Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Incredibly Intelligent and Extremely Emotional

A good book changes the course of time. It speeds it up, slows it down, and contorts it in so many ways that with each passing moment you sink deeper into its pages and become totally absorbed in its twists and turns. Every full stop hails a new masterpiece and every inverted comma welcomes a revelation of emotion.

Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly close is one of these books.

Many a critic has claimed that the principal character, Oskar, is a precocious young boy. I take a different viewpoint. Yes, he is extremely bright and isn't afraid to show it, but he also demonstrates compassion and understanding beyond what many nine years olds would be able to grasp.

Oskar's Father, Thomas Schell, dies in 9/11 and Oskar is left struggling to cope with the loss of his close friend and parent. When Oskar finds a key in his father's belongings in an envelope entitled "Black" he takes it as a challenge left by his father, in the form of the games they used to play around New York. After this, Oscar finds himself travelling along a path of education and disappointment as he reaches out to many "Blacks" along the way.

I can see why some may find the ending to this book disappointing, but I found it entirely fitting, as It revealed just how fragile our instincts can be, and how we will cling to anything of minute significance left by a loved one. Letting go can be the hardest thing.

At first I found the side plot about Oscar's grandparents disconcerting, although I soon realised that it was incredibly clever and extremely moving, as it illustrated the way every relationship is different and made me think about all of the ways that the people who died in 9/11 would have had their own relationships and life stories - each one incredibly different and extremely personal.

The contrast of 9/11 with the Dresden bombing was incredibly poignant, and served to help me understand how an act of terrorism and a seemingly different, but just as devastating, act of warfare can tear families apart and change the course of time just as much.

Not many books can make someone think about a subject in so much detail while still forming an attachment so strong with a character that they feel they could reach into the page and hug them, or want to wipe the tears from their eyes. Oscar will stay with me for a lifetime, in the same way that Jack from Emma Donoghue's "Room" or Mariam from Kahled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns" will. Overall a beautifully written book, this novel will have you thinking and mourning for a very long time, but also smiling and jumping for joy at the revelations made about the human race between its pages.