Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Recently I have read a real range of books, and they have all been written in unique ways. I have loved all of them, and all the ways they are written, but they are all very, very different."Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" is written by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it's mostly from the point of view of a nine year-old boy. The story is about how this boy, Oskar, has lost his father in the 9/11 plane crash, and how he copes with it. It also has another story running through it which slowly unfolds, eventually meeting up with Oskar's storyline. 

It is a very moving book, and written wonderfully. Oskar's mind is unique, and Jonathan portrays this interesting character in a very enjoyable way, it is believably a nine year-old child telling the story (the book is in first-person). It goes through Oskar and his father's relationship, and you see how much his father meant to him, making it even more painful when you discover he was killed in the building that was hit by the plane. Oskar is a very lovely child. He has an open mind, and does things like sends letters to Steven Hawkings and Ringo Starr, he keeps a book of Things That Happened To Me, he has a stamp collection and carries around a tambourine. He has little recurring sayings, like "What the?" and "... making her happy is one of my raisons d'être." He also occasionally ends sentences with something like, "...which I know about." and sometimes "...which I know about, but don't really want to know about." Being in Oskar's mind is very intense. He isn't really coping with his grief, but the character can't see anyway to cope. He starts inventing things to make himself feel secure (like bird-seed shorts to make quick getaways, and giant pockets to keep your loved ones safe), but then he starts to invent horrible consequences of different things in his mind. He also gives himself bruises as a punishment for little things. One very sad thing you find out about Oskar is that he was the first to come home after 'The Worst Day', (which is what he calls it the day of his father's death) and he heard the five messages on the answering machine, and they were all from his dad when he was in the building. Through out the book you eventually find out what these messages are, and you also know that Oskar went out, bought a new telephone exactly the same, and replaced the old phone with it so his mother didn't hear the messages. His mind works in strange ways, but that's what keeps the story going along. I think it's fantastic the way the writer has invented this character that is so young, but still keeps you engaged every step of the way. You can both relate with Oskar's emotions, and him as unique.

The book is really about how people deal with grief. The character of Oskar decides to go on a search to find the lock for a key he found in his father's room, and he believes that with the lock, there will come happiness. It's Oskar's way of coping. As I mentioned earlier, there is another story running along side Oskar's, which is letters and diary entries from Oskar's grandparents. His grandmothers letters are for Oskar, and his grandfathers letters are addressed to Oskar's father, and his diary entries are from his journal. You discover that Oskar's grandparents survived the Dresden bombing in World War II, and their families were killed. It is a very sad part to the story because the grandparents don't really love each other, but they marry because they can't let go of their one connection of their lost lives. None of the characters really cope with their sadness at all, but the book goes through how that effects them and how they change. 

The following is an excerpt from the beginning of the book. It's a good example of Oskar's mind.

But it's not just the writing that's brilliant, it's also the way the writer patches everything together. You have a chapter about Oskar, which is usually quite long. In it he might mention a picture he saw, a photo he took, or even just something that happened to him, then the next page might have a photo of that thing. Like this for example:

And when the grandfather writes in a journal a letter to his dead son, he starts to squish the writing closer and closer together, trying to fit all he wants to say, but he's running out of room. The chapter goes on for a while, but then ends up being four or so pages of this:

I love Jonathan's style so much. It is so... beautiful. It captures something I have never felt before when reading a book. It ends up being this beautiful thing. Intense, interesting and unique. It's really fantastic, and I recommend it, and for a wide range of readers. Just because it's from the point of view of a nine year-old, don't think it's for that age range. Quite the opposite actually. I enjoyed it, but I think it's aimed at young adults and up. 

Good Omens

It's the second time I've read this book, and it's just as brilliant as the last time. Definitely. I think it's so full of detail, jokes and footnotes that I could read it many more times, and still not get bored, and the humor would not get old. You can picture it all perfectly. I have never been to England, but even the name 'Lower Tadfield' brings up images of old trees, green fields and blue skies. A typical English countryside. Read this book. It is a classic, and it is fantastic.


