The Conversations We Weren't Having- a Book Review of Jonathan S. Foer's novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

I  wanted to write a beautiful, woven story of how a novel can touch a person's heart, but I don't have the words.  Instead, I will tell you about a novel by a guy who has a knack for using language as a way to communicate the sadness, humor, shame, and pride of the human condition.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one of those books that will stay with me for a long time to come.

The book starts off innocently enough by introducing us to the sweet and misunderstood genius of Oskar Schell, our nine-year old narrator. He talks about his inventions, his interests, and above all his father who tragically lost his life in the 9-11 World Trade Center attacks.  It becomes clear that Oskar is lost and in despair.  Though he never says it, he is depressed in every sense of the world.  His waking memories all seem be memories of his father, whom he desperately wants back. After living in the mind of the naive narrator, the reader desperately wants Oskar's Dad back as well. 

As the book progresses, we see Oskar turns to his comforts: the letters he writes to famous people in an effort to reach out to the unreachable, the solitude of his hobbies, the careful preservation of his father's memory. Oskar finds a vase in his father's closet and within lies the key (both a physical key and a metaphorical one) to becoming closer to his dad.  He sets out on a journey to find the box that the key opens using the only clue left to him: the name Black.

For almost eight months, Oskar searches for the owner of the key in the hopes that this journey would bring him closer to his father. The boy does not have a strong relationship to his mother, but finds comfort in his grandmother who is as depressed as he is. Interwoven are the stories of his grandparents: a silent grandfather who left his wife before Oskar's father was born.  Their stories are heavy with loss, burden, and loneliness.  It seems that every character in the novel is searching for someone or something. No one can move on, but how can they when they're living in the aftermath of death.

This is a depressing novel.  Jonathon Foer shows that anyone of any age can feel grave sadness.  But it is a beautiful novel because it explores the possibilities.  Oskar explores more of the world in eight months than I have done in my lifetime.  It shows that there are second chances, that people do crazy things when they are in love, that people do crazier things when they are trapped.  It showed that though we have to come to terms with the truth, we can also wish for the impossible.  I turned the last page, knowing that Oskar might find what he was truly searching for: peace. 

The various pictures, crossed words, buried text only enhance the reader's understanding.  Sympathy comes in all forms of clarity.  And by the end, the reader certainly is left feeling like a nine year old boy, hopelessly clinging onto the last shred of his father.  The naivety of Oskar resonates throughout, but we too are naive, for not realizing that this is all he knows to believe.  He is guided by his faith that there is some way to find his father again.  By the last page, I put the book down feelings as though it could've been OK.

For all these words, my conclusion boils down to one sentence. I thought the book was good.

If you read/have read it, share your thoughts!