Review: Extremely Loud & Incredible Close

Finding good fiction has always seemed a bit overwhelming. Nonfiction is easy. My non-fiction "to-read" list is almost always miles long, and I'm constantly adding new titles-- there's simply so much I want to learn about! But fiction? It's much more difficult. Unlike nonfiction, I feel that the actual subject matters a lot less, and less obvious qualities-- characters, word usage, how compelling a plot is-- take far greater importance.

That being said, finding good fiction isn't easy. I've definitely been know to walk the aisles Barnes and Nobles for well over an hour, glancing over titles, wondering which covers hold remarkable, memorable stories, and which contain absolute fluff. It's not always easy to distinguish. Best-Sellar lists, and Editor's Recommendations aren't always the most help, either-- the last time I chose a book based on popular opinion, it didn't go over so well (see here). On the flipside, I do tend to have luck when reading based on recommendations from friends. A you-should-totally-read-this! from a close friend is almost always better than whatever Oprah happens to think (see here)*. 


This time, unfortunately, I didn't have any good from-a-friend recommendations up my sleeve, so I went with the next best thing:  I remembered a work of fiction I had enjoyed in the past, noted the author, and checked out his most recent book. In this case, the original book was Everything is Illuminated, the author was Jonathan Safran Foer, and the new book to read was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

It was okay.

Foer's got a unique style- no doubt about that- but I felt like it worked far better in Everything is Illuminated than in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The novel is told in a rather rambling stream of consciousness from the perspective of nine-year-old Oskar. Although the majority of the story explores Oskar's understanding of the September 11th attacks that killed his father, it also jumps to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima. At times, I felt that the book treated serious subjects far too light-heartedly, while at others, it was so sad that I honestly just wanted to stop reading and start something new. The result was disjunct and unsatisfying, and while that may have been the author's intention, it certainly didn't make for a book I actually enjoyed reading.


The verdict? 2.5/5

*If you happen to have any great fiction recommendations, I'd lovelovelove to hear them! I'm open to pretty much anything.