Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I made a thread here about his first novel, only one person responded.
Its the kind of book you almost wish you could offer to pay back the purchase price to a complete stranger if they find themselves unmoved . You can read the first chapter free at www.jonathansafranfoer.com.
Its beautiful. Trust me, take a chance.
As someone for whom demand outstrips supply as good reading is concerned I may just obey your request.
I feel the same way about a book called ‘Cloud Atlas’. A truly brilliant and unique book.
The link doesn’t appear to work, but I’m always impressed when people mention one particular book. I’ve heard good things about this one elsewhere too. Will check it out [she said, sighing, as she realized she owns more books than she can read in her lifetime].
Sounds interesting. I just looked it up on Amazon and it said it’s a follow-up to Everything Is Illuminated. Have you read that one? Should it be read before going onto Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?
Cloud Atlas sounds very interesting as well. I’ll be on the lookout for both.
I just read a little bit of Everything Is Illuminated at Amazon. Is it supposed to be this funny? The narrator sounds like one of the Wild and Crazy Guys. 
Echoing bclouse, should we read this one first?
So it goes on and on like that?
This looks like a case where it’s not that I “don’t get it” rather that I am not in the target audience.
The book is supposed to be written by Foer’s Russian guide, Alex, who doesn’t speak English as fluently as he believes he does.
bclouse : It’s a follow up only in the sense that it’s Foer’s second novel. Although the two are not connected plotwise, *Everything is Illuminated * is also a great book, funny and heartbreaking as well.
By the way, it will be released this year as a film, directed by Liev Schreiber and starring Elijah Wood.
And, re the narration in …Illuminated , what Little Nemo said.
I’m about halfway through Everything Is Illuminated. I find it oddly compelling, for no reason I can put my finger on. I’ll probably read Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close afterward.
Just found this Review on CNN.com. They seem to like it. Thought you might be interested.
I saw it in the bookstore this weekend. It looks good but I’ll probably wait till it comes out in paperback. Not a huge hardcover fan.
Thanks for the link, bclouse . I extend to you, as a one-time-only offer, the refund your purchase price deal I mentioned in the OP. No kidding. Read the hardback, I’ll take your word that you bought it and didn’t read a library copy, I’ll take your word that you disliked the book if you tell me so. I don’t see much I feel this strongly about, literary-wise, lately.
I appreciate your reposting here about this book, I thought the post was sunk in the depths of the sea.
You say this like it is a bad thing.
It’s not a bad thing, for me.
But I picture my poor kids, cleaning out the house after I’m gone, opening closets and cupboards and yelling out “More books! Did she think she’d live forever?”
Thread title changed to relieve that uneasy aura of ambiguity.
– Uke, CS mod
Sorry to resurrect this zombie thread, but I had a question about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I just saw the movie and mostly enjoyed it. One thing I found frustrating, though, is that
they never tell you what is in the safe deposit box that the key opens. In the book, does the author tell you what was in the safe deposit box?
Thanks,
J.
In the book it’s not a safe deposit key, it’s just a key to something, I won’t tell you what. I read the book and was very Meh about it. It started out really good and then just sort of plodded on and finished with no real ending or resolution. Very disappointing IMHO. A lot of potential, no delivery.
Actually, I’m not going to read the book. I’m just curious about what the key was for. So spoiler it if you want.
Thanks,
J.
Oops I was wrong:
It was a safe deposit key but it belonged to a stranger who sold the vase it was in to the kid’s Dad. The vase belonged to the stranger’s dead Dad and he sold it before he knew it was in there. So the stranger didn’t know what was in the safe deposit box either. By the time I read that I was pretty disgusted and basically stopped paying attention. Sorry. I haven’t seen the movie and probably won’t is this the way it came about in the movie?
Another recommendation for Cloud Atlas, and I also highly recommend Ghost Written by the same author.
I’ll check out the OP’s recommendation.
Yes, all of that is in the movie. What I would like to know is, in the book,
did they tell you what was in the safe deposit box that the key opened for Mr. Black?
Thanks,
J.