Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel
4 journalers for this copy...
From Publishers Weekly
In this excellent recording of Foer's second novel, Woodman artfully captures the voice of nine-year-old Oskar Schell, the precocious amateur physicist who is trying to uncover clues about his father's death on September 11. Oskar—a self-proclaimed pacifist, tambourine player and Steven Hawking fanatic—is the perfect blend of smart-aleck maturity and youthful innocence. Articulating the large words slowly and carefully with only a hint of childishness, Woodman endearingly conveys the voice of a young child who is trying desperately to sound like an adult. The parallel story lines, beautifully narrated by Ferrone and Caruso, add variety to the imaginative and captivating plot, but they do not translate quite as seamlessly into audio format. Ferrone's wistful growl is perfect for the voice of a man who can no longer speak, but since the listener actually gets to hear the words that the character can only convey by writing on a notepad, his frustrating silence is not as profound. Caruso's brilliant performance as an adoring grandmother is also noteworthy, but the meandering stream-of-consciousness style of her and Ferrone's sections are sometimes hard to follow on audio. Although it is Oskar's poignant, laugh-out-loud narration that make this audio production indispensable.
----------------------------
This is a duplicate copy because my bookclub chose this as the May book. I'll be releasing this one after my husband reads it.
My review:
I absolutely loved this book. I'm glad that I waited until my memories of 9/11 were a little less fresh to read this book, though. If I'd read it when it was first published, I'm not sure I would have been able to finish it. I'll be recommending this book to everyone.
In this excellent recording of Foer's second novel, Woodman artfully captures the voice of nine-year-old Oskar Schell, the precocious amateur physicist who is trying to uncover clues about his father's death on September 11. Oskar—a self-proclaimed pacifist, tambourine player and Steven Hawking fanatic—is the perfect blend of smart-aleck maturity and youthful innocence. Articulating the large words slowly and carefully with only a hint of childishness, Woodman endearingly conveys the voice of a young child who is trying desperately to sound like an adult. The parallel story lines, beautifully narrated by Ferrone and Caruso, add variety to the imaginative and captivating plot, but they do not translate quite as seamlessly into audio format. Ferrone's wistful growl is perfect for the voice of a man who can no longer speak, but since the listener actually gets to hear the words that the character can only convey by writing on a notepad, his frustrating silence is not as profound. Caruso's brilliant performance as an adoring grandmother is also noteworthy, but the meandering stream-of-consciousness style of her and Ferrone's sections are sometimes hard to follow on audio. Although it is Oskar's poignant, laugh-out-loud narration that make this audio production indispensable.
----------------------------
This is a duplicate copy because my bookclub chose this as the May book. I'll be releasing this one after my husband reads it.
My review:
I absolutely loved this book. I'm glad that I waited until my memories of 9/11 were a little less fresh to read this book, though. If I'd read it when it was first published, I'm not sure I would have been able to finish it. I'll be recommending this book to everyone.
My husband also read and enjoyed this book. He reports that he liked Foer's first novel, Everything is Illuminated, better.
Journal Entry 3 by princess-peapod from San Luis Obispo, California USA on Saturday, October 4, 2008
a wishlist book trade...look forward to the read
If you found this book while in the area of San Luis Obispo, CA. feel free to come by and check out Joe Mommas which houses our bookshelf! We also hold our local meetups on the first Tuesday of each month at 5pm there, please come join the fun! The books on the shelf are free to for you to read, enjoy and pass along to another!
in clearing my bookshelf I somehow ended up with 3 copies of this book, so since this one came from another bookcrosser I am sending it out to a fellow bookcrosser who might enjoy it!
"A book is a mysterious object, I said, and once it floats out into the world, anything can happen. All kinds of mischief can be caused, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. For better or worse, it's completely out of your control."
Paul Auster
in clearing my bookshelf I somehow ended up with 3 copies of this book, so since this one came from another bookcrosser I am sending it out to a fellow bookcrosser who might enjoy it!
"A book is a mysterious object, I said, and once it floats out into the world, anything can happen. All kinds of mischief can be caused, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it. For better or worse, it's completely out of your control."
Paul Auster
Thanks for sending this! I haven't read it and it looks like a good read.
My Review; I really enjoyed this story. It kind of skips around among different people telling the story from their perspective. Most of it is told from Oskar's point of view. After his dad dies on 9/11 he finds a key and thinks it unlocks something of his dad's. He meets a lot of interesting people in his quest.
Reserved for a bookbox.
Reserved for a bookbox.
Putting into Bookstogive's General Literature VBB.
Sent to Fracula from Bookstogive's General Literature VBB. Enjoy the book!
Arrived safely in Canada! I was away for a couple weeks on vacation, so I'm not sure what day it got here.
Very much looking forward to reading this and then seeing the movie. Thanks so much!
Very much looking forward to reading this and then seeing the movie. Thanks so much!
