Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

This provoked a lively discussion between the four book group attendees.  Chris, who had chosen it, found it very heavy going.  She thought that Oskar himself was reasonably endearing and enjoyed his story, but found the grand parents' sub-plot an unwelcome distraction.  The rest of us agreed that Oskar's story was the most gripping, and I particularly found it almost unbearably sad at times.   We discussed how Oskar's humour (often seemingly unintended) helped dispel the worst of the gloom and horror created by his father's death, and the awful secret he has hidden under his bed.  Jill also felt that the grandparents' story didn't 'gel' with the main plot, although she did accept that some interesting analogies were being drawn between the Dresden and Twin Towers experience.  Both Anna and I thought that their story did add both to the plot, and to our ability to understand Oskar's 'quirky' personality.  Again though I found a lot of it incredibly intense and arduous to read.  There was a debate about the extreme personality traits - e.g. the grand father's muteness and the upstairs neighbour who was 'over 100' and hadn't heard any sound for years.  Was this an annoying affectation on the author's part, or a powerful comment on the impact of tragedy/loss? Our views on Oskar's mother varied - Chris found it difficult to understand her attitude towards Oskar and her lack of intervention.  Some of us argued that she was allowing him to deal with his grief (and consequent anger towards her) by keeping him safe 'from a distance' - it all made much more sense when it became apparent that she'd been in touch with all the Blacks in advance of his visits.  We thought the correspondence with Stephen Hawkings was very sweet and uplifting, and wondered whether the man himself had been consulted in advance.  I certainly felt that our discussion helped me to understand and like the story more, although both Anna & I would still contend that Everything is Illuminated is even better!  Amazon is in big trouble with us kindle readers for making some sections unreadable and missing out loads of photographs

Caroline wrote....

I confess that I had found his previous book, Everything is Illuminated, a little heavy going. When I read the first couple of pages here I was worried that there would be the same tricksiness in the prose, which seems more about dazzling the reader with the author’s skill than entertaining and engaging them. However, I quickly became very endeared by Oskar as a character. There is always a danger with split narratives that the reader will prefer one above others, and I did find myself enjoying the sections in Oskar’s voice more than others. I found his sense of loss very poignant indeed and although there have been criticisms that he doesn;t sound like a boy of that age, he is a unique character. I think it’s missing the point to quibble about how realistic he is in terms of what he knows of the world and how he expresses himself.  One thing spoiled the experience a bit though; poor formatting meant a large section at the end is illegible on a Kindle. I actually emailed and then phoned Penguin(because the buggers never responded to my email). This incensed me! I have just discovered that Amazon are in charge of how the book is formatted. I’m going to try and get a refund because it’s basically not fit for purpose if you can’t read the bloody book!  I have been reading a lot of manuscripts quickly recently for work, and I think I’ve read five or six books since this one. I confess I can’t remember why I have bookmarked certain pages now! Wish I could be there this evening to discuss, as I know some of these thoughts would come back.  I’m going to give it a seven because I found it to be a lovely and very moving book

Carole had read the book when it came out in 2005, and although she remembered liking it, not enough to read it all again. She gave it a 6, but said she might be talked up by the discussion!

quote: 'it made my boots lighter to be around his things, and to touch stuff that he had touched'

scores

Chris      5

Anna      7

Annie     7

Jill          7 

Caroline  7

Carole     6