Extremely--Interview with the Author

Read the interview with Foer found at http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/personalities/birnbaum_v_jonathan_safran_foer.php

What aspects of the interview do you find noteworthy? Try to respond to specific sections of the interview, as well as comment on how reading a conversation with an author enhances or challenges your reading of a novel.

Extremely Loud--Open Blog

Please use this page to post ideas or topics you have discovered but that are not addressed in the other posted topics. Share your insights, opinions, commentaries freely, but continue to generate a discussion rather than a list of separate ideas that do not interconnect.

Extremely Loud--Humor

One reviewer made the following comment about the novel: “Humorous is the only truthful way to tell a sad story.”

How do you feel about this statement as an insight to the novel? What is the relationship between humor and the story’s subject matter?

How and why is this a funny story?

Extremely Loud--Title

This is topic is a kind of scavenger hunt. Locate where the title words—“extremely,” “loud,” “incredibly,” and “close”—emerge in the novel. Consider how they are introduced. With what other words are they connected? Is it always Oskar who uses them? In what contexts do they appear?

After searching, finding, and thinking, try to assert what the title means. Why did Foer choose these words as his title?

Extremely Loud--Secrets

Much of the story is influenced by characters' decisions to withold information from others. What things are kept hidden from others and what circumstances or thought-processes surround these decisions? What is lost or gained from keeping these sorts of secrets?

What secrets are revealed in the novel? To whom are they revealed and by whom? Why?

Mystery is the vehicle for the novel's plot--it is what drives the actions of the characters. Oskar is on a quest (of sorts) to solve a mystery. You may consider the key as a metaphor for this. In what ways is Foer's novel a typical mystery novel? In what ways has he broken from traditional mystery tales?

Extremely Loud--Time

Consider TIME as a theme in the novel. How does time affect how people (individuals and groups) react to situations? When is time not a constant (Can it speed up, slow down, stop, or reverse? Does it ever disappear?). Is time linear, circular, or overlapping? Published in 2005, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has been labeled the first 9/11 novel. In your opinion, is this an appropriate time to begin addressing and discussing this tragedy? What is the value in doing so?

Extremely Loud--Non-Verbal Elements

What connection do the various non-verbal elements (photographs, cards, colors, pen marks, white space, the book cover, etc.) have to the rest of the story? Can you identify any patterns of meaning? Why would a writer not use words in his novel? Why have they been included as part of the narrative? What is their effect? Where do they come from? In your opinion, do they add to or detract from the actual story?

Extremely Loud--Communication

Foer opens the novel with the image of a teakettle becoming a mouth, which sets the foundation for his exploration into the idea of communication. Consider the many forms of communication—both verbal and non-verbal. Note elements from writing on hands, the typing of a story, an answering machine, two-way radios, letters, a key in an envelope, knocking on doors, broken or unanswered communications, foreign languages, and much, much more. In what ways is Oskar on a quest for communication? What point(s) does Foer make about human interactions?

Extremely Loud--Oskar Schell

Characterize Oskar Schell. What kind of person is he? How do others see him? How does he see the world? What motivates him? Is he dynamic? If so, what changes him over the course of the narrative? Do you see him as reliable? Is he believable as a real person, or should he be? Is he limiting? What are his biases? What similarities does he have with Christopher Boone from The Curious Incident Of the Dog in the Night Time?

Extremely Loud--Reign Over Me (film)

View the film Reign Over Me (R), featuring Adam Sandler, and compare and contrast the film's treatment of survival, loss, sorrow, guilt, love, family, and other topics with the novel's. What do they have in common? What do those commonalities reveal? What are the major differences between how the film and novel explore these issues?

Book Thief--Open Blog

Please use this page to post ideas or topics you have discovered but that are not addressed in the other posted topics. Share your insights, opinions, commentaries freely, but continue to generate a discussion rather than a list of separate ideas that do not interconnect.

Book Thief--Death as Narrator

Is it important or fitting that Death narrates this story? Comment upon Zusak's decision to have Death narrate. What qualifies him to tell a tale like this one? Why is he so interested in this particular story (of Liesel Meminger) in the face of so many others? Is Death truly omniscient, as the reader's guide suggests? How can omniscience be determined? What does Death reveal about humans in this story? What does he reveal about himself? What questions might we have about Death that are not addressed or answered in the novel? Is he an effective narrator?

Book Thief--Minor Characters

Consider what role minor characters play in populating the world of The Book Thief. You might consider the other Hubermann children, their neighbors, Leisel's friends and classmates, the mayor's wife, the Nazis, and other characters who play smaller roles but carry some of the important themes of the novel.
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Book Thief--Power of Words

The novel works to show that words are power. Discuss the various ways that Zusak presents this idea. Discuss who possesses this power, how one acquires and loses it, what its manifestations are, how it affects individuals and groups. Can a person refuse the power of words--either to use them or be affected by them? How are words used to escape, influence, persuade, inform?

Book Thief--Identity

Discuss how the novel addresses and explores the topic of identity. Consider the various ways that identity is defined in the Germany of World War I and how identity is defined in the Germany of World War II. What is different? What do these differences suggest? Consider also the role that family, religion, class, education, physical ability, political affiliations, morals, and others play in defining who or what one is in Nazi Germany as well as in the novel. What argument does the novel promote about identity in the face of these more narrow classifications about what makes us of who we are?

Book Thief--Style

Zusak writes with an elaborate style heavy on figurative language. Note some of his countless metaphors, paradoxes, personifications, or even his use of juxtaposition and foreshadowing. Consider his use of dictionary definitions, asides by Death, the ten parts and subsections, “The Standover Man” graphics, and other elements of how the story is told. What effect does the style have on his purpose, his characters, or his themes in the novel?

Book Thief--Promises

Promises are an important motif in the novel. Discuss how promises control the novel's plot. What do promises help to reveal about characters? The Hebrew word for the number seven is the same word for covenant, or promise. Note Zusak's use of this and other aspects of pacts or bonds. Which promises are of the most importance? Why?

Book Thief--Theft

Discuss the idea of theft in the novel. Is it truly a crime? In some cases theft is necessary, in others it is used to pass the time, and still others it is a form of adventure or even revenge. Thefts are both literal and figurative, and things stolen range from books or food to the less tangible, like memories or innocence, or even to life itself. Comment on what it means to steal in the novel.

Book Thief--Paired Readings

Read another book that addresses a topic explored in this novel, then discuss what such a reading brings to an analysis of The Book Thief. Consider any of the following texts:
Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Night, by Elie Weisel
All But My Life, Gerta Weissmann Klein
Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Maus and/or Maus II by Art Spiegelman
The Diary of Anne Frank
Others?

Book Thief--Readers Guide

Examine any or all of the parts of the Readers Guide (Questions for Discussion, Internet Resources, and A Conversation with Markus Zusak) at the end of the book. Once you have done this, respond specifically to questions or ideas from this section which have not been addressed in our other Blog topics.

Some areas you might consider: What does the conversation with the author do to add or take away from your reading? What can you find on the Internet resources that relate to your reading? Do any of the questions for discussion spark a comment?

Blog Directions - Summer 2008

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