F is for Foer

Have you ever read a book and just couldn't wait to get to the end for some reason. Maybe you wanted to find out if the bad guy got caught or the lovers found each other again or maybe the book just stunk and you wanted it to be over. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is NOT one of those books. This is a book I never wanted to end. I wanted to read it every day. I wanted the story to go on forever.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer. Our hero is Oskar Schell. Oskar is smart, quirky, precocious, different, sad and, did I mention, 8 years-old. Oskar is an inventor. He invents things that will keep his family and friends and the whole world safe. Oskar is consumed with this after losing his father. Oskar is really consumed with many different things after the death of his father. One of Oskar's obsessions is "inventing" ways his father died. He's not sure he'll ever really rest again until he knows exactly what happened on that morning his father was attending a breakfast meeting at Windows on the World. Oskar needs to know what happened in that restaurant on September 11, 2001. Oskar needs to figure out what happened in the minutes following that last recorded message from his dad.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is not what I would consider a 9/11 novel. It's not about that tragic day as much as it is about a young boy dealing with the aftermath. Foer's novel is a look into the life of Oskar's whole family. There's Oskar who can't move on following the tragedy, Oskar's mom, who he fears is moving on and Oskar's grandma, who has a fascinating story all her own. There are also the many people Oskar meets on his journey to learn more about his father.

I know my review of this book is doing it absolutely no justice. I throw out the term 9/11 and people will have one idea of the book, but it's wrong. I say that Oskar wanders the boroughs of New York on a quest and you'll get another wrong idea. If I mentioned Oskar's grandparents and how and when they fled Germany, you'll get another idea, and it's wrong. All I can say is that I loved Oskar. I loved his bird seed shirt invention. I loved his jewelry making. I loved his made up words so he wouldn't curse. I was sad with Oskar. I was frightened with Oskar. I was excited with Oskar. I walked in Oskar's "heavy boots."

Read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close if you remember how you felt that morning. Read it if you've lost someone you love and you just can't get past that feeling of trudging uphill, through quicksand in very heavy boots. Read it if you want to laugh or need to cry. Read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer for all the things it is and all the things it isn't.