Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

By: Jonathan Safran Foer

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman, Barbara Caruso, Richard Ferrone

Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Jonathan Safran Foer's best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated, wowed critics on its way to winning several literary prizes, including Book of the Year honors from the Los Angeles Times. It has been published in 24 countries and will soon be a major motion picture. Foer's talent continues to shine in this sometimes hilarious and always heartfelt follow-up.

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is a precocious Francophile who idolizes Stephen Hawking and plays the tambourine extremely well. He's also a boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death in the World Trade Center attacks. As he searches New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key his father left behind, Oskar discovers much more than he could have imagined.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a masterfully imagined novel from an author Time hails as "a certified wunderkind".

©2005 Jonathan Safran Foer (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Multi-Voiced Performance

"Piercing and so funny." (The Bookseller)
"[Oskar's] first-person narration of his journey is arrestingly beautiful, and readers won't soon forget him." (Booklist)
"Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel is everything one hoped it would be: ambitious, pyrotechnic, riddling, and above all...extremely moving. An exceptional achievement." (Salman Rushdie)
"Brilliant....Unafraid to show his traumatized characters' constant groping for emotional catharsis, Foer demonstrates once again that he is one of the few contemporary writers willing to risk sentimentalism in order to address great questions of truth, love, and beauty." (Publishers Weekly)

Don’t miss this book!

A touching story with rare characters that lodge themselves in your heart for ever.
The readers are wonderful to listen to!

Incredibly written - one of the best!

When I choose a book, movie, play, etc, I appreciate and seek out an experience of being "moved" in some way, as I imagine most of us do. I want to laugh out loud, reflect for days, feel inspired, and cry. Sometimes all of those things happen in one book, like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

This author has this magical talent of being able to describe the emotional underpinnings of loss, pain, and turmoil of a child. I know, I'm making this sound incredibly depressing......which it really was at some points, but based on the character development of young Oscar, I had faith the result of his turmoil would strengthen his character.

Additionally, I am a child psychologist and have worked with children that cut or hurt themselves. In all my research and attempts to better understand this, this book truly offered a real life perspective of how a child might do this as a coping strategy. The author wove this into the story without trying to explain it or make it too clinical or the focus of the problems in the book.

Finally, I think this book is versatile and would be enjoyed by multiple types of readers. I have not seen the movie yet, but I expect it will not be as good as this audio book! It is a book that I will remember forever. That is quite the tribute coming from a person who reads / listens to 2-3 books per month!

Amazing journey

Would you listen to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close again? Why?

I typically do not re-listen to audiobooks, but I would highly suggest this book. It is emotional and funny. A story of generations and not of the world trade center.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?

I feel these moments need to be experienced by the listener - I do not want to give anything away!

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The narrator performs the quirks of the lead character flawlessly.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Both! It is a touching story of many people's lives told through a child who is much older than his years.

It grew on me.

The book at first seemed unrealistic and usually I don't like dialog from a child, because, well..., it's childish. This book is different because the child character is uniquely intelligent. Overall, the story is an excellent character study of a complex family.

Heartfelt for this little boy.

Where does Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is the first book that I read that was written from a child's prospective, and I really enjoyed it. I felt his pain, his anguish, his heartbreak. I wanted him to find what he was searching for.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?

When he finally unlocks the mystery of the key.

Which scene was your favorite?

When he tells Mr. Black the secret he has not told anyone, not even his mother, and asks for forgiveness.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. It was hard to put down at times.

Interesting but got bored with it

This was a good story but for some reason I got bored with it. Why? Dont know.

Interesting concept

Possibly this book should be manditory reading as it gives reality to the true collatoral damage of war - those that are left behind.

GOOD STORY

This was a good book. I enjoyed it every much. It was well written and entertaining. I looked forward to returning to it every evening. The narrator was good as well. Do order this story.

Story is good, narration was inconsistent

Would you consider the audio edition of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the printed version

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the characters, and the story/secrets told from many sides.

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

No

Who was the most memorable character of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and why?

Oscar, who carries the weight of the world with him completely oblivious to the fact that other people also carry their own burdens.

Any additional comments?

Sometimes I found it hard to tell what character was speaking, sometimes the voice sounded different even in the middle of a sentence. I guess that would be more of an editing problem than a narration one.

Alittle hard to get through

Where does Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Don't know how to rate it.

If you’ve listened to books by Jonathan Safran Foer before, how does this one compare?

First one for me

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

Thomas the grand father.

If you could take any character from Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Little Thomas grand mother. She just seem to have more of a story to tell.

Any additional comments?

no