'Good Omens' is about the end of the world, which will happen on Saturday, and the things leading up to it. There is a range of characters, the main ones being a demon named Crowley, his friend, Aziraphale (an angel) and an eleven year old boy named Adam (the Antichrist). The book is written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, so it has a kind of 'split up' feel to it. It's made up of little scenes about different characters, that all eventually meet up (and they actually have links all through the book). It's written in third person, but it follows different stories from a range of characters perspectives. And the book is hilarious. 


One of the main things I love about the book are the characters. Crowley, a young man (in looks), who wear dark glasses even when it's dark. It is is job to be evil. But after six thousand years, he's grown attached to Earth, and when it comes to organizing the Apocalypse, he doesn't really feel it in him to do so. Crowley is a great character. He's synical and sarcastic, listens to Queen, rides a Bentley, but still keeps up with modern technology. He's spent his time on Earth, since it started, tormenting humans and putting fear into their lives. Then there's Aziraphale, the angel. Though his job is to bless people and do good, he has found company in Crowley, seeing he's the only one that's been around consistently for the last six thousand years. He is good-hearted and means well, though is constantly having to resist Crowley's tempting and reasoning on why God is wrong. Aziraphale is torn in that sense. He isn't as attached to Earth as Crowley is, but he still feels bringing Armageddon is necessary, (the lives lost etc, etc). He questions God, which makes him quite a rebellious angel, but he does it in such a timid way, you easily forget this. If a human was to see Aziraphale they would see an Englishman, wearing a camel-fur coat, and who was very, very gay. He isn't of course, because angels do not have sexualities, but he acts so. He is also not English, though he has spent a long time there in England. I love the relationship between Crowley and Aziraphale. They  both have different views on life (polar-opposite in fact) but deep down the demon does have a 'spark of kindness', and the angel still hangs out with a demon and gets drunk. And he even swears, but only once. And he hadn't done so since the beginning of time. They are great characters, I can imagine them perfectly. Other characters which appear in 'Good Omens' are Adam's friends, Pepper, Brian and Wensleydale, there's Hells Angels, War, Famine, Pollution and Death, a witch named Agnes Nutter and her descendent Anathema, and there's a witch-finder named Sergeant Shadwell, his Private Newton Pulsifer (known as Newt) and their neighbor, Madame Tracy.


The book draws you in from the very beginning, which is a very important thing for me. Obviously it's important because if it doesn't interest you or pull you in from the very beginning, it's hard to persist with it. The book starts as so:


It was a nice day.
All the days had been nice. There had been rather more than seven of them so far, and rain hadn't been invented yet. But clouds massing east of Eden suggested that the first thunderstorm was on it's way, and it was going to be a big one. 


 The writing is great. It describes things in such depth, and from many different characters perspectives, as I have mentioned. And it's funny, which I also enjoy. It's also quite important to be well written and to have the humour because I don't understand all the Bible references, so it kind of makes up for it. I also don't get all the references to England, like the places and motorways, etc. But the footnotes sometimes help with that. Here's an example:


Crowley took Glasgow, Aziraphale had Edinburgh (neither claimed any responsibility for Milton Keynes*, but both reported it as a success).


*Note for Americans and other aliens: Milton Keynes is a new city approximately halfway between London and Birmingham. It was built to be modern, efficient and healthy, and, all in all, a pleasant place to live. Many Britons find this amusing.


OR


She was in a city* at the time.


*Nominally a city. It was the size of an English country town, or, translated into American terms, a shopping mall. 


The whole book builds up, very slowly but surely, to the Saturday. And you, as the reader, enjoy every step of the way. 

The Van

Have you ever felt like someone should feel bad? Had that little devil on your shoulder, and let it whisper in your ear, filling your head with poison, covering up the guilt you'll feel later. I guess the devil metaphor was made to make people feel better... But in 'The Van', you can see how the situation has built up to breaking point. It's quite amazing really, but seeing I've just finished it, I still feel kind of in pain. Like my head is kind of sore. You bond with the characters, and it hurts you to see the characters do stupid things. It's a brilliant book, but very irritating at the same time. 

