Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Helen Holwill (Adapter), Jonathan Safran Foer

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online.Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content.The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary.Visit the Penguin Readers websiteExclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.Oskar Shell is a clever nine-year-old boy. When his father is killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11th 2001, Oskar wants to learn the secret about a key that he discovers in his father's closet. His search takes him on a journey through New York and into the lives of strangers and relatives. But will it bring him any closer to his lost father

96 pages, Paperback

Published May 14, 2020

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish this. Really liked the story of the child with the key, but had no idea what the rest of it was about. Those parts were a confusing jumble of characters at different time points addressing each other (perhaps? But who knows). Those parts had no story to my mind and I didn't know who the narrator was. they were full of profound observations which came so thick and fast as to devalue themselves and impede progress. I found the prose novelties just irritating. All the interspersed photos and blank pages, etc. I repeatedly had the impression that Jonathan SF was a very clever man seeking innovation and doing something new, but I was never immersed in this book and didn't care enough about the child storyline to finish reading it, even though I was 200 odd pages in when I bailed out. I'd enjoyed an earlier book of his but wouldn't bother with him again. It strongly reminded me of the history of love by Nicole Krauss, same themes setting and tone, except I had enjoyed that.

[Grace Hodge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing really happened. I kept expecting there to be a climax or fitting together of the story but it never came. The whole time the boy is on a quest but then the whole thing is kind of pointless and anti-climactic? Maybe that was the idea but it just really did not gel with me. And was the boy meant to be autistic? Or just traumatised? I feel like the characters were not very well developed but I liked the idea, especially the backstory of the grandparents.

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

De tip voor dit boek kwam van mijn jongste zoon, die het voor school had gelezen. En het is een aanrader: grappig, ontroerend, tragisch, verrassend. Ik denk dat hij er andere dingen uit heeft gehaald dan ik maar dat zegt ook iets over de kwaliteit van dit boek, dat vanuit verschillende perspectieven is geschreven.

[Emma Timmler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the ending was really sad. But Oskar is kinda annoying.

[Sybil Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my favourite book but I had to think hard about the story once I had finished it so I could get the characters all worked out! Good read and thought provoking.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

profoundly effected me

[Mette W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the story but find the way it is told a bit confusing.

[Timothy Lambrecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

The way the writer shows us trauma and pain in a kid is just mind-blowing normal, enormous catastrophies shown in the littlest thoughts of a smart kid trying to understand big feelings.