
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
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Narrated by:
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Jeff Woodman
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Barbara Caruso
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Richard Ferrone
About this listen
Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is a precocious Francophile who idolizes Stephen Hawking and plays the tambourine extremely well. He's also a boy struggling to come to terms with his father's death in the World Trade Center attacks. As he searches New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key his father left behind, Oskar discovers much more than he could have imagined.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a masterfully imagined novel from an author Time hails as "a certified wunderkind".
©2005 Jonathan Safran Foer (P)2005 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
- 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Multi-Voiced Performance
"Piercing and so funny." (The Bookseller)
"[Oskar's] first-person narration of his journey is arrestingly beautiful, and readers won't soon forget him." (Booklist)
"Jonathan Safran Foer's second novel is everything one hoped it would be: ambitious, pyrotechnic, riddling, and above all...extremely moving. An exceptional achievement." (Salman Rushdie)
"Brilliant....Unafraid to show his traumatized characters' constant groping for emotional catharsis, Foer demonstrates once again that he is one of the few contemporary writers willing to risk sentimentalism in order to address great questions of truth, love, and beauty." (Publishers Weekly)
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Story
In We Are the Weather, Jonathan Safran Foer explores the central global dilemma of our time in a surprising, deeply personal, and urgent new way. Some people reject the fact, overwhelmingly supported by scientists, that our planet is warming because of human activity. But do those of us who accept the reality of human-caused climate change truly believe it? If we did, surely we would be roused to act on what we know.
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Disappointing
- By Max Dennison on 12-09-19
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We Are the Ants
- By: Shaun David Hutchinson
- Narrated by: Gibson Frazier
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. After all, life hasn't been great for Henry. His mom is a struggling waitress held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke. His brother is a jobless dropout who just knocked someone up. His grandmother is slowly losing herself to Alzheimer's.
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Evocative and moving
- By S. Yates on 06-17-17
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Tricks
- By: Ellen Hopkins
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan, Jeremy Guskin, Cassandra Campbell, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching . . . for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don't expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words "I love you" are said for all the wrong reasons.
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Outstanding and Scary
- By Jerry Riley on 10-19-09
By: Ellen Hopkins
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
- By: Mark Haddon
- Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
- Length: 6 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition similar to autism. He doesn't like to be touched or meet new people, he cannot make small talk, and he hates the colors brown and yellow. He is a math whiz with a very logical brain who loves solving puzzles that have definite answers.
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A Different View of the World
- By Alan on 05-19-04
By: Mark Haddon
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Speak
- 20th Anniversary Edition
- By: Laurie Halse Anderson
- Narrated by: Mandy Siegfried, Ashley C. Ford, Jason Reynolds, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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From her first moment at Merryweather High, Melinda Sordino knows she's an outcast. She busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, a major infraction in high-school society, so her old friends won't talk to her, and people she doesn't know glare at her. She retreats into her head, where the lies and hypocrisies of high school stand in stark relief to her own silence, making her all the more mute.
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Recommend with Slight Reservations
- By FanB14 on 05-21-12
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A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
- By: Dave Eggers
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Dave Eggers scored a worldwide phenomenon with this memoir that topped national best-seller lists and has since become a staple for summer reading and book clubs. A compelling voice for Generation X, Eggers hererecounts his early 20s, caring for his younger brother after their parents’ unexpected deaths and his endeavors in a variety of media.
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Great Book not right for everyone
- By Michael on 02-17-14
By: Dave Eggers
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Gotham
- A History of New York City to 1898
- By: Edwin G. Burrows, Mike Wallace
- Narrated by: Victor Bevine
- Length: 67 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. The events and people who crowd this audiobook guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America....
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THANK YOU!!!!!
- By Stephen F (SPFJR) on 09-29-18
By: Edwin G. Burrows, and others
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Crank
- By: Ellen Hopkins
- Narrated by: Laura Flanagan
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Kristina Georgia Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. But on a trip to visit her absentee father, she meets a boy who introduces her to crank. At first she finds it freeing, but soon Kristina's personality disappears inside the drug. What began as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul, and her life.
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Good just not for kids
- By Cindy Brown on 10-21-08
By: Ellen Hopkins
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Dear Martin
- By: Nic Stone
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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After a traffic stop turns violent at the hands of the police, a young Black teen grapples with racism—and what it means for his future. Critically acclaimed author Nic Stone boldly tackles America’s troubled history with race relations in her gripping debut novel. Justyce is a good kid, an honor student, and always there to help a friend—but none of that matters to the police officer who just put him in handcuffs without cause. When faced with injustice, Justyce looks to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers. But do they hold up anymore?
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Emotional, Moving, and Necessary!
- By tarafarah7: Tara Brown on 09-29-18
By: Nic Stone
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Nickel and Dimed
- On (Not) Getting By in America
- By: Barbara Ehrenreich
- Narrated by: Cristine McMurdo-Wallis
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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This engrossing piece of undercover reportage has been a fixture on the New York Times best seller list since its publication. With nearly a million copies in print, Nickel and Dimed is a modern classic that deftly portrays the plight of America's working-class poor.