The book is called 'The Van', but the van doesn't actually come into the story until about halfway, maybe a bit less. The book begins, and you slowly realize that Jimmy Sr has lost his job, probably because of his age (or more, they want someone younger). It shows you how unhappy he is. He describes this feeling in his stomach, this ball of air, hard and cold. He feels lonely, and depressed. The family is poor, and no one is the same as the last book. But finally, nearing the middle of the book, things change for the better. Bimbo (Jimmy Sr's mate) decides to buy a chipper van, because he too has been made redundant. The book is in third person, but it mainly describes Jimmy's line of thought, so it's really from his point of view. And when Bimbo is fired, Jimmy becomes happier because he can now spend time with his best friend. Things pick up, Bimbo buys the van and after some hard work fixing it up, they start to sell fish and chips outside the local pub. It takes off. They make a small fortune on the first night. Though Bimbo was the one that bought the van, they're partners, and Jimmy gets half the profit. But things build up. Looking back on it, it's hard to tell where things start, but eventually things get really bad. And it ends on a bad note. Well, no, not a completely bad note. Things should get better afterwards. But not after they do some pretty stupid things. 


Roddy Doyle is pretty amazing. Just the way he writes it. He captures it beautifully. Well, as beautifully as possible when it's the working class Irish he's writing about. Maybe beautiful is not the right word... but wonderfully. One example of brilliant writing is when he goes on for pages and pages about just how happy everyone is that in an international game of soccer, the Irish bet the Romanians. After describing in depth the scene at the pub, the section ends with:


And then he [Jimmy Sr] went home and Veronica was in the kitchen and she did a fry for him, and he cried again when he was telling her about the pub and the match and meeting Jimmy Jr. And she called him an eejit. It was the best day of his life.

*   *   *

And then they got beaten by the Italians and that was the end of that.

*   *   *

Bimbo put the keys in etc, etc.


The book explores human nature. When I went into the kitchen after reading the book and explained my disappointed expression to my Dad, he said that we wouldn't enjoy the book if all the characters were satisfied. I argued that at least things should turn out well by the end, but I do see his point. Roddy Doyle pushes the ideas that we, as humans, have. What would happen if a human became really spiteful, but let's put it into a situation that people can relate to, or that at least feels realistic. This is what would happen, 'The Van'. But that doesn't make it any less painful to read when one of the characters slip up.


The book is written as well 'The Snapper', and 'The Commitments', but it's more serious and takes a long time developing feelings, mood, characters etc. It's nearly twice the length of the other two books. Though it has this dark, underlining feel through out the book, it can still make you laugh. There are still lovely moments and you forget that the characters have worries. As I mentioned before, it is really Jimmy Sr's take on the story, his ideas that are explored and the book it mostly displayed from his point of view, so you feel what he feels. When he's depressed, the reader emphasizes. When Jimmy laughs, you laugh. When he's angry, you too get angry, but sometimes it can be at him. 


Jimmy Sr is not perfect, but he's is a lovely character. He's a fine dad, not too rough, and a great granddad, very dedicated. After reading 'The Snapper' you begin to really like the character of Jimmy. He does have his faults, like that through out 'The Van' he keeps checking out other women when he has a perfectly lovely wife at home. He also has this recurring habit of wanting justice, his own little kind. He feels sometimes that he has been wronged and that people should apologize or at least realize what they've done to him. For example, in 'The Snapper', he begins to ignore Sharon, his daughter, so she might realize that her being pregnant has affected him too, and he thinks he's turned into the local laughing stock. Sharon quickly realizes this (the fact that he wont talk to her properly anymore) and so she threatens to move out. Jimmy Sr doesn't want to give up, but Sharon is stubborn, and he ends up begging her to stay. His little guilt-tripping acts always back-fire on him. 'The Van' slowly turns into that, Jimmy Sr's want for justice. But by the end, I'd forgotten what he actually wanted from it all, and I think the characters have too. 

