Reposting this 2012 review because the Kindle Edition is on the the Kindle Deals of the day and on sale for $2.99 today only.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an intense novel about a boy who has lost his father in one of the twin towers on 9/11. The majority of the novel is made up of the inner workings of this boy’s mind as he attempts to navigate through life carrying the burden of the tragedy of his father’s death. Oscar is a very smart boy and there are times where you would think that his thoughts belong more to an adult, but there are also times when his fragility and youth are revealed. While the boy is the main narrator, there are times when the boy’s grandmother and grandfather reveal their thoughts through the form of a letter.
This book is not a tragedy in and of itself and there are times where the author inserts some comedy. While there certainly are moments that are very sad, I wouldn’t describe the novel as a sad/depressing novel, instead a very emotional novel that makes you think deeply about the human condition. Normally, I applaud an author that chooses to use multiple narrators and give various points of view; however, I am not sure if I fully appreciated the thoughts that the grandmother and grandfather shared with their son and grandson through letters. Even though you could argue that these letters would never necessarily be sent to the recipient, I would, myself, be traumatized a bit to read about some of these experiences and thoughts if they were coming from my grandparents.
All in all, I liked the novel and am curious to find out how it was made into a movie. Since most of the novel was made up of the musings of a little boy, I am anxious to see if they effectively can carry out the feel of the novel onto the silver screen. Because I remember hearing some of the reviews for the movie, I have a feeling that the movie makers are less than successful even with the strong cast that they hire for the movie.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Purchase Links: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audible.com Audiobook
I watched to movie a few nights ago. I was not surprised that they had to leave out some of the events from the novel to make the movie work but I was disappointed with how they changed the events that they did include so that the movie would flow better. There were some scenes that I thought were written well and, while I didn’t like how the movie necessarily got to the end, I did like the ending. All in all, the pictures that I made in my head were far superior to the ones that they could/had time to describe in the movie so I would have been just as well off if not better off without having seen the movie.