Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

Title: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Page Count: 326 (paperback)

Synopsis: "Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an inventor, amateur entomologist, Francophile, letter writer, pacifist, natural historian, percussionist, romantic, Great Explorer, jeweller, detective, vegan, and collector of butterflies. When his father is killed in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar sets out to solve the mystery of a key he discovers in his father's closet. It is a search which leads him into the lives of strangers, through the five boroughs of New York, into history, to the bombings of Dresden and Hiroshima, and on an inward journey which brings him ever closer to some kind of peace." - Goodreads

DNF @ 160 pages.

I can't do this. I honestly tried so hard to read this book, but it's just so boring and makes no sense. The author has this beautiful writing style that started out as something that I loved, but quickly became way too annoying to read through. Not only did it become annoying, but it also get so unrealistic. What child is that intelligent?? If the story would have been told from an older POV maybe I would have enjoyed the writing more than I do now?

This story just had no plot. The only thing I cared about was the father and finding out what was on the phone, but I can't force myself to continue torturing myself with these boring characters and the rambling of his grandparents sex life or the lack of his mother figure.

I've already spoiled myself, and I know I'm not missing anything. I wouldn't have liked reading the rest of this story because I would have been miserable. The book reminds me of the lovely bones, and I cannot force myself through another one of those. I honestly feel like I would have loved this book as a film, but as a book it just fell too flat for my taste.

I know that I'm not the only one who doesn't like this book, but I just don't understand how someone can enjoy the ramblings of a nine year old and call it beautiful. I don't get it. This book was the beginning of a reading slump, and i stopped that before it had time to start. I'm going to read something that I will actually like, and move on from adult books that are told from a child's point of view because they seem to never work out for me.

Did you enjoy Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close?