Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Right now I could see this book as being plainly there for a message; it could be allegorical. I mean, it tells a great story, it's talking about this kid suffering from the death of a loved one, and the toll it takes on him. The story also seems to try and make a point about how its not jsut him suffering. He comes across many different things he may not have experienced were it not for the death of his dad and him finding the key.

Oskar has a crazy mind it seems, and he keeps trying to learn a bunch of new things. He also seems really cocky, and tries to outsmart and be wittier then adults. I'm not saying he comes of bratty, but he does seem to think a lot of himself. One part i thought was written really well was when he finds a man, Aaron Black, and bugs him about his dad even though the guy clearly says he doesnt know him. Oskar then cries in the lobby and gets back in touch with Aaron. He then finds out Aaron is very sick and is hooked up to a bunch of machines, which is why he seemed so grumpy and took a while to answer Oskar's call. It seems to be there as a lesson.

The Grapes of Wrath Movie/Book Comparison

The movie and book were very similar, but did have a few differences. One of the main one I noticed was that there was no turtle in the movie version. They probably left out the turtle since the book used it as an analogy throughout, and the movie needed to cut time probably, so they deemed the turtle not as important as other things. The turtle was one of my favorite parts of the book,and I thought it was a good literary device, so I was disappointed that they kept it out.

 Another thing I noticed different was how the movie went to the fruit farm first, and then they went to the DOA camp. In the book it was the other way around, and I dont really know why the switched up the order. It made the leaving of Tom different as well, because in the book he is hiding in the woods while his family is living in the boxcar. He leaves at one point then. At the ending of the movie the scene where Rose of Sharon feeds the old man doesn't happene either (Thankfully). I ended up enjoying the movie more, I thought it was very entertaining, and more engaging than the book.

Anonymous Review

This movie presented the idea that Shakespeare didnt write all of the plays that he is so famously acredited, since he was, afterall, illiterate. Rather the movie says that they were written by a wealthy English nobleman, who couldnt publish the plays himself because it was illegal for nobility to participate in writing, because it was thought to represent false idols.

Overall I enjoyed the movie, even though it was quite hard to follow. I think that Shakespeare probably wrote the plays, in my opinion. I think that its not necessarily true that we never will know if Shakespeare wrote them, we could look for accounts of the time and see how Shakespeare acted. For instance if he was a writer you would think that he wouldn't be as drunk and cocky and brazen as the Shakespeare in the movie. I also liked how the movie was set up to be a play itself, that an audience was watching.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Analysis (With less err)

As Oskar continues searching, the search is interrupted by chapters about the past and dealing with his grandma. I'm not quite sure what these chapters are supposed to symbolize yet, if they even symbolize anything. Most of the time the passages have a sweet message or love story behind them, like when Oskar's grandmother talks about her husband and her love.

There are also deeper passages, such as when where she describes how she received  a random letter from a turkish prisoner. Afterwords she went around asking a bunch of people that she knew to write letters for her, probably to get a comparison as to what type of person wrote the letter. This part of the book doesn't seem integral to the story, so I'm betting he either wrote in some deeper meaning than what it seems, or that he was just trying to make his book bigger. I doubt it was the later, but I also think the passages may be a device Froer used to break up the pace of the book after an important part to try and help a message sink in.

Maybe Oskar's journey itself is only secondary, and the real purpose of the book is to great across some grandiose meaning or philosohical message, with the story acting as the canvas on which the message(s) are painted.

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Picking up where I last left off, Oskar finds this key in an envelope with the word “Black” written on it. The envelope was in his dad’s belongings and Oskar decides to go searching for where this key is used. Oskar ends up going to an art gallery and finding that his dad was there.

In this chapter, we see the extremes Oskar goes to to go out and search for anyone or anything to do with his dad. Oskar stays home and skips school for a few days and ends up lying to his mom. I had such a hard time imagining this young kid wandering round New York all by himself, with no one coming up or trying to make him go to school or go home. It seems kind of like an implausibility.

One thing I really enjoyed about this part of the book was all of the imagery and the quickness that goes along with Oskar’s mind. In the book I had there were also pages of pictures, the same pictures that were i his Stuff That Happened to Me book. The book so far is a very contemporary look on disaster, but also is a good picture of youth depression, and how this young boy copes with it.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Analysis #3

Picking up where I last left off, Oskar arrives home from school on 9/11 and he finds that his dad has left several messages on the answering machine. The book so far has been post-9/11, but now it is before/during 9/11. It took a little bet adjusting to, but there wasn’t much of a problem with this change of time. I really like how Froer wrote Oskar’s character and how his thoughts/dialogue are the main part of the book, because the kid knows TONS of stuff.

One thing that I wasn’t expecting was in the next chapter, the book changes pace and seems to totally change point of view. Now we are viewing the book from a silent man who gradually “lost his words” as he grew up. This man describes meeting his wife and being asked to marry her right away, which was quite strange. I don’t know if it’s just a story he’s telling or if it’s actually true, because it switches back to Oskar after this chapter.

It’s hard imagining living without being able to speak. I think Froer does a very good job of conveying that obstacle to the reader though. The man writes replies and questions and phrases on different pages of blank books and uses them to communicate with people. Changing characters like this so quickly though wasn’t a good choice I don’t think though, but I think it’ll be easy to grow accustomed to if it keeps happening. The book gets more and more interesting every time I read it apparently, which is always a good thing!