The Art of Silence

A few years ago someone recommended I read Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.  I have to admit that reading a book about a nine year old boy who lost his father in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, was not all that appealing to me.  I said I would read it, but it sounded incredibly depressing.  After months of asking me if I had read the book, I finally broke down and did it.  The author, Jonathan Safran Foer, had placed the first chapter online on The Project Museum site. so I started there.  If I was going to want to slit my wrist after chapter one, chapter one was all I was going to read.  I read the first chapter and was hooked, so I got the book.  Its one of the top three, best books I have ever read.  


The main part of the story of this nine year old boy who finds a key hidden in in his father's closet,, and the extremes he will go to in order to find the lock to which it belongs.  You would swear you were actually inside the head of a nine year old boy, and it wasn't nearly as depressing as I thought it would be.  The critics say it is more like a 28 yr old in the mind of a nine year old, but if you have ever known any kids who love to learn, you will know otherwise.


While the story of Oskar is amazing, there is the quietly profound story of Oskar's grandparents.  Two people who survived the Holocaust in different places and ways, and came together afterward.  A wife made hard and stubborn by her own fear of everything, and a man who feels powerless to help her.  A man who slowly loses his ability to speak and finds comfort in that silence, no matter how much he is misunderstood.


Suffice it to say that it is a great book.  The kind that makes you think about your own life, and who you are; who you want to be.  It makes you consider what you are willing to say or not say, and why.  Whether you are willing to say the things you could or should say when needed, or if you are willing to accumulate forty years of notebooks with the things you wish you had said when you should have said them.


Read the book before the movie comes out next year.  The written word is far richer than any good movie.  If you want to check out the first chapter you can catch it here.