Reading Response (holiday reading)

 Over the holidays I read first ‘The Snapper’, then ‘The Commitments’ (and am now reading ‘The Van’), all by Roddy Doyle, the first two being set around the same time and about the same family.

I finished ‘The Commitments’ yesterday. It was Roddy Doyle’s first book, and it’s about a bunch of young Irish people, in the 80’s, that try to start a band. A soul group. The main character is Jimmy Rabbitte, and he’s the one who decides to start the group in the first place, and he becomes the manager. He gets together his mates, Outspan and Derek (guitar and bass), then Declan or Deco for vocals, Dean on saxophone, Joey The Lips Fagen on trumpet, Billy on drums (then Mikah), James on piano, and Imelda, Bernie and Natalie as backing vocalists. Together, they are The Commitments.

The book is written in a very relaxed way and the language, though rough, it is natural, and above all, believable. It’s a fantastic style of writing, and is great to read. ‘The Commitments’ is very funny and enjoyable. The purpose of the writing isn’t to make you laugh, but it has a kind of everyday humour that the readers can relate too. I’m not sure how the working-class Irish readers found the book, maybe it was too close to home, but I personally loved the Irish feel of all the books. He develops it so well, and the way he portrays the story is original and inspiring. Roddy doesn’t go into too much depth about looks of characters or the settings, but the dialogue and the little descriptions he does give are enough for the reader to visualise and enjoy the story. Each character is original and vividly portrayed. They all have different ways they communicate and think, and way to do things, but they are all typical Irish folk.

‘The Snapper’ is set around the same time as the first book, (the main character, Sharon, is still twenty, same as in ‘The Commitments’) but the characters that are focused on in the first book are now in the background, and the background characters in the last book are now pushed to the front. It’s about Jimmy Jr’s (who was the main character in ‘The Commitments’) sister, Sharon, and how the family deals with her becoming pregnant. You get to know more about the Rabbittes, like Jimmy Sr, the father. One thing I love about the books is how they aren’t set in many places. In ‘The Snapper’, you only really get to see the Rabbitte household and the pub (even though the main character is pregnant. That’s another example of Irish culture; they drink a lot).

The first thing I noticed when I started to read ‘The Snapper’ was Roddy Doyle’s style of writing. He doesn’t write quotation marks when people speak. Here’s an example:

Sharon took her vodka and her jacket and her bag and went across to Jackie O’Keefe, Mary Curran and Yvonne Burgess, her friends; the gang.

-Hiyis, she said when she got there.

-Oh, howyeh, Sharon.

-Hiyeh, Sharon.

-Howyeh, Sharon.

-Hiyis, said Sharon.

He just puts in little dashes, which he also does when someone pauses in conversation. Doyle also doesn’t tend to explain who is speaking, which I also admire. I like it when authors don’t feel they have to spell everything out for you, and even though you don’t know for certain who’s talking, you can nearly always guess because he’s set up the characters so beautifully. The book is made up of conversations like this. Realistic but also funny. That’s why it’s so easy to read, and why you can imagine and bond with all the characters, and why you enjoy it. He also doesn’t have chapters, just sections divided by three asterisks.

*  *  *

Sometimes the sections are long, like a few pages, sometimes they’re only a few sentences long.

The books pull you in, forms vivid characters and images, makes you laugh, makes you sigh, makes you glad that you aren't them, makes you want to be in Ireland, spins you around, throws you out, then leaves you begging for more. They are very entertaining and after reading 'The Snapper' it made me want to go and write a story of my own. I have never read anything quite like it.

Photo from the movie 'The Commitments'

The Adventures of Tintin

Tintin in Tibet

…IN which Tintin goes to Tibet in search of his friend Chang (who he met in the book ‘The Blue Lotus’), all because of a dream he had.

My dad used to read me the Tintin books when we (being me and my sisters) were little, but I have to say, I still enjoy them now. I’m not sure if it’s the nostalgia, but I love the pictures, the characters, the story, and the comedy.

