"Mixed-Givings"

M A Miller
A review of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005

It is entirely natural while reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close fictional novel, to feel as if it should be tossed across the room in disgust--if only one could stop reading it long enough to do just that! Because human emotions of love and hate are closely linked by the same nervous circuits in the brain, (the “putamen” and the “insula”), it is possible to love and hate simultaneously. Journalists even created a portmanteau for the “love-hate” phenomenon called “frenemy"—“friend" combined with "enemy". But whatever the reason, Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, is undeniably a source of both angst and great emotional joy. It is a book that simply cannot be tossed aside—no matter how infuriating it may be.

There are many who have given Foer’s novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, high accolades, including Salman Rushdie, a famous author. Rushdie stated in the book’s “acclaim section”, “Jonathan Safran Foer’s second novel is everything that one hoped it would be--ambitious, pyrotechnic, riddling . . . An exceptional achievement.” Foer’s first novel, Everything is Illuminated (2002), reached the New York Times bestseller list, and earned him several awards. However, there are others who have criticized his choice of using the 9/11 tragedy as a disrespectful backdrop for his second novel, and regarded his use of gadgetry writing deceptive. One such critic who lashed out with caustic fervor is Harry Siegel. Siegel, in his New York Press review dated April 20, 2005, entitled his review, “Extremely Cloying & Incredibly False--Why the Author of Everything Is Illuminated is a Fraud and a Hack.” Siegel states about Foer, “Why wait to have ideas worth writing when you can grab a big theme, throw in the kitchen sink, and wear your flip-flops all the way to the bank?”

Foer's novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, uses New York as the setting. It is a story of nine-year-old Oskar Schell, in which Oskar’s father, Thomas Schell, dies during the 9/11 terrorist attack. Oskar is an eclectic-eccentric boy who attempts to cope with his grief of losing his father (or, as Oskar says, "heavy boots"[2]) by inventing things (like “bird-seed shirts” that help people fly [2]), playing a tambourine, giving keys out to strangers (so Oskar will get all his packages), and giving himself bruises. Distressed by messages left on the answering-machine from his trapped and dying father, Oskar explores his father’s closet one night and discovers a blue vase. The vase contains an envelope marked with the word “Black” on it and a key in inside. Oskar decides the key must belong to a lock that contains something important about his father. And so begins his journey visiting all people with the last name “Black” (in alphabetical order) to find the lock and solve the mystery to “get closer to dad” (52). Oskar says, “I would spend my Saturdays and Sundays finding all of the people named Black . . . In a year and a half I would know everything” (51).

Early in the story, however, it begins to feel as if as if the reader is revisiting the 1956 film, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, whereas the townspeople are being replaced by giant plant-like pod duplicates. Only in this case, it is Oskar being replaced by a grown-up Foer who has invaded Oskar’s body and mind. In fact, in a Bookbrowse.com interview, Foer describes himself, “Like most children, I had a number of collections. . . . I sent my share of fan letters, suffered numerous failed attempts to kiss women my mother's age, and did work in the family jewelry business for a summer.” It feels as if grown-up Foer is masquerading as nine-year-old Oskar and as a result, Oskar quickly becomes an unbelievable character--a “frenemy" to the reader. What young boy converts his father’s last voice message into Morse code using different colored beads to make jewelry? What nine-year-old boy’s mother tucks him in at night and asks, “Do you want me to read something to you? We could go through the New York Times for mistakes” (168). But the reader cannot toss the book aside; he/she is entrapped in the web of emotions brought on by this faux-boy searching for the meaning of his father’s death. Who doesn’t yearn to make meaning out of senseless death—especially when it involves a current tragedy? The reader desperately wants Oskar Schell to find solace to this question. For this reason alone, Foer knows he has the reader hooked.

The book is bursting with photographs of doorknobs, birds flying, a person falling, blank pages, black pages, and other such ruses and curiosities. One is reminded of the “Three Wise Monkeys’” proverb, "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” when realizing Oskar’s grandma’s sight is poor; Mr. Black who lives upstairs is deaf; and Oskar’s grandfather is mute. Foer leaves “no ‘literary and visual gimmick’ stone unturned”. The book even concludes with a flipbook of a person falling “upward”. The distracted reader shrugs with frustration and says to him/herself “don’t bombard me with meaningless rubbish -- just tell me the truth about death!”

Despite the obvious manipulation of the reader, Foer atones for his misdeeds with the quirky characters of grandma and grandpa. Intertwining like threads in a tapestry within Oskar’s story is the story of his grandparents who are survivors of the WWII Dresden bombings, and how they came together. Their story is one of hope, despair, and love. The chapters entitled "My Feelings" are letters written to Oskar by his grandmother describing her life as a child and as an adult. Just as Oskar is seeking for the truth about the death of his father, grandma is searching for the truth about her own life, “When I was a girl, my life was music that was always getting louder . . . Every day I felt less. Is that growing old?” (180). And though Foer’s characters seem surreal, their sadness and regret for things lost, and their ability to love resonates with each reader. For this reason alone-- Foer has cast off his “frenemy” status and successfully written a book about the 9/11 tragedy in which “love conquers all.” This book needs to be read.