Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Reviewed by Mike Degen

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Also available in the Drew University Library Popular Literature Collection: POP LIT FOE   

            To Oskar Schell, the world is a canvas of what-ifs. As is the case with most children, Oskar’s imagination is a tangible and poignant medium for invention. Oskar’s desire to protect those he cares for – he dreams of extra long ambulances that connect people to the hospital all times, bird seed shirts to attract birds to carry people to safety -  is only solidified by the recent nightmare of September 11^th, the worst day, where his father lost his life in one of the World Trade Center buildings. After such a profound tragedy, after losing the closest and most influential person in his life, how then does Oskar, nine years old, a self-proclaimed atheist, jewelry maker, sophisticate, and constant dreamer find any solace in reality?

            The answer, he believes, lies in finding the lock to a key that he’d discovered in his father’s closet. This quest leads Oskar through one of the biggest cities in the world, New York. Amidst his treks through the streets of the five city boroughs, replies to his letters from the likes of Ringo Starr and Stephen Hawking, a school  production of Hamlet and a grandmother who may or may not be going crazy, Oskar’s search for closure opens up an entirely new world altogether.

Enter Jonathan Safran Foer’s highly anticipated second novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. In its styled semblance of a travelogue is where this book ceases to be ordinary. In the typical Foer tradition, established by his resounding debut Everything Is Illuminated, the pains of experience and quirks of humanity are married with his ever-pursuing eye for the poetic.

The novel’s heavy concentration on the universality of dealing with loss and the subsequent attempts by people to refill the voids created by it is counterbalanced beautifully by Foer’s characters, as unique and varied as Manhattan itself. Foer shows how, in fits of grievance, humans will long to reverse time, as if life were a movie, to take back things said or done. This is a predominant sentiment amongst nearly every character in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, yet in the way they are all impossibly connected by their loss also reminds us to embrace and cherish the life and time we still have as well. Lest we forget, the protagonist is only nine years old, and the reader will laugh aloud as he tells a forty year old woman whom he has just met how beautiful she is, along the same thread of dialogue involving a discussion about the contents of dust and the incredible memory of elephants.

All of these elements are orchestrated with a creative sleight of hand, mediated elegantly, and more than rewarding for a reader. Foer’s words parade colorfully down each page and herald the entrance of an exciting and important new author. Every sentence, every photograph, each empty space of the novel speaks as truly and as purposefully as intended.

It was one of Oskar’s imaginative inventions to have safety nets laid down everywhere in the city so that people would always have a sense of security. With Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer does just this and secures his audience by way of his wonderful writing perspective. With “nets” in place, his novel takes off, soaring as high—if not higher—as the best life-affirming tale you’ve read, and more importantly, without fear of falling, you can relax and fully appreciate the view from above.