Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Discussion

Welcome again everyone! I am happy to begin the second meeting of the book club, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Just to bullet point it, I liked the book. It was a harder read for me than last month, but it was probably just because I found the subject matter grimmer than our previous title with the main plot revolving around the September 11th attacks. Even though the attacks don’t take place over the course of the story, they are still in focus in that the story takes place in 2003 when emotions were still high and of course because the main character, Oskar, lost a family member and spends the majority of the story trying to make sense of the loss.

In some pieces of literature, using a relatively contemporary historical event to lend emotional weight to the story could feel kind of exploitive, but in this instance, it actually didn’t bother me because it probably made me more sympathetic. As a journalism student at the time, I have vivid memories of that day as I spent it in a newsroom with my peers. As we listened to the news, we talked and dissected every little piece of information and, much like Oskar, we tried to piece together what had happened in an attempt to make sense of it.

Also woven into the book was a counter plot, told via Oskar’s grandparents, about the bombing of Dresden during World War II in which they lost their families and loved ones. This was an interesting way of tying the characters together as well as splitting them apart as you see the differences in how the two generations of family dealt with similar tragedies.

The older generation seemed to all but shut down (Oskar’s grandfather would no longer talk and Oskar’s grandmother would not write) because they felt that reliving things in an attempt to move forward would be too much.

However, Oskar seemed to go almost in the opposite direction. True, he did have some communication problems (the whole thing with hiding the phone) but he went out of his way to try to learn what had happened. He went all around the city talking to people. He channelled his hurt and confusion and frustration into inventions, art and performances.

Maybe it had to do with the generation he was part of or maybe it had to do with the fact that he was younger when such a huge moment in his life occurred or maybe it was just because the people he surrounded himself with didn’t have the means to communicate (I found it interesting that they fixated on his letters to Stephen Hawking, a man who no longer capable of speech). Whatever the case, it was an interesting contrast and one that made me root for Oskar because he was striking out, determined to not repeat the destructive patterns of his grandparents.

Speaking of Oskar, I found him to be a solid main character. While there were occasionally moments where I questioned whether or not he would know or be aware of something, he also had moments where his sad, crazy or silly kid logic felt pretty real and got me involved in what was happening. I don’t know if it was just me, but there was even a part of the book where I temporarily wondered if perhaps history was repeating itself and that his dad had taken off like the grandfather and was still alive somewhere out there.

Anyway, these were my impressions of the book – what were yours? Did you like it? Did you feel attached to any particular character? What parts of it stood out in your mind?

Comment below and we’ll get a dialogue going!