Tintin is a fantastic character. But really we know nothing about his personal life. He’s referred to as a boy, so he’s young, but he never ages. He’s a reporter, and finds himself having amazing adventures, but what about his family? Who are his parents? What is his last name? What I always wonder is what Herge would have done with him if he had the time. Would he have killed him off like Sherlock Holmes? Married him off maybe? Who knows. But when you read the books, none of those things matter, it’s all about the enticing tales and the fearless characters. And Tintin is a fantastic character. He always has the best interest at heart. The only reason he gets involved with the cases is because he wants people to be happy, and justice to be served. He is very strong morally. He will punch someone in the face if he thinks they are being cruel to someone who is innocent, but he would never kill anyone. Tintin is also quite mysterious because he has all these skills which wouldn’t be obvious if you looked at him. He can, for example, fly a plane. He talks to elephants in one story. He can fight three men all twice his size at once, and win. He can jump off trains. He is a crack shot with a rifle. The list goes on. Tintin is very kind, and his adventure in Tibet only enhances that. He goes to extreme measures to find Chang, when all evidence points to his friend being dead. But Tintin is determined, and ends up saving Chang’s life. There are so many times in the Tintin adventures where Tintin risks his own life to save Snowy’s (his dog). As I said, he is very moral.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

I have just finished reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories, most recently ‘The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’.  The book is full of fantastic tales of amazing adventures, all narrated by Sherlock’s forever-loyal friend, John Watson. John plays an extremely important part in Holmes’s stories. The adventures could have been written by Sherlock himself, but they would have had to have been filled with how the case was solved to the most minute of details, and would have focused on the strangest angles of the story, and there would have been no drama. With Watson narrating the stories, you get the tale as it was for him, there is the suspense he feels when Sherlock is hot on a trail, and there is the thrill when there is action.  Though John is always a step (or two) behind Sherlock, he still manages to capture the tales wonderfully (or more, Arthur Conan Doyle depicts them wonderfully).

Some of my favourite stories from ‘The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’ are ‘The Yellow Face’, ‘The Resident Patient’ and ‘The Final Problem’.

‘The Resident Patient’ is a great example of Sherlock’s character. He does numerous things that seem completely out of his character to solve the case. These things upset John hugely, for he thinks his friend is losing his mind. Sherlock suspects two observers of a murder to actually be the murders, and are lying when they say they saw it happen from inside the house. The policeman involved in the case nearly tells the men the key to Sherlock’s discovery and so Sherlock has a fake stroke or seizure to draw the attention away from the conversation. John is distraught, thinking that his friend is on the brink of dying. When Sherlock ‘recovers’ he makes a major mistake when going over on of the men’s statements. He does this so the murderer will write down the correction and then Sherlock will know what his handwriting is like, but to John it looks like Sherlock is losing it and is extremely embarrassed for him. It actually pains him, and Sherlock sees this. Then, when upstairs in the suspect’s room Sherlock purposely bumps into a table near the door and smashes all of the contents onto the floor. Holmes takes the opportunity to slip his hand into a dressing gown on the door, grabbing a letter from the murderer to prove the culprits of the crime. But he also turns around and blames the accident on Watson, telling him to look where he was going. John is depressed, until the murders are in jail and Sherlock explains himself. It’s a great story, and a perfect example of Sherlock and his little ways of doing things. It also shows how he keeps Watson in the dark, until the great reveal at the end, which makes it more fun for the readers.

All the Sherlock Holmes stories are fantastic to read. I think one of the things that makes them so exciting is the mixture of characters presented in the stories, and how they deal with situations. There are hardly any characters in the adventures who are just plain bad. They have made mistakes, or lost there temper, or joined the wrong gang, or have just made a bad choice somewhere, and these variations of characters make them great stories. The characters, and the drama created by Watson's story telling and Sherlocks way of deducing. Like in 'The Yellow Face', they set up the new characters (who you find out aren't actually bad), then Sherlock goes to investigate, they discover the great secret behind it all, and through the whole story Watson is building up the tension for the final moment where everything is revealed. 

