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.
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