Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer

Hi Drew - I haven't read EL & IC but I caught the reviewers bashing it on the Late Review. They seemed to think the young boy's voice wasn't convincing as a young boy, but I have another theory. Every time the Late Review shows a clip from a play or a reading from a novel - then it's odds on that work will get panned. It's true, I swear. I wish I could put money on it. Anyhow, the R4 book at bedtime sounds interesting - I've never actually listened to one of those, I really should. [%sig%]

I heard a riveting clip from The History Of Love on Pick Of The Week on Sunday, just a short potted history of the man who had become invisible arriving in new york, but utterly heartwrenching. I rarely manage to listen to Book At Bedtime because its not on at somebody else's bedtime, not mine.

Lou, It's a shame if they did that. I thought the writing was great. Dan, if you go to the R4 website you can listen to any of the R4 programmes at any time. They keep them online for a week. In fact, I've just got back from work and am about to listen to last night's now.

And Off The Shelf usually has good books too - this week is the Woman in White I believe. And also Radio 2 are currently doing 1984.

I've finished this book now. I wasn't as impressed with the whole book as I was with the first 3 chapters. The narrator's voice was very similar to the boy in Haddon's Curious Incident... but not as clever or engaging. There are parts of the book that are brilliant. I liked his quest to meet everyone called Black that lives in New York. These sections read like short stories. Particularly good was the woman who lives at the top of the Empire State Building and gives guided tours. Her husband who died used to shine a flashlight he pulled around in a cart up to her while he travelled around New York so she always knew where he was. Since he died she can't leave ths place. Also great was the Mr Black the boy meets upstairs who is 103 years old and has nailed a nail in his bed everyday in his bed every day since his wife died. All the people he meets talk about death. Some of the sections don't work at all. The narrator's grandfather had lost his girlfriend in the fire-bombing of Dresden. He writes about this in a letter to his son (who he has never seen). The son has a habit of correcting everything he reads so this letter is in the book with about 20 - 30 corrections - ringed in red ink - on every page. It is extremely annoying to read. Also in the letter the father describes how he had to kill he animals in Dresden zoo. Not only is this badly written but it seems like a direct copy of the Zoo Massacre in Murakami's Wind Up Bird (and if you haven't read this, this is one of the most brilliant and memorable scenes I have ever read). No doubt Foer is talented and the book is worth reading.

That was one of the criticisms put forward on the Late Review, I think. Someone said that the 'gimmicks' for want of a better word, were too distracting, but as you say, he's obviously talented and at his age, he's got plenty of time to improve. [%sig%]