‘The Final Problem’ is a thrilling adventure, but also very sad. Watson starts off the story explaining that, “It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr Sherlock Holmes was distinguished.”  Watson writes about how Holmes came to his house one day with a bleeding hand and his nerves in a wreck. Sherlock has met James Moriarty, and now his life is at stake. So the next day, Sherlock arranges John to meet him on a train which will take them out of England to Europe where they will stay for a week or so until it is safe to return. But Moriarty is Sherlock’s match, and when Holmes and Watson are taking a stroll to look at the Reichenbach Falls, and Watson is called away for an hour or two, the two friends never see each other again. John runs back, suspecting Moriarty for drawing him away in the first place, and he finds nothing of his friend, or his foe, except a letter explaining that Sherlock has disposed of the most evil man in London, or possibly the world, but at the price of his own life. Or so it would be if Conan Doyle didn’t subdue to popular demand, and bring Sherlock back after a few years. The story is still sad for me though, even if I know Sherlock didn’t leave for good. I tried to read it as if it was the last one, as Arthur Conan Doyle had originally written it, and as his character John thought it was.

The story is intense and exciting, but also depressing, for obvious reasons. I like it though because it really shows Watson and Holmes’s relationship, how Watson will do anything for his best friend, and Holmes will do anything to bring justice. It also shows that Sherlock doesn’t want his only friend hurt.  Holmes knows Watson is called away only so he is left alone with Moriarty, but he doesn’t tell John this because he doesn’t want him hurt, and so John doesn’t stop him from killing Moriarty at the risk of his own life.

I am also a big fan of the series ‘Sherlock’, the modern take on the famous stories, where Sherlock Holmes texts, and John Watson blogs. It is an amazing version, the writing is brilliant, the look is awesome, the music is thrilling, the adaptation of the stories are extremely clever, and they have the best actors for the parts. I was excited to read the scene in ‘The Final Problem’ when Sherlock is retelling John the meeting between himself and Professor James Moriarty. The way it is described is very dramatic, because the readers have never seen Sherlock scared before, but in his meeting with Moriarty, he is definitely this. He holds a gun at the Professor through his dressing gown pocket, and even when Moriarty points this out and Holmes sets it down on the table, and he recalls to Watson that, “He still smiled and blinked but there was something about his eyes which made me feel very glad that I had it there.” When the Holmes and Moriarty meet, not much needs to be said for they are both equals intellectually and know nearly every move each one will and has made.  I was excited because as I read I realised they quoted this scene in the modern adaption, in the third episode at the very end. Moriarty says “All that I have to say has already crossed your mind,” and Sherlock replies, “Then possibly my answer has crossed yours.” It is a very tense moment, and I think I was just as excited reading and watching it now as the readers were back in the 1800’s. That’s the great thing about the Sherlock Holmes stories, they were extremely popular back in the day (and quite up to date), and are still thrilling adventures for the modern audience today. The TV series, ‘Sherlock’, is releasing a new series next year in England. The three part mini series will re-tell three of Conan Doyle’s most well known Sherlock adventures, ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ (with Irene Adler), The ‘Hound of the Baskerville’ (a thriller where Watson is left alone to discover the mystery behind a supernatural beast), and finally ‘The Final Problem’ (the story I just described with the Reichennach Falls).

What am I currently listening to?

Right now I am really into ‘Have One On Me’ by Joanna Newsom. She has this amazing voice that kind of sounds like Gin Wigmore, except it sings the most amazing ballads, and she bends it in such ways that I've never heard before. Joanna plays the harp, and I love her second album called ‘Ys’ (with Van Dyke Parks as producer and orchestra composer) where she plays it on all the songs. On this album though (or should I say albums, there are three discs in the pack), she plays a bit of harp and some piano, but of course mainly vocals. Newsom’s voice is amazing, and her harmonising is beautiful. She has this way of singing the lyrics that make you want to listen again and again. The songs (written by her) are both breathtaking, and catchy. I’m loving this album and I’ve only got through the first CD.

Here's a link to her preform her song 'Good Intentions Paving Company' from the album 'Have One On Me', and here is another link of her singing 'Emily' and playing the harp.