Perhaps you caught the Jonathan Safran Foer craze in the mid-2000s, with the emergence of his extremely popular novel “Everything is Illuminated” and the accompanying movie. His lesser-known 2005 novel, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” now takes the spotlight as the movie adaptation opens in theaters this week.
The novel, although thematically timeless, takes renewed relevance after the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Foer examines the attacks through the naive eyes of 9-year-old Oskar Schell, whose father Thomas died in the crash. Oskar’s stream-of-consciousness narrative carries the bulk of the novel, while letters, photos and journal entries supplement and clarify his story.
After his father’s death, Oskar becomes convinced that Thomas left behind a message. Thomas would often play games with Oskar, giving him clues and sending him on epic hunts around New York City. With his father gone and the last puzzle unfinished, Oskar spends the book trying to put together the pieces. In the process of his search, Oskar grows farther away from his mother, convinced she cannot understand his struggle and that she has already moved on from her husband’s death.
Foer’s portrayal of Oskar as a young boy trying to compensate for the absence of his father makes for a compelling narrative. Oskar appears as a sort of child prodigy, somewhere between savant and eccentric, with a child’s refusal to accept death. Nevertheless, his first-person voice becomes unconvincingly mature when he discusses adult subjects. No child, no matter how brilliant, could philosophize about the meaning of life in such a coherent manner. In contrast, the letters from Oskar’s grandmother and grandfather, relaying their painful, poetic story, are all too realistic. Foer’s most masterful technique is his juxtaposition of the story’s most painful events – the bombing of Dresden and the 9/11 attacks – and the joyful instances – Oskar’s time with his grandmother and his meeting with his neighbor, Mr. Black.
Despite Oskar’s pretentious personality, he brings a charm and a naivety to a subject generally clouded by political bias. Foer’s personal approach to the attacks and to the subject of death in general provides a unique experience. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is certainly worth reading (or a revisit if you have already read it) before you head out to the theaters to see the movie.
-Megan Bounds
