extremely loud and incredibly close read

On the whole, your emotions will either be stirred or you'll find yourself cynical, and I suppose I experienced a bit of both and ended up in the middle. I loved seeing Max von Sydow at age 82 in his supporting role, and that alone made it worth seeing for me. Do fathers like the one Hanks plays actually exist? Perhaps not, but the balance shown with bad fathers in the film may strike a chord with anyone who has conflicting feelings about family members. Director Stephen Daldry is wise in exercising restraint about the horrors of 9/11, and Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks turn in strong performances. On the other hand, there are some nice moments, and the movie's treatment of death, loss, searching for answers when there are none, community, rebuilding, and understanding is touching. You'll also have to forgive it for its schmaltz and melodrama along the way. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment.Set the controls for your suspension of disbelief to max before watching this one folks. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. He befriends a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, and lovers enraptured or scorned. As Oskar roams New York, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity who are all survivors in their own way. What about a birdseed shirt to let you fly away? What if you could actually hear everyone's heartbeat? His goal is hopeful, but the past speaks a loud warning in stories of those who've lost loved ones before. Along the way he is always dreaming up inventions to keep those he loves safe from harm. An inspired innocent, Oskar is alternately endearing, exasperating, and hilarious as he careens from Central Park to Coney Island to Harlem on his search. His mission is to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. Meet Oskar Schell, an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist, correspondent with Stephen Hawking and Ringo Starr. What he discovers is solace in that most human quality, imagination. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is Illuminated.

A new novel by the author of Everything Is Illuminated introduces Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the World Trade Center bombing who searches the city for a lock that fits a black key his father left behind.

Extremely loud and incredibly close read