Last But Not Least

In our literary circles on Tuesday, January 12, we finally were able to discuss the book as a whole. We finished the novel and had so much to talk about. First off, we all loved the book. We were a little disappointed in the ending because we believed that Oskar deserved to learn more about his father's death than he did. The key ended up belonging to Peter Black who sold his dead father's blue vase at a garage sale to Oskar's father and the key happened to be stored inside. The only thing he was able to learn about his father was how nice and friendly he was to Peter Black at the garage sale.
The end of the novel allowed us to further connect certain concepts to Kurt Vonnegut's, Slaughter-House Five. We all recognized that the style Vonnegut uses, reversing past destructive events to end peacefully, was presented numerous times in Foer's, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. The book ended with Oskar's father coming home from work, brushing his teeth, going to bed and waking up at night to be reading Oskar a book to help him fall asleep. This also correlates with the concept of 'just war' in that it may be necessary to have war in order to obtain peace. The reversal of actions shows that even though we all want peace and not war, we must go through war- forwards or backwards- to create peace.
We were all frusturated that Oskar never truly found out that 'the renter' was his grandfather, even though Foer makes it clear that they had a special bond and Oskar instantly trust him. We felt that Foer left a lot up to the reader to decide what happened and what certain symbols mean, which is what makes this novel so interesting.
Another key point that was brought up in this discussion was our feelings towards Oskar's mother. Throughout the entire novel, Foer makes you feel as if his mother is ignoring his bruises, allowing him to travel around New York by himself and leaving the house at late hours. We finally see that she had planned his journey out to make him safe. She ended up calling all the 'Blacks' Oskar was planning on visiting that day, which explains why they were all so friendly and welcoming.
Although the ending of this novel stirred up some disappointment as we didn't expect certain events to happen, the novel was exceptionally well written, illustrated and in portraying the events of families after the attack of 9/11.