as his father used to send him on scavenger hunts quite frequently.
One of the most unexpectedly great things about this book is that it contains illustrations and pictures. They do not account for a majority of the pages by any means, but certainly have a considerable presence. They help to explain what Oskar is describing at times, and give the reader insights into his character that he is unable to provide himself, at others.
Again resembling Everything is Illuminated, this book’s chapters are told from several generational points of view. When Oskar is not speaking, we get anecdotes and letters from some of the older members of his family. These are not, of course, all from the present or immediate past. The book has an ability to jump around temporarily, which, while slightly confusing at times, is beyond clever by the time Foer ties it all together.
The symbolism present in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is extremely acute and manages to wrench the deepest sympathies and emotions within the reader. One of the letter-writing characters describes how he ‘lost’ his ‘words.’ He says, ”Want’ was a word I lost early on, which is not to say that I stopped wanting things – I wanted things more – I just stopped being able to express the want.’
He tells us how, when he eventually lost the words ‘yes’ and ‘no,’ he ‘went to a tattoo parlor and had YES written onto the palm of [his] left hand, and NO onto [his] right palm.’ His communication to other people from that point on takes place in the pages of a daybook that he carries, when he is unable to use his palms. Obviously, there are lots of layers of meaning here, waiting to be unraveled.
This is a fantastic novel, and it is short to boot, so no excuses! Foer allows us a porthole into the reservoir of human emotion and feeling; he is a master wordsmith, and, needless to say, I will be waiting with bated breath for his next adventure. I hope you will be too.
