Jonathan Safran Foer: New Yorker Bookpeople

Young Oskar is on a quest. A year after his father's death, Oskar finds a key in his father's closet, with only the word Black mysteriously scrawled across the envelope front. The novel then follows Oskar as he makes his way around New York's Five Boroughs; certain that this key opens a lock somewhere, Oskar decides to seek out every lastnamed Black listed in the phonebook. In alphabetical order.

In this, Foer's literary prowess shines through. With the dozens of characters that pass in and out of the story, he manages to depict a vast spectrum of the diverse personalities that make New York the amazing Metropolis it is. But the story is much more than a simple adventure tale. Indeed, it spans several generations, venturing as far back to the narratives of Schell's grandparents.

Some critics whine that Foer relies on cheap graphical devices to supplant actual content. Admittedly, there are photos of people leaping from the burning Towers and similarly hucksterish text-effects that figure prominently in the story. But Austinist feels that there is a certain subtle, haunting power to this imagery. They are the pictures in Oskar's mind, and Foer effectively uses them to supply credibility to these narratives.

Ok, Austinist admits we haven't actually ... finished the novel. SFist and Gothamist beat us to it, so take a gander at their opinions. What we know is that of the roughly three-quarters of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close that we've devoured, we've found ourselves alternately laughing out loud and feeling, as it were, incredibly sad. Considering we only picked up the book two days ago, that's not a bad sign. But decide for yourself.

Jonathan Safran Foer brings his charming self (and his signing pen!) to Bookpeople next Wednesday, April 27th at 7pm.