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Good concept, but poor execution.
- By Marco Forcone on 08-24-04
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Snow Falling on Cedars
- By: David Guterson
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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As a Japanese-American fisherman stands trial for murder on an island in Puget Sound, snow blankets the countryside. The whiteness covers the courthouse, but it cannot conceal the memories at work inside: the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, an unrequited love, and the ghosts of racism that still haunt the islanders. First novels rarely attract as much attention as Snow Falling on Cedars. Remaining on best seller lists for months, it has cast a spell on listeners across the country.
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Beautiful!!!
- By Patricia on 01-12-18
By: David Guterson
What listeners say about Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Highly rated for:
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Overall
- Catherine
- 05-17-05
Solid Novel - Only a Few Imperfections
This was my first Audible audio book and I was pleasantly surprised. EL&IC follows the story of young Oskar Schell on a quest that he believes will help him feel closer to his father who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. I've been told that this is a book that's best read, not heard, but the three narrators were great actors and conveyed much more than I would have thought they could.
The story is told through narratives by the three main characters; Oskar, his paternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother. The narrative shifts from character to character, always without warning and sometimes at jarring times. I found some narratives more compelling than others, growing weary about midway through the book of listening to Oskar's grandfather's narrative, but as the book approached resolution I found his narrative fascinating again.
Occasionally the story was slow. Occasionally it was repetitive to the point of minor annoyance. Occasionally I found myself thinking that Oskar's many idiosyncracies felt horribly contrived. But as the narrative closed, I found myself wanting to learn more about quirky young Oskar and his world. It was well worth the listen.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Blue
- 02-15-13
This is a keeper, I will listen again.
PG-13 read (some swearing, some sex, mature themes), quirky, woven, generational, profound. Excellent writing. Could have been a depressing book... and I did have a good cry part way through... but laughed enough to offset and the reading enriched my heart.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Adam
- 08-11-19
extremely important and incredibly monumental
The narrations keep the listeners on their feet as the grandma, the grandpa, and the kid voice their own braided plots. The cleverness of words is, in many places, brilliant and memorable. Recording quality has no hissing or irritating signs of amateurism. What I think is so monumental about this book is that it truly empathizes with the innocent victims of the terrorist attack. It also teaches adults what it can be like inside the mind of a highly sensitive, somewhat special needs child.
Again, this book took me back to 18 years ago when I had not even heard of the terrorists responsible for the attack on the Twin Towers, and I was left asking what did I do? What do we have to do with anything? That was an eye-opening day for me that, even as an educated adult, I was completely ignorant of the secret wars waged between governments and how the people themselves really do not know the "chess players" are doing with us as their pieces. We think we have free will and struggle to make the right or at least the best decisions, but unbeknownst to us, we steer ourselves within climates chosen for us.
I related to many of the characters and will not spoil their secrets, but I will say that an underlying theme among many of them is that of forgiveness, not just against the obvious but even for loved ones and ourselves. Forgiving ourselves is often a merciless judgment.
My favorite character is the kid, and he does vary from child to adult in his ponderings, hovering often in a whirlpool of adolescence complete with dabbling in vulgarity but in a way portrayed artistically by the writer. I plan to listen to more by this author.
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- G Reinhardt
- 08-02-10
Unique, interesting, tortured
This novel is written from the perspective of three different characters, all of whom have experienced trauma and all of whom live with some level of dysfunction. I found myself thoroughly enthralled in each of the characters and despite the incredible sadness each of these characters faced throughout their life times, I felt myself wanted to know what happened next on their crazy ride (vs. curling up in a ball and crying with them). I whole-heartedly recommend this book!
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- KSQ
- 03-15-12
Beautiful
What made the experience of listening to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the most enjoyable?
I was so moved by this elegantly told love story. The relationships are complex and each character's story is unique but completely accessible and relatable. From losing a loved one to finding stability among chaos, the story touches the most basic human experiences...love and loss and the beauty and fear behind both. The performers that brought each character to life were equally brilliant. Wonderful.
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- ms coffee
- 01-02-14
Enjoyable read
If you could sum up Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in three words, what would they be?
It is much better than the movie
Who was the most memorable character of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and why?
Oskar!
You will fall in love with his character.
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- Ryan
- 10-15-16
Wow
This book had some of the most hillarious and some of the most sad moments.
The book was great.
My favorite lines:
"My greatest regret is how much I believed in the future."
"It's not a horrible world, but it's filled with a lot of horrible people."
"It's the tragedy of loving, you can't love anything more than something you miss".
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- Carla
- 11-23-13
I hoped for the best - and got it!!
I loved this book - not the weird parts but thankfully they were few and far between. Mostly it was lovely and sad and really well written and well performed.
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- joker_style_infinite
- 10-27-17
Great audiobook.
The dialogue he has with all the people he meets randomly is pretty great. Found myself going from happy to sad but being alright.
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- kristen Campbell
- 09-24-20
Profoundly Thought Prevoking
This novel leaves one conflicted with a plethora of emotion. I found myself thinking about it often. The performances are wonderful and I felt fully immersed. 10/10
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