Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close Discussion Questions
- What do you think the title means? Given that there are no events in the book that are explicitly “extremely loud” or “incredibly close”, what do you think the author meant by choosing the title?
- Generally speaking, did you like the writing style of the author? Was the writing itself easy to read?
- What did you think about the way the author used words on the page? Some pages, for example, had nothing more than a single line of text. Others had the text crowded and overlapping. Did this add to the meaning of the book for you? Distract you? Why?
- What did the various photographs in the book mean:
- Pictures of doorknobs. Is there a pattern?
- The falling man in the book? The flip-book at the end?
- The writing samples from the pen store?
- The cover of the book of the hand with writing on it?
- Do you think the book handled the 9/11 subject material with respect? Did the use of 9/11 contribute to the meaning of the book? Was the book “sentimental?”
Oskar and his Quest
- Do you think the main character, Oskar, was believable?
- How did you relate to him as he pursued his quest?
- What was the effect of Oskar on the people he met on his quest? How did the people change as a result of meeting Oskar?
- Do you think Oskar’s mom was involved in his quest, even if Oskar wasn’t aware of it at the time?
- How did the storyline of the grandparents compliment the story of Oskar and his quest?
- Describe how you felt about each of the grandparents. How did you feel about their relationship?
- Compare Oskar and his reaction to tragedy to the reaction of each grandparent to tragedy. How did each character react to the terrible and violent loss in their lives?
- Why do you think the author introduced the Dresden plotline of the grandparents into a book that involves the attack on the World Trade Center?
- What is the meaning of Oskar’s various inventions? Is there a pattern to them?
- What makes the key such a powerful symbol in the book? What does the key open, besides the obvious physical lock we learn about near the end of the book? Is there meaning to the fact that we never learn what the key protects in reality?
- Writing is a powerful image that appears in many forms in the book. Letters, letter writing, journals, writing samples and even tattoos make appearances. Why is writing such a powerful thing in the world the author created? What does each instance of the writing do for/to the characters?
- What do you think the ’something’ and ‘nothing’ of the grandparents’ apartment is meant to represent? How does this fit into the larger storyline of the book, of dealing with loss, of dealing with grief?
- Are there any common themes that run through the storyline and the symbols found in this book? Grief and loss have been mentioned here already. What about the ability of people to connect with each other? The ability to heal? The ability to make meaning from tragedy? Maybe none of these?
Symbolism and so on:
SvarSlet1. Right to and logical, often solve problem right now but without considering society, as we go around he’s starting on invent things that also can help other people.
The pattern in his inventions is to help solving problems both his own and later other.
F.eks he invents an ambulance that tells people around if the person I the ambulance are dying.
2. He is so close in and the key symbolize that state of mind he is in, we thinks that the key is the his mind and feelings.
The idea with the key is that it is a mystery is that the key is a link to his father, if he found out that the key belong to a door then the mystery would be solve.
3. The writing is always about feelings and things they never could say out loud. So it is a way to tell the reader about the feelings the characters have. It helps the characters putting the things away and closing the chapters in their live.
4. Thought the story there are a lot of ether we are getting a lot of information’s about their feelings or we do not getting anything at all, so ether there are nothing or there a something,
Sociopaths!
5. Grief and losses of people who are close, all of the characters have emotional problems with other people; they can’t seem to connect with other people on an emotional plan.
The ability to heal is like: time heals wounds. Everything happened has a meaning is also a themes.
Oskar and his quest.
SvarSlet1. The catch of the title is that the tragedy of 9/11 was loud and close. Or it could be a reference to his real life where he was exposed for an chemistry explosion. Or it could be because of the Dresden bombs which he also mentions in the book.
2. Well, he is traumatized by his dad’s death, which is believable. But I do not think any parents would let their kids go around alone in the streets of New York.
3. You hope the best for him, and you really hope that he finds what he wants. He is really obsessed with finding it.
4. They became nicer, in the start they were skeptic about him. But the more they talked with him, the more they liked him and would gladly help him.
5. Yes she was, because she called all the Blacks telling them that her son would be looking for them. So she always knew where he was going.
Wassa
SvarSlet