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Jul 23, 2014shellarinelle rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
Other than the book being a required read, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close was a totally unique book. First of all, the book was told in 3 different perspectives (Oskar, Grandpa and Grandma), but it doesn't tell you who is speaking so you have to figure out yourself. Secondly, the book wasn't told in chronological order, which makes the plot slightly confusing to understand. Lastly, some pages were empty, some filled with pictures, a few pages with only numbers, some pages with only one sentence "excuse me, do you know what time it is", missing punctuation, random scribbles, and don't forget there were 3 pages where there is writing piled on writing piled on writing... These elements I described made me have a hard time understanding the story line. Reason for 4 stars: A theme of this book was love. It was the motivation for 9 yr old Oskar Schell, to search through NYC, finding a lock that pairs up with a key that belonged to his father. I decided to rate this book 4 stars because I felt moved when Oskar, regardless of how impossible his mission may seem, still very determined and persists to find the missing lock. The strong reason behind was love. And because of the son-father love, the search was made possible and at last, he finally found the man behind the lock! I generally liked this book but I thought it'd be useful if it can be shortened by two-thirds. The other two-thirds were distracting and they bothered me from reading all of the